Ancestors and geodes

We had the chance the visit the lands and title office in Old Nauvoo. There we found that one of our ancestors was a tenant in this spot. He later owned various acres in the outlying area of town. While I've always known that several of my ancestors were Mormon pioneers and that they lived in Nauvoo, it was a thrill to be able to see where they actually lived! This spot is actually on the land that is at the foot of the temple (towards the River) on the very right hand corner.

 

We heard that near Nauvoo, there are places one can go to dig geodes out of the ground. After several phone calls, I was told that due to the previously wet weather, that it was too muddy and we weren't as prepared as we would have liked to have been. So, we decided to scrap it. We found (on the handy GPS) that there was a nearby Geode State Park in Iowa. So - we took off with hopes of seeing some great geodes or something. Well - it was more like a name. However, at the park office, we saw a really big geode, and then noticed that a couple had been built into the stucco work of the building.  

 

Apparently the kids had their hearts set on finding some geodes. We finally found someone who let us dig through his pile of rejects (after we saw that the creek WAS indeed very high and not very passable.) Here we are working as geode gleaners. We did find some cool fossils in this pile as well.