St. Thomas Giant Quartz

We took a small airplane, like really small, from St. Croix (STX) to St. Thomas (STT). Before we got on the plane, the flight attendants asked us all our weights and who wanted to sit in the front of the plane. The flight felt like it was 5 minutes, but dad says it was about 30 minutes. I got to sit in the front co-pilot seat! I could see everything!

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On STT, they have more people and more stores - it's more crowded. While we we were walking, I saw a HUGE gem in a jewelry shop. In my gem book, Gem: The Definitive Visual Guide by Aja Raden, I identified it as quartz. Quartz is "the most common mineral on Earth's crust", and "of all minerals, it has the greatest number of gem varieties."

There are 2 forms of quarts, crystal and cryptocrystalline. The STT quartz was one big crystal because has points and flat sides from cutting out of rock. This sample had two colors, purple and white, and it was smooth but rough on top. I think the rock weighed more than me!