Glass Beach, California

I don't know if you've ever been to California's famous Glass Beach (Ft. Bragg), but the amount of glass that washes up on this beach is astounding. For sea glass lovers, be forewarned...you would have a hard time dragging yourself away because everywhere you looked, you'd find glass. A lot of it was in small shards but there were some bigger pieces as well. And of course, some were more "tumbled" than others. Unfortunately, I recently read that collecting the glass is now prohibited. Bummer for sea glass collectors such as myself.

Why so much glass? Apparently, this area was the site of municipal dumping grounds from 1900 to 1960s, including glass, appliances, and vehicles! Now the area is part of MacKerricher State Park. There is a sea glass museum nearby, which we missed when we were there.

If you have favorite spots to collect sea glass, share it with us. When traveling, I love to hit spots that are good for collecting natural elements to use in art projects. Also, for the sea glass that is still rough around the edges, does anyone have any experience using a rock tumbler to finish the process?