I started picking up rocks with my Granny on our summer vacations to Crescent City, California. We would pick up the agate on the beach. Sometimes we would lay in the pebbles and sift through them, holding them up to the sunlight to see which were most translucent. The top layer, dried by the sun, (which beckoned us to sit and dig) was deceptive. The sea water would seep up from the under layer and soak our knees and elbows. When the agates we found dried, we would lick them to rediscover the shine.
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