My Childhood: Rock Collecting

Sometime during my childhood years, I became fascinated by rocks and minerals. I collected literally thousands of rocks, and stored them in a drawer in my desk. I remember filling that drawer, and then moving on to fill a second drawer besides.

I had beautiful pink quartz crystals, soapstone, sandstone, turquoise, fools gold, and many more besides. I suspect, at its peak, my collection probably consisted of well over five hundred different rocks.

Dad brought home some core samples from an oil drilling operation. These became the centerpieces of my collection, because they looked great.

I was able to add petrified wood to my collection while at Hillside. All the kids knew I collected rocks, because I’d often bring them with me to show and tell. One day, one of my friends was running and laughing. He stopped near me and thrust two rocks into my hands. He said I could have them, and ran away, still laughing. It turned out those two rocks were beautiful specimens of petrified wood.

Whenever my parents and I went on one of our little trips, I would always try and find some interesting rocks. For example, once, when we took a trip to Palm Springs, we stopped by an old volcano. My dad and I climbed up a few hundred feet, and came upon some great quartz crystals. We managed to acquire a few of these for my collection. Someday, I’ll return to that mountain (if I can find it) and get some more.

My favorite event in the entire world was visiting the Rock & Gem show, in the Orange Show Fair Grounds. This occurred once a year, and I remember anxiously awaiting each one. I would save up my money for months, so I could buy the best rocks available.

The Rock & Gem show was put on inside a large auditorium, filled wall to wall with hundreds of displays and vendors selling various rocks, minerals and collecting equipment. I’d wander around for hours, looking at all of the exhibits (which were, of course, for sale) and purchasing some truly nice looking rocks. For example, I purchased some geodes (one of the few rocks from my early collection that I still have), rose quartz crystals, and some tiger eyes.

I loved my rock collection, and continued collecting right up until high school. By then, I had a collection worth showing off, even to non-collectors.