Livingstone’s Rock Ranch

Livingstone’s Rock Ranch offers visitors a chance to dig their own quartz and fluorite crystals, agate, obsidian and petrified wood. Visitors also can get lessons in local geology.

Jenna Fonteyne, 10, showed off her finds after spending an hour digging in the dirt.

“I thought it was just a plain old rock,” she said, surprised to find out it was really a garnet.

Last Friday, Fonteyne and her friends spent the afternoon at Livingstone’s Rock Ranch, a museum, dig site and gift shop in Greenacres dedicated to teaching families about geology.

Owner Steve Livingstone, a retired family entertainment entrepreneur, opened the ranch four summers ago after collecting 100 tons of lapidary rock that can be cut for jewelry. He had been studying geology at Spokane Community College after his retirement and traveling to dig sites to collect his rocks.

“It’s an amusement park for rock hounds,” he said. Full story. Lisa Leinberger, SR

I don’t get the facination with rocks. My husband had a rock collection as a kid and 2 of my sons do. Sam picked up a few “special rocks” from Tubbs Hill, recently.

What’s the deal with rocks?