Last week Kate and Makoto and I headed up the 14 into the desert. Destination: gem o rama (graphic design alert). Turns out there’s a place called Trona where, once a year, they put explosives in a dry lake bed and, basically, blow it up. And then there are GEMS just sitting on the ground. For you to put in your bucket and take home. And it’s pretty awesome. Thankfully there were a lot of boyscouts and geologists nerding out about it so that we knew which rocks were gems and which ones were just salt. There was a lot of shiny and it was exciting. Planning to make this an annual road trip and possible camping trip. And next year we’re not skipping the pancake breakfast.

And on a braid note, thanks to everyone who came out and brought such big smiles to the braids by brislin event. We’ll be posting photos soon!