Thursday was a busy fun filled adventure day that saw us gem mining and a canoe trip down the New River in the late afternoon that soaked us to the skin with the many rain showers. We started the day with a mountain breakfast once again as I fried up some of the best tasting bacon ever that sister Dee blessed us with on Saturday when she came down from Woodstock, Va. Nancy fixed pancakes with fresh blue and wine berries in the batter for the kiddos as they requested and then after eating we got ready to head out to the Gem Mine in Ashe County which was about an hour away. The skies were overcast but the rain stayed away. We were pleasantly surprised at the gem mine as they gave each of us a bucket of mined dirt as part of the admission fee which was very reasonable.
This is a family owned and run operation and the kiddos found all kinds some gems and some were more valuable than others and we even had two Garnet stones that we left for them to polish and ship to us as well as two large Amethyst stones the girls found and then we had then wire wrapped for the girls into necklaces. We spent two extra hours there longer than planned as the kiddos had such a fun time mining using a sluice flume. We all were impressed with the mine and those who ran it especially Debbie who we first met at the store where we purchased our tickets for admission. She blessed everyone especially the kiddos with free wire wrapping and extra bag of shells and gems.
We left there and headed to W. Jefferson for lunch at the Harvest Cafe. The owner is one of Bobby and Amy's classmates from Indian Rocks Christian School. She and Bobby went through 13 years of school together and now has a blended family as well with her two from a previous and two from her husband and then one child together. She and her husband both do ministry together as well as she runs this cafe. The food was homemade with soups, sandwiches, salads and bakery goods as well as lots of gluten free foods that Tyler could enjoy. We spent over an hour eating and visiting before getting to the canoe rental shop. We just made it before they closed for the day and we needed to be back at the shop by 6 o'clock to return the canoes.
Well we took off in three canoes with two kiddos in each with two adults and just as we put in the water the skies opened with a steady rain. We did see a little sun at times but mainly it rained the whole trip down the river and we were wet through and through. We did get back to the store landing around 5:30 after a little over an hour float with much paddling as we wanted to get down the river because of the less than great weather conditions. We changed in the old store as some of us brought a change of clothes and then we headed back north through Sparta. We got back around 7 PM then heated up soups, and leftovers as well Bobby making quesadillas and Nancy frying yellow squash from the garden. Yeow was that ever delicious as Bobby and Katie for the first time both enjoyed the fresh yellow squash.
We got the kiddos bathed and alternated with showers and the washing of clothes to avoid running out of hot water. We succeeded in all phases and most were ready for some horizontal lab by 10:30 as Bobby crew wanted to be up by 4:30. Well that was about it, Later
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