Well, I am finally getting around to writing about my Tucson Trip that I took with my friend Mary from Feb 7th to Feb 14th. Actually, I sat down a few days ago and started writing away. I wrote 3 paragraphs about the visit but unfortunately I wasn’t signed in so it all vanished when I tried to save the draft. Ah, well, I learn about blogging every time I sit down at the computer to write.
The Tucson trip was fantastic! I would happily go back tomorrow if I could. Not so much for the Gem shows but for the “real” rock hunting. We went to Tucson to go to the Gem and Mineral shows that are held every year in Jan. and Feb. We went one time before but it was only for a long weekend. We hit the ground running and went to one of the bead shows that was only 5 days long. Only? Most of the shows run for several weeks. We had been to this show before. I had decided before going that beads were definitely on the list. Neither one of use bought much the first day but boy! from then on I sure did! It was so hard to resist all the glittery beads and shiny objects. Actually, I did resist the shiny objects, okay, not all of them. There were 100′s of 1000′s of Chinese crystals everywhere and they were only $1.00 a strand! I didn’t buy a one. I did find something that I have been looking for for quite a while. Briolettes. Little tiny ones. I bought a whole bunch. Did I say a whole bunch?! Now I just need to make something with them.
One the second day we hit Kent’s tools. Awesome! The best tool vendor at the show. The prices were amazing on almost everything and it is so fun to be able to pick something up before you buy it. I did get quite a few tools. I have almost everything I need but there are always those tools you want! I finally got 2 gold pans and a sieve. Though if I will actually ever use the gold pans I don’t know. I did sort of try them out. On one of our rock hounding journey’s we found black sand. Black sand is sometimes associated with gold. Not this time though. I ended up sending home about 2 quarts of it and an assortment of other rocks in a prepaid flat rate USPS shipping box. I messed with the sand as soon as it arrived but *sigh* no gold. It is sure fun to play with though because the sand is magnetic. I have some rare earth magnets and I used those to pull out most the sand before I tried to “pan” for gold. Anyway I digress. I don’t regret buying any of the tools!
One of the other main items I was looking for was turquoise. On the last trip we found several awesome vendors with gorgeous Chinese turquoise, Boulder Turquoise and of course Southwestern turquoise. I SO wish we would have found them first. I’m sure I would not have ended up with so many beads! Oh well, next time I will know. That didn’t stop me from buying lots of turquoise and I mean lots! I have some wonderful stones to work with and probably enough to last many years unless I really get myself in gear. I’ll post some pictures of my “collection” soon. I should have made a pile of all the stuff I bought just for the fun of it but then again I think I might have really freaked out!
The best part was just getting to be with Mary, going to the Biosphere 2, rock hunting and enjoying the sunshine. If we ever get to go again we both know what the main focus will be. Wandering the desert in search of treasure!
