I started collecting minerals at the age of three and first took on the lapidary arts by putting rocks into the washer and dryer. This had mixed results.

The first genuine field collecting experience I had was with the Chugach Gem and mineral society in Anchorage, Alaska. I was eleven at the time and it was the dead of winter. This field trip required us to wear snow shoes for trekking out to the collecting site that was a cliff wall of rocks next to a frozen river. Upon our arrival, club members eagerly gathered on the clear river ice to begin digging into the bank. It was cold as hell but, in that moment, I came to understand something far greater than any of my frozen body parts – the thrill of the hunt and the joy of discovery, at finding something beautiful in the ground.

 Or not…