shandamac Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Hi all! Sadie and I had the most wonderful time meeting up with our rock club at Oklahoma's Great Salt Plains Reserve this weekend to hunt for hourglass selenite crystals (our State crystal). First of all, Sadie is amazing. Yes, she's slow. Yes, she's small. Yes, she's not too crazy about headwinds, but.....she is so much fun to drive. (We always tack on an extra hour to our eta for every 150 mile we have to travel, and take our own sweet time.) The West wind on Friday was brutal for our trip up (gusts of 50 mph), speed in the 45-50 range. We pretended like we were a box kite. Just toodling out in the wind. (Just a little hairy over the bridges.), but by Saturday morning the winds had calmed to create a perfect day for crystal hunting. Since Saturday was also the opening day for the local "Crystal and Bird Festival", the reserve had just opened a new digging area. There were also lots and lots of birds to watch in around the salt plains area and the camping areas. It was a beautiful day! Lots of crystals and camaradarie. People from Oklahoma, Arkanasas, Kansas and Texas met to punch through the white salt to the red earth beneath, to lie on the ground and play in the mud. Splashing water up the walls of the holes released the crystals; glassy blades and sandy clusters. All morning and afternoon, we played, until the ground warmed and we found ourselves in a sleepy euphoric bliss. Caked in salt and mud, we headed back to the campgrounds to clean up. We made our grand finale at the campgrounds with a Rock Club Cook-out! The prez grilled bratwurst and hamburgers, while the rest played music, shared rockhunting stories, and dappled in wool spinning (my contribution ;-) ). About 9:30pm, there was an impromtu star gazing session with a local star hound who had brought out the most amazing, high powered, computerized telescope. We saw Saturn, the twin stars Castor AB and several star clusters. A South wind lightly rocked us on our return home Sunday morning, but Sadie made that trip a little faster. All in all, it was a wonderful adventure, and we're looking forward to making the Great Salt Plains an annual field trip destination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 The only Salt plains I've ever been involved with is Bonneville, as in how fast will it go. No not my Toyota Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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