by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
I never get tired of playing in the dirt, especially when there are treasures to discover. Weekend before last I snatched my rock buddy Joann from her husband and we went on a four-day girl’s shop and rock trip to Sisters, Oregon.
- Heading out to the thunderegg beds! Luckily I’d just put new tires on Subie.
Stayed at our favorite place, the Best Western Ponderosa Lodge, complete with a killer outdoor hot tub, free breakfast and llamas to feed. Liv’in the dream.
We packed up our gear, filled the gas tank then headed eleven miles North of Madras to the Richardson’s Rock Ranch to hunt thundereggs. I’ve never dug for thundereggs before and this ranch is the mother lode. We also love to buy pretty rocks and geodes here.
Signed our waiver, got our map to the digs and we were off on the gravel road eight miles to the beds at a not-speedy five miles per hour. Takes about 30 minutes to get out there with the gravel road and opening three gates along the way. Since I was driving Subie, Joann became gate girl.
The weather was perfect, 84 degrees with a slight breeze and we were alone at the dig beds. Heaven. It was so quiet. I’ve been living in a neighborhood construction zone the past several months and this was a treat. Complete silence except for a little wind, an occasional bird and my digging.
We only had an hour to hunt before we had to hightail it back to the shop, since they close at 5 p.m. We’d moseyed into the day and ended up getting to the ranch later than we expected, so we had to dig fast.
Thundereggs look like clumps of dirt or stone. I followed the directions from the “cutter” at the shop and went two feet out from the cut wall. A girl in the dirt. Happy.
Came across several I wasn’t sure if they were dirt clods or thundereggs, so I tapped them with my garden weed puller. Ended up with about 20 or so round orbs.
Back we tore to the shop, just in time to get several of the thundereggs cut. I picked the large one I dug out of the ground, one that looked like a double and a medium-sized orb. Mr. “Cutter” took them in the back and brought them out wet in the sun for us to see. Fabulous.
It’s like finding gifts inside a plastic Easter egg but better; these natural agate gifts are made by Mother Nature. We ran out of time to have more thundereggs cut, so I may need to find someone here with the skills. Or maybe we need another girl’s road trip to Richardson’s Rock Ranch? Yes!
And I need to wet polish them. Another craft project, I do believe.
Story of the thunderegg
Glad it was a good trip. Shopping and rocks, eclectic but successful!c