Digging for burried treasure part I

Right now, I’m sitting in my hotel room in California. I am here on business but I just HAD to tell you all what happened today. I rented a car and got the hell out of dodge so to speak, and I wanted desperately to dig up tourmalines from a mine! The first misnomer is that you really will never be able to go “into” a mine to dig, the liability would be unreal. [I did not know this before I made the trip lol and I should have read more closely to the description]. Second, the tourmaline mine owners recommended a cute and quaint lodge located close to the mine for lodging. GREAT! I booked the lodge. Without my consent or knowledge they billed me instantly [a month before my reservation]. Okay um..sure why not whatever! So I get the rental car, I drive outside of san diego and tada! We’re at the cabin site. The view was stunning and the drive itself was worth it. I get there, and I have to check in right? I see a sign that says “campers check in at the store”. When I walk in there is live bait everywhere and dead animals on the wall. I had to laugh. So then the woman asks which cabin I was promised? I tell her the number and she says “oh that is our most requested cabin!”. I am GEEKED. Then I ask about the tourmaline mine and how I get there. She informs me “oh it’s along that road right inside the park!”. I looked out the window..folks..THIS WAS A TRAILER PARK! I almost died laughing. Ok, jump back in the car, head up the hill to #17. When I get there, I look at this shack and think .. where is the hidden camera? come on now! My friend and I unload the car, walk in…drop our stuff, look around..and realize this is something straight out of camp crystal lake. 2 women, in a cabin next to a Jerry Springer trailer park [ahhahaa] with ground level windows and only 2 locks keeping whatever out. RIGHT! That’s safe! We died laughing for about 20 minutes..tears..packed back up the car and headed down to the mine.

We decided today would not be a total loss! Now was the time to sift through earthly riches and find our sparkly treasures! We drove all of 3 minutes .. and hit the end of the line. When we got to the end of the road, we saw about a 15×15 square foot area roped off with about 12 people and 3 children in it sifting like mad. Wait.. wait I thought-where is everyone else??? THAT WAS IT FOLKS! Two piles of 6 foot high dirt in the middle of this roped off area. That’s all you got. You are not allowed to dig in the mine, you are not in a large area with many rock piles to choose from. Literally two piles of loose dirt is all you got. Believe me, my girlfriend said “I bet it was already sifted through thats why it’s loose dirt”. We laughed yet again, turned on the gps and headed back to civilization. On the way back we ran into a quaint antique shop and had to stop. I found the most stunning tibetan dragon/citrine bracelet [thats another post]. But the owner of the shop asked us where we came from-when we told her about the mine the first words out of her mouth were of course it was dirt, it was already sifted through don’t think it wasn’t! Oh let me guess, you saw a woman from the travel channel finding all these treasures and goodies out of the mine right? Of course you did it was a complete crock im sure just to bring in business.

I am thrilled I found a link to my past, truly. But digging in a mine? Read the disclaimers before you go folks By the way, the mine owners wanted to charge us $75 EACH! And it was an extra $20 to view the actual mine.

See my newfound treasure in the next post!