Canada - day 2

I believe the tagline for Visa is something like "It's everywhere you want to be." So I guess that means we don't want to be at Tim Horton's in Thunder Bay. Would have been nice to learn that before we racked up a $16 breakfast tab. They also don't take Discover card. Luckily, they do take U.S. currency.

So with the last of our cash gone, we had little choice but send the kids to work in the mines.

Today we toured Thunder Bay's amethyst mine, apparently the largest working amethyst mine in Canada, and possibly in all of North America. (The tour guide told us that twice.)

We also met "the Amethyst King". I've forgotten his name, which is probably good, because I don't have particularly nice things to say about him. Hanging on the wall of the mine's gift shop, is a framed magazine article that anointed him with this royal title. We, meanwhile, had already dubbed him the Amethyst Nazi. (Think of Seinfeld's Soup Nazi, and you'll get an idea of this guy's sense of customer service.) Whatever you do, don't touch anything. If you drop your camera lens cover, don't bend over to pick it up, because he'll think you're reaching for amethyst, and he'll yell at you. And if you arrive late and miss the repeated warnings, don't pick up a piece of amethyst, because he'll yell at you. And if his yelling scares you, don't drop the amethyst in fear, because he'll yell at you for that too. Did I mention the guy is about 80? Charming old gent. (And no, we were not the ones he was yelling at.)

Thankfully, the tour of the restricted section came to an end, so we at last got to do what we'd come for – look for our own amethyst. I wouldn't call myself a rock hound, but as someone who's been hunting agates since I was my kids' ages, this was pretty cool stuff...

... though probably not the best example of responsible parenting. Here kids, take these pointy metal rods and go play on the loose rock that's extra treacherous because of all the hoses and running water used to help with excavating.

So we improvised. Sydney was put in charge of watching our treasures.

AJ, meanwhile, lost interest after a short time. So we put him to work searching for dinosaur bones instead. I suppose someday we'll have to tell him the truth about those special white rocks he found.

We left with a little over two pounds of treasures. I just might have to try this again someday.