Field Trip Report:

Fifth Annual Western North Carolina Rockhound Roundup! July 30th-August 3rd, 2008 photos by: Rick Bernotas, Lee Fleming, Mark Gaskins and Rick Jacquot Nancy and John Donna and Mark Brian and Jeri Rich Leah and Sandy Saturday night it was time for a campfire and more fun. Mark brought his keyboard and we learned that Fiona could play the piano. Leah, Dave and Lee To top off the evening, Ken brought his monster telescope and gave a tour of the stars for the members. I got to see Jupiter and its four moons, very cool! This was the most fantastic roundup ever, it just seems to get better every year. We had members from Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Washington, New Hampshire, Mass., Iowa, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, West Virginia, Indiana and probably more that I missed. I want to give special thanks to Jerry and Tena for helping me cook, Jeff Nagy for setting up the electric, Richard Holmes for bringing his theater setup for us to watch movies, Ken Brandt for the star tour with the telescope, Mickey and Jackie for preparing and providing the hamburgers, Lee for the great fireworks display and the 120 bags of popcorn for the movies, Ken for the wire wrap and cabbing lessons for the members, Jeff for the faceting demonstrations, Fiona for helping the kids find stuff in the treasure box and the others that contributed material for the treasure box, Pete Mailman for the great banner, Lee, Ken and Rick B. for leading trips to the various mines in the area. All the members who gave and traded me some great specimens for my collection. If I missed anyone, thank you for everything you did. And thanks to everyone else for being the greatest bunch of rockhounds on the planet. Without all of you, the roundup would not be the same. It will be hard to top this years roundup, but I know we will next year, and I can't wait!