As usual, our field trip day, Friday, started out with beautiful weather. It was a little cool but the sun seemed eager to warm up the day. It did that very nicely. Monte's children, Katelyn and Andrew came along with us. We set out to hunt for fossils in South Alabama. This was a new one on me. I had never been on a fossil hunt before.. We had heard that there were various types of marine fossils at the location to which we were headed. Nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to see. From the truck, the site looked like the usual dirt hillsides we'd been to before to dig. Upon closer inspection, I was stunned at all of the fossils littering the ground..  I knew it was going to be a memorable day. We all looked like frenzied crabs scrambling around checking out the little treasures. Before long Katelyn let out a shout, "I found a big one!". We were all so busy with our own activities that no one went to see. Later she shouted again, "I need help!". I went over to lend a hand and to see what was going on. She had been diligently chipping away the hard dirt from around what looked like a large oyster shell. Wow! It was exciting to see such a thing emerging into daylight after all those years of being suspended in time. I grabbed up my mattock and got to work. Fifteen minutes later the earth finally released its grip on the ancient claim. Katelyn was just thrilled! She had found the first big prize of the day. I, on the other hand, had set my heart on the elusive shark's tooth. If I could find one...just one....I would be extremely happy and satisfied. We shimmied up and down the hillside a little while longer and then moved on down the road to the next site. It was the same scenario all over again: excitement and activity! Before long it was I that was the grand prize winner. Yes! I found a shark's tooth! I shouted over and over again, "I found one!". After that, one by one, each person found one of their own. Then it started all over again like the dealing out of a deck of cards. "I found another one!"....etc......I even found the tooth of a mosasaur, one of the fiercest sea creatures ever known. These lizard -like beasts resembled our modern day alligators only they could grow to be up to 60 feet long. They swam in the warm shallow sea that once covered parts of Alabama. You wouldn't have wanted to get caught by the mosasaur. It had many rows of strong teeth. It even had long curved teeth at the back of its throat. This made sure that whatever went in wasn't going to come back out! Let me tell you, we were one fired-up group of people! This went on all day long as we ended up visiting six different locations. At one of the sites, we were all digging in a hillside when Katelyn called us over to see this ominous looking creature she had uncovered. She had unearthed a large black widow spider. Thankfully she was not bitten. But we were all more cautious and alert after that. We were digging at "site 2" when I caught several different fossils peeking out at me from the bank all at once. My mattock and I waged war on that bank and we didn't walk away embarrassed! There was, however, a comical moment which my camera caught that bears mentioning. While digging, I had been hamming it up for the camera for some action shots. I raised my trusty mattock up for a big hearty swing. At that moment the metal point slid down the tool and rested on my hands. There was an immediate moment of silence among us.... and then uncontrollable laughter! I just pushed it back up to the top and kept going. A little tool malfunction would be the last thing to stop me from winning this battle! Later we were talking about my little incident. We realized that it would have been the perfect moment for one of our favorite sound effects: the retro sound of a Pac Man dying! Yes, I know, we walk to the beat of a different drum but it sure is fun!!!! If there was an award for the most unique find of the day, I think it would have to go to Andrew. He found what looked like a cluster of fossilized fish eggs. We had never seen anything like that before. He also found an elongated tooth which we think may have belonged to an ancient whale. Monte also had an interesting find. She found the spines of several sea urchins. It was getting late so we forced ourselves into the truck and headed for chow. It was nice to relax and enjoy the sweet Alabama sunset as it drew to a close another awesome adventure. I must say this had been one of the most remarkable exploits I'd been on in a long long time.  I think Andrew summed it up best with a solemn statement from the back seat, "Mom, this was so good I almost feel guilty.". And of course you know where we ended up having dinner. If you're new and don't know, just check out our other field trip reports. It should be pretty apparent. After dinner we planned to stay with our hosts, Monte's parents, in east central Alabama for the night. We stayed up late doting over the days cache. We were pampered with soft beds, impeccable hospitality, and the promise of a made-from-scratch country breakfast in the morning. MMMMMM....Sweet Dreams!!!