Globe Trotting

Jun 23

I haven’t posted in a while because I have been constantly on the go! After our sons graduated from high school, we took a family road trip to a niece’s graduation in South Carolina. Of course, my husband and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to look for shark teeth while we were that close to the Atlantic Ocean! We found lots of teeth with the help of our kids, and we learned a couple of valuable lessons.

Lesson #1: Do not trust that Chat GPT knows anything about the best places to find shark teeth! We searched on a beach that an AI query led us to, but the only thing we really found was sunburns! We were beat with wind and waves, but we didn’t find any teeth.

Lesson #2: Trust the locals! Our other shark tooth hunting outing was much more productive. We went slightly more inland, to a sandy area near Port Royal, SC. After we decided that AI was useless for anything besides getting my shoes sucked down in the mud as we followed terrible advice and trekked down one side of the riverbank, we then joined our sons on the sandy (notice: NOT MUDDY) area and found lots of small shark teeth. It was so much fun to see them join in our fossil hunting! After a while, we noticed a couple digging IN THE PARKING LOT, not the river. My husband and stepson joined them for a little chat, and we learned that is where the BIG teeth hide. Sadly, we didn’t bring a shovel with us, only our sand scoops and sifters, plus it was getting late. Next time we’ll know the tricks to use! We were told to look for black rock - this is the phosphate layer formed around ancient organic material. We noticed lots of this black phosphate, which looked a lot like asphalt, where we were finding the smaller teeth, too.

Even without finding an elusive megalodon tooth, we came back with quite a nice collection of smaller fossilized shark teeth.

Days after we got home from that trip, one son and I went on a once in a lifetime trip with a group tour to 5 different countries in Eastern Europe. There was so much to see and learn and eat! lol I definitely think that trip will influence some of my upcoming designs! That said, I haven’t been home long enough to create anything new! I’m just itching to start drawing and designing!

I can’t start yet, though! I have one more trip planned - this time an anniversary trip with my husband that will surely involve lots of fossil and artifact hunting (and dancing!). I will hopefully have a photo-full post for you when I return next week! In the meantime, I’ll try to get some designs or at least coloring pages up for you to enjoy.

While I work, take a look at our South Carolina finds and some beautiful European views :)