Tucson - Last day

Saturday was our last day in Tucson and we planned to hit JG&M Expo and then either Holidome or Gem Mall - but once we got to JG&M all else was forgotten!  LOL!  I found some wonderful vendors and visited with a newly met photography artist and by the time that was all done we had to get gas, eat, get our bags and head to the airport.  Fortunately another friend, Ann Marie, joined us since she was flying out on the same flight.  I did HAVE to pick something up in Holidome and she wanted to see it so we dropped her off and she picked up my item and browsed until we finished all our errands.  Then we picked her up and off to the airport we went.  I'm back in San Diego now and am starting the slow process of entering everything into my inventory database.  But enough of that boring stuff - on to the fun at JG&M.

As we wandered the aisles of JG&M we saw many fossils and minerals, cool photography of gemstones by Mike Woodworth and then I went in search of the BC Jade my friends told me about.  I found it at Alaska Scrimshaw Connection owned by Dennis and Michelle Sims from Houston, Alaska.  They only had round beads - but they were pretty and I love the gorgeous natural green of this stone.  My mom picked up some fossilized walrus teeth and fossilized walrus ivory. 

Right next to Dennis and Michelle was Feng Imports, owned by Toyo Feng.  What drew me to this booth was some beautiful jasper I've never seen before.  Toyo called it mosaic creek jasper.  He said it is red creek jasper with pyrite.  It is beautiful and the patterns are just amazing.  He also had a beautiful green alligator jasper.  It comes from South Africa and the color ranges from a wonderful soft, almost mint green to an olive green.  I bought some strands of beautiful graduated rondelles in the more olive green and then some wonderful rectangles in the minty green color.  It, too, has beautiful patterns and this is the first time I've seen it.  I enjoyed talking with Toyo and look forward to seeing him again next year.  I went looking for Ann Marie and found her oogling some beautiful cabs and slices at Tony and Dolores Worth's booth.  She needed to get the $$ value up to hit the first discount level so I figured it couldn't hurt to just look ... Well once I saw matched cab pairs I was hooked ...  I hate matching pairs myself so when I find them already matched I just get an urge to buy some!  Needless to say I was able to help her get to the needed discount level and got some beautiful cabs in the process.

After that we had to stop shopping and do all our preflight errands.  We dropped Ann Marie off at Holidome so she could do some shopping and also pick up some items I ordered on Friday.  While she shopped my mom and I filled the car and then stopped at Java Edge for lunch.  It's right at the corner of Ajo and Palo Verde so if you want to get away from Holidome for a nice break - drive down, have a seat and enjoy!  After a pretty bland meal at Chop Stix (next door) several days earlier (a clove of garlic would have helped tremendously!) - this meal was from heaven!  We each had a sandwich (BLTA for me, Reuben sans cheese for my mom) and loved every bite.  The bread is fresh, they use butter lettuce instead of iceberg, the tomato was a nice red (none of that yellow, not quite ripe look) and the bacon had a wonderful flavor!  Needless to say we'll be going there for lunch next year too - probably more than once.  It is just so hard to find good places to eat in south Tucson - at least for food I like to eat. We did get a picture of the 2 folks running the place while we were there.  Did I get their names?  Of course not - but they were both incredibly polite and helpful.

Our next stop was the hotel for our bags, then we picked up Ann Marie at Holidome and finally we were off to the airport for the flight home.  It was a relatively uneventful flight and it's good to be home!  I'll be taking pictures of some of the beauties I bought so I can share some of nature's beauty with you through the week.