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Last week, after checking the weather wunderground numerous times, I decided to drive 3.5 hours from Chicago to St. Paul Stone Quarry. It was the last "open house" day according to the ESCONI website. I arrived at 7:45, the first and only person there. Shortly thereafter, after a brief safety instruction, I followed the manager to the collecting site, heaps and heaps of Waldron shale. Even though I dressed in layers, I still had to take breaks and warm up in the car for a few minutes, but I much rather prefer collecting in cold weather as opposed to hot summer sun with mosquitoes, any day. It didn't take too long to start finding fossils. Here are just a few of my finds: Eospirifer Platystrophia brachiopods with pyrite Platyceras niagarense encrusted with strophomenid, bryozoa and pyrite. front: back: Partial Dalmanitid Trilobite in matrix When prepping, it's really wonderful how the waldron "butter" shale just crumbles apart around the predictable morphology of an enrolled trilobite. The trip just wouldn't seem complete without a short drive east to the Cincinnati Arch roadcuts. I first went to South Gate and found a flexicalymene eroding right out of the cut. It is interesting to see the comparisons here. The trilobite on the left is from St Paul (Silurian) and has beautiful pyritized eyes. The one on the right is from South Gate (Ordovician). Both trilobites have 21 articulated segments; does this make them both the same age as "adults"? Interesting to note the difference in size, being 40 million years apart, same species.. Thanks for looking!