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You are here: Home / Home Education / Field Trips / 31 Days in Oregon: Rice Rock Museum

October 3, 2014 by: RidgetopFarm&Garden

31 Days in Oregon: Rice Rock Museum

Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

Day 3 includes yet another house in the Portland area. The house is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places, but that’s not why most people visit the house. The house is now a museum, the rooms turned into galleries.

If you enjoy natural science then you will adore this museum. If that’s not your thing, then you’ll be really bored here. It really is a museum of pretty much only rocks & minerals.

 

Technically, it’s called the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks & Minerals. But, who’s going to say all that? We just call it the Rice Rock Museum or even the Rock Museum.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

The home turned museum was built in 1952 by rockhounds, Richard & Helen Rice.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Right out front is a large quartz piece found in Arkansas.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Main Building

The Rainbow Gallery is one of our favorites.
Top: In normal light the minerals aren’t all that wowing…
Bottom: … But, wait a few seconds and the lights go out. Then, they cycle through both shortwave & longwave florescent lights. The minerals react differently to the varying wavelengths. They seem to glow.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Top: A visual representation of the hardness scale of minerals.
Bottom: The kids can even test the hardness scale themselves.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Also on display are examples of how minerals are used in our everyday lives.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Synthetic Bismuth from Germany
To be honest, I have know idea what that means, but I thought it was super cool.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

The lady on the left is carved from jade. The piece on the right is agate & from Beijing.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Mt. Hood Aurora Borealis carved from contra luz opal by Thomas Harth Ames.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Dennis & Mary Murphy Petrified Wood Gallery
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Carved Lewis and Clark
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Bottom Left: The green stuff is Pyromorphite. Found in France.
Bottom Right: Wulfenite. Found in Arizona.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Recently a letterbox was hidden at the museum. Of course, we had to find it.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

The rare, beautiful & famous ‘Alma Rose’ rhodochrosite. From Colorado.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Cut gems
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Northwest Mineral Gallery

As you enter this building you are greeted by this huge opal filled thunderegg found in Oregon. The thunderegg is Oregon’s state rock.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Mesolite. Found in Washington
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Another good sized Thunderegg. These rocks are dull on the outside, but beautiful inside.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

These thundereggs are about fist size, a more typical size.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Oregon’s state gem, sunstone.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

I loved these 3 paintings showing the process of a petrified forest.
Top: “Before Petrification: A forest, including fallen logs is depicted. Volcanoes are erupting in the distance. A lake separates the forest from the volcanoes, and the lakes water cools the lava.”
Middle: “During Petrification: Logs are buried under lava (basalt) and a top layer of soil has developed, implying a long passage of time since burial. The overlying basalt and soil create anaerobic environment preventing the wood from decomposing. Silica rich water seeps down through the soil and basalt to the wood and precipitates microcrystalline quartz (agate/chert/jasper) and/or opal. Other minerals/elements in the water (eg iron) cause the coloration.”
Bottom: “After Petrification: A new landscape exists and erosion has now exposed the now petrified wood to the surface.”
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

Outside

Left: There is a huge rock pile outside. The kids each got to pick one to take home.
Right: Farm Girl was sweet and gave me her rock to put around our pond. It’s sitting next to a love rock.
Ridgetop Farm and Garden | Rice Rock Museum

 

My kids love this Rock Museum. We’ve visited it a few times and I’m sure we’ll visit it again.
To see what others are sharing for the month of October check out write31days.com

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