Traveling the El Camino Real

Devin explores a portion of the the historical El Camino Real trail from western Louisiana to east Texas in this new video:

Geology Kitchen #13 - Feldsparty

Good news! It's time for an all new Geology Kitchen!

Feldspars are the second most common group of minerals on Earth. The are important contributors to soils as they weather relatively easily to form clays. Potassium, Sodium and Calcium are the most common elements in Feldspars passed on to plants and animals, and are all elements critical to human life.

Naranjo Museum of Natural History

We found a hidden gem in Lufkin, TX: The Naranjo Museum of Natural History!  Devin checks it out in this new video:

GeoWalk: Hamilton Pool Preserve

Devin checks out some of the geologic features of Hamilton Pool Preserve near Austin, TX:

The Lunar, the Better

When you think of the small East Texas town of Lufkin you might not immediately think of fossils, dinosaurs and space travel but those are some of the topics covered in the town's little known (at least I had never heard of it) Naranjo Museum.

But among the impressive dinosaur skeletons and archaeological specimens is the museum's most impressive piece...which came from a long distance to its East Texas resting place.

That's right, the world's largest moon rock on display can be found in Lufkin, TX!  It was collected by the Apollo 14 mission and was permanently loaned to the museum by NASA’s Johnson Space Center.  Here's a close look at the 4 billion year old specimen:

The moon is approximately hundreds of thousands of miles away so if you want to see a big piece of it you're probably a lot better off heading to Lufkin.

Daisy Bradford No. 3 Discovery Well

Devin takes a look at the history of the Daisy Bradford No. 3 Discovery Well which brought about the discovery of the East Texas Oil Field and Oil Boom of East Texas:

Devin's Adventures in Amsterdam Part 1

And now here is part 1 of a travelogue from EMI's writer/producer/geologist Dr. Devin Dennie about his recent exploration of the Dutch city of Amsterdam:

I recently had the opportunity to head across the pond to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.   They say getting there is half the fun but that nine hour plane trip was rough.  It takes a lot of effort to get to the other side of the world.  After landing at the Schiphol Airport, my journey had only begun.  I then had to hop aboard the great train system to central Amsterdam and headed to The Hague.

 

 

The Hague is is a city in South Holland that is sometimes called "Judicial Capital of the World" because it not only is the home of the Dutch Parliament and government, it is also the home to several international courts in what is known as the International Peace Palace:

I also visited the famous Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis.  It's a world renown art museum that houses some famous works of art.  One of the more well known paintings is "Girl With a Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer:

 

 

More of the sites I saw are coming up in part 2 so stay tuned!