Hunting the elusive blues

Today was the start of a weekend with our friends Bernie & Linda, who moved to Ellensburg a few years ago. Linda quit her Boeing job and took the girls east, living her dream of being in the town where she went to college. Bernie is also living his dream, of retiring from Boeing at 55. (Neither of them really retired, though... both work part time for the city.)

Anyway, we head for Eburg as often as we can, since these guys are our best friends, and we miss them. Linda & I planned this weekend two months ago, because we know how it goes: if you don't set the time aside, your days fill up.

Linda got me started on looking for for this particular stone, as she lives in the only place in the world where you can find it. The Ellensburg Blue agate is so rare, it's considered by many gemologists to be a precious (rarity & hardness, actually... this agate is harder than your typical agate). She's developed a reputation in town as someone who can usually find them. Pretty good, considering that the public land in agate territory is shrinking. And the local landowners are not usually willing to let people traipse over their acres.

We started our weekend visit with a few hours in the hills, hiking in to an area where they typically find Blues, then walking around with heads bent to the ground, looking for that flash of color. We found a lot of stuff today: pure white quartz, agates filled with crystals, and a few pieces of agate that have the telltale orange halo of a Blue, but so pale you can't really call them blue agates. If I ever find my geology hardness kit, I'll know for sure. If I can't scratch these with a piece of quartz, can I call them Blues... even if they're not blue?