7/28/07 Philipsburg

This past weekend some folks from the station and I went down near
Philipsburg, MT to mine for our own sapphires. It was an interesting
adventure in many ways. First of all, the drive was HOT. I mean, I
have a really high tolerance for heat but riding with 5 people for 3.5
hours in a pontiac grand prix with no air conditioning in 90+ degree
weather is incredibly intense. We stopped and bought popsicles and
they were melting before we could even eat them.

We got to Philipsburg, and were just roasting and dehydrated.
Philipsburg is a really cool little town. It's got 1,000 residents
and is just an old town with one main street with all old brick
buildings and cute antique streetlights. We got there at 6:20PM and
everything was already closed except for one restaurant. They
definitely get a lot of tourists through there for the mining and also
for fly-fishing but the town clearly has it's own character. There is
an old brick jail up on the hill with a tower, and it is still a
functioning jail. I really wanted to get in a bar fight just so I
could get arrested and taken to that jail.

The dynamics of our road trip group are a bit unusual. I sometimes
feel like I am having a cross-cultural experience here even though we
are all from the same country, just different parts. We sat down at
the restaurant and the waitress was a complete idiot. We asked for
water, and were desperate for it, and yet it took her almost 10
minutes to get us small juice glasses of water. She screwed up our
order even as she was taking it. So needless to say the service
sucked. However, this one girl in our group is from NYC and has
basically never been out of New York. When the waitress brought her
ice cream in a dish instead of a cone she went totally stereotypical
rude New Yorker on her. I was mortified. This other girl in the
group is from Oklahoma. Now in that part of the country, and in the
rural south for that matter, it is not necessarily rude to ask for
separate checks. It is rude to do so here, as it is on the west
coast. This girl always asks for separate checks and doesn't seem to
notice the irritated look that the server always gives her. She also
is an admittedly poor tipper, which as a former bartender I have a
hard time with.

So we finally got out of there and went to find somewhere to camp. We
found a really cool forest service campground that was free(!) We
camped next to a nice stream. After arriving at the campsite I found
out that Oklahoma and NYC have never been camping before in their
lives. Can you imagine? We had to show them how to set up the tent.
Oklahoma was very concerned with how she was going to wash her face
since there was only a pit toilet. She was amazed when we informed
her that she could use water from the stream to wash her face (as long
as she didn't get soap in the stream). We had to show NYC how to make
a s'more. The 4 of them crowded into NYC's borrowed tent and I
pitched my own because after the field course I was in last quarter I
have a silly sentimental attachment to my tent. (Tom-remember that
feeling from our trip?) The weather only dropped to maybe 50 at night
but NYC got very cold at 4am and went and slept in the car.

We got up in the morning and followed the signs to the mine. Along
the way we passed a road sign that said "narrow windy dangerous
gravelly mountain road next 25 miles". Just so you know what you're
getting into I suppose. The mining itself is off this road.
Essentially they truck a bunch of gravelly dirt in from the actual
mine up in the hills. You buy a bucketful and a strapping young buck
brings your bucket to the trough and shows you how to wash it and what
to look for. We were having fun flirting with the 17 year old help,
which I think kind of amused them. You spend the next couple hours
picking and sorting and staring intently at dirt. I did find some
gems though. I got 4 that were big enough to be cut, one of which was
a pink sapphire which are pretty rare. I got tons of smaller pretty
ones as well.? It was super messy fun.

Afterwards we went back to Philipsburg to see what it was like when
things are open. They have a candy store there that is like the one
in Willy Wonka except even bigger. It was really overwhelming and I
now have more candy than I can eat. Some may even come home with me.
They also sell Miracle Max's Magic Pills which made me really happy.
We then began our slightly less hot drive home (overcast day). While
passing through Clinton, MT we saw a sign for a Rocky Mountain Oyster
Festival August 1-5. Admission is $15 which kind of violates me but
I'm just not sure I can pass it up. SIGH.