Beach Treasures Post Hurricane

I know I said that I was done beach combing in Chicago for 2012, but then along came a hurricane.  We had 20ft waves here on Lake Michigan. I just could not resist going to see what washed up.  It ended up being a beautiful and successful day. The best part was having my dad and sister join me in the hunting process.  I think they enjoyed it.  To quote my sister "you don't realize how much sea glass there is, until you start looking for it."  

I had not been feeling great, so it took me awhile to convince myself to make the 1 hour drive to get there.  Something told me I wouldn't regret it.  I was right!  I have a list of sea glass colors on my bucket list.  They are on the rare side, so finding them is a thrill.  I was able to cross of TWO colors after this trip!  

Here is the chart for sea glass colors and their rarity (orange being the most rare and white being the most common):

My sister found me a very rare Red! 

And this beautiful cobalt blue piece was just waiting for me to find it, like a gift from God!

 I also found a SECOND blue piece!

I gathered 212 pieces of sea glass in total.  That beats my score of 161 last time. I also found more stones, fossils, sea pottery, and some unusual items.  

Here are some unusual finds.  They are still treasures, so they will be kept in a glass jar just like the rest of my finds.

 I figured out that the baby blue pieces are actually chalk. The pointy white object is a bone. I have yet to figure out what type the mint green rocks are!  

 It was flower day.  Flower barrette, flower ring, flower button, and I found tons of real flowers scattered in the sand as well.

This little rock face was found by my sister.  Isn't it cute? 

Since my collection is growing, I decided to buy a set of jars to display everything nicely.  

From left to right: Pebbles, fossils, sea pottery, polished stones, sea glass.  I also have a whole other shelf with jars for shells, sharks teeth, the unusual items found, and my vacation jars.

I am working on making some jewelry with my polished stones and sea glass too.  I will blog that when I'm finished. I THINK I am done beach combing in Chicago until spring, but we shall see if I can stay away.  I will be hitting the beaches of Bahamas, Aruba, and Curacao in January.