Tucson Gem Show - Day 2 (posted a day late)

I was just too tired last night after catching up on all the business related emails to take bead pictures and share them all with you.  I totally forgot to take any venue pictures!  Even today I only took pictures at the new venue (for us) that we visited - but I did get some good ones there.

Yesterday I started out at the JGM - Simpson St. show on its first day to make sure I got first crack at the beads that Toyo Feng of Feng's Trading brought to the show.  He always has wonderful quality, he knows exactly what/how it's made, if the stone has been treated and he often has some cool cuts!  I found him 4 years ago and he is one of a few dealers that I have to visit on the first day of the show. Oh he had some beautiful stuff!  Kingman and Sleeping Beauty turquoise, some gorgeous carved ovals of mosaic creek jasper, beautiful carved citrine leaves .... ah I could go on and on - but I'll let the pictures show the story since I forgot to take a picture with Toyo!  Hotel room pictures are never the best - but hopefully you'll get a feel for how beautiful the stones are.  As you can imagine I spent a lot of time looking through beads!

Various turquoise shapes (and the bright blue pendant is Sleeping Beauty! and those green hue tubes are Kingman!)

more turquoise

Sleeping Beauty turquoise and white agate

Citrine and carnelian

Exquisite carved citrine leaves

Angelite and the cutest little, flat pyrite squares I've ever seen!

Aren't these just the coolest carved barrels in red creek jasper?

Petrified wood beads - wow!

Blue Lace Agate - always a favorite of mine

Natural pearls and nephrite jade from British Columbia

Golden obsidian and purple jasper

After lunch my mom and I had to get something cleared up with the rental car company (I was on empty after only 1 day of driving and they marked full on my contract - oops!) and then we hit Gem Mall.  We went to the 1000 building to start and I didn't see too much that got my creative juices flowing.  I did have to go to Nirvana beads because they were selling the "cultured sea glass" beads for Znet shows and I love to use that in designs.  Unfortunately that was not a pleasant experience.  Our salesman, Nir (who, it turned out after some googling late last night, is the company PRESIDENT!!!) spent almost my entire visit at his booth complaining about Chinese vendors, Chinese products, ...  Why he agreed to sell fake sea glass for a Chinese company in his booth is beyond my comprehension since he was quite negative about the glass, showed total disdain to those wanting to buy it and, even more amazing to me, made no attempt to show the buyers how they could pair the sea glass with his beautiful Czech beads.

I had to go digging through piles and boxes myself (since he didn't even know what products he brought to the show) to try to find some matching fire polished rounds for the sea glass I picked out.  I only found 2 colors that matched.  I have to wonder why he didn't make sure, before he packed for the show, that he had Czech beads that complemented the sea glass.  That seemed like a real easy way to improve sales to me. But it does require some planning ahead of time and you do need to actually talk to the customer about what they want so you can offer them some complementary beads in your own product line.

Anyway - I spent very little since he did not have many of the sea glass styles I like, had very few Czech beads to match and I really wanted to minimize my time around him.  I only caught his first name while I was there but my mom was sure that this Nir was the Nir in Nirvana beads.  It turns out she was right!  Once I found out who he was I sent a scathing email to the company contact email because I just couldn't believe any company president could act that way.  I've had vendors totally ignore me, in which case I leave, and some don't really warm up until they see that you're serious about buying - but I have never heard the amount of negativity that I heard from Negative Nir. Oh - and I had to bag everything up myself!  He just handed me his cell phone to sign for the credit card purchase and walked away!

Nir did respond this morning and apologized.  He said he would take my comments to heart.  I don't know that I'll actually go visit him again to find out because I have had so many pleasant dealings with Starman (Czechbeads.com).  They have a very professional display at the shows (bundles of beads are not just piled wily-nily on tables) and their sales staff is helpful, positive and friendly.

Anyway - I don't want to end this post with that negative interaction so here are the pretty beads that I was able to get at Nirvana.  Won't those Czech rounds look just gorgeous in a cascade above the glass drops?

Tucson Gem Show 2014 - Day 1

I'm back in Tucson (along with my mom) for the fun and interesting gem shows!  We arrived this morning, had some lunch at Las Margaritas, mom got a Starbuck's mocha and then we hit the shows!  Our first stop was the GIGM show at the Howard Johnson motel.

I found some beautiful lapis at Afghan Gem Jewelry.  I don't know if I got the best price around but I liked Aman and found some nice polished and faceted lapis beads.  Here's Aman with some of his beads in the background.

Aman from Afghan Gem Jewelry

My favorite turquoise dealer/miner Shellbone and his dad are at this show every year.  I have a camera that works indoors this year so my pictures are better.  Here are Shellbone, my mom and his dad (and I did not remember his dad's name and didn't think to ask! silly me!)

Shellbone, owner of Nevada Turquoise Co. (on the right), his dad (on the left) and my mom

Shellbone has some BIG gold nuggets he and his dad got while panning in Alaska.  This year they went panning in northern California and found a few more nuggets which he showed us, but they don't compare in size to Alaska nuggets.

Next we wandered around the show some more and met this very nice man, Ibrahim, from Morocco.  I got some Orthoceras pendants (also from Morocco) from him.

 

And I just thought the size and color of this gemstone ball was stunning ... I didn't ask what the stone is and I'm not quite sure.  It resembles rhodocrosite but may be pink quartz - I really should ask when I take pictures of things like this.

Our next stop was the 22nd Street show.  I didn't remember if we ever went to this show but once we got inside we did see some familiar companies like Wyoming Fossils.  This is a great show for fossils - all shapes and sizes.  We also saw this neat art by John T. Benedict of Some Distant World.  He uses parts from cars, nuts, bolts, steel and all kinds of other metal things.  Where possible he designs his pieces so the moving parts can still move!  He even has a button you push on that lantern fish to the right of his head so the lantern lights up!  Very cool!

John T. Benedict of Some Distant World in Tucson, AZ

I stopped by Pangaea Industries to see what they had for interesting fossils and stones.  I got some cool herkimer quartz rough (for a sterling or copper sandwich - details below) and an Orthoceras coaster to replace one that got broken last year at home.

We made one final stop at the Pueblo Gem show to see my favorite larimar sellers, Jens and Cynthia of Larimar Conlight.   I did get some round larimar beads ... I have a soft spot for the beautiful, Caribbean blue color of larimar!  I did a quick check at Yaushing Gems but none of the brios/drops pulled me in.  Then I checked in at Thomas Schneider Gems and found some cool roughs in amethyst and citrine and some tumbled peridot that I'll mount in a sterling washer sandwich similar to this:

And here are the stones (not the best pictures, but they're taken in a hotel room) ...

 

Brazilian amethyst and citrine, Arizona peridot

Herkimer quartz

And below is a sampling of some of the pretties I got today ...

Afghan lapis

Orthoceras

Rhodocrosite

Turquoise and spiny oyster

Larimar

Tucson - Day 4

We had to start out day 4 with a stop at Starbuck's for the 2 Starbuck's addicts in the car (Mom and college roomie Kathy).  Then we headed back to The Rock Show (or more commonly knows as RV Park) so Kathy could check out the polished slices to see if she just had to have some for coasters ... and she did.  This time I did remember to take pictures of Bob and Pharoah of Really Old Rocks.  Wow - I remembered the picture and to include a link to his web page!  I'm getting back into the proper swing of things ... 

FYI - Pharoah is the pretty, brown guy standing on his back legs ...

Next we hit the Barn at The Rock Show to check out one of the vendors that was closed on Sunday.  I was soooo glad we did.  They had some gorgeous, American, semi-precious gemstones.  Gorgeous jaspers and agates - some I'd seen before, some I haven't.  Here is just a taste of what I found ...

Willow Creek Jasper from Idaho

Gorgeous sage amethyst from Nevada and more jaspers (I'm too tired to go open the bag to dig out the name)

I got quite a few other stones there - but the pictures didn't come out too well.  Of course I forgot to take a picture of Leanne and you'll have to wait until I get home for me to update this post with the name and web link...

Next it was back to TEP (aka the Kino Gem and Mineral show) and another of my favorite gemstone suppliers - Royal Quality Gems - owned by Chun and Jennifer Ho.  They always have wonderful, quality gemstones at very reasonable prices.  I had a good time shopping there.  The pictures only show the gems that actually photographed well since I didn't want to remove them from their protective sleeves.

Chun and Jennifer - the very gracious owners who only carry quality gemstones in their stock

Gorgeous turquoise and oh-so-hard-to-find river stone!

More turquoise, onyx and lovely rhodocrosite

From here we next headed back to G&LW Gem Mall to replace some cultured sea glass (aka manmade sea glass) at Znet that Kathy accidently dropped and to go in search of faceted, skinny, but not too long onyx drops. Here is some of the manmade sea glass I purchased yesterday and today at Znet - I love it!

It took quite a bit of searching to find the onyx drops (very Goldilocks in feel - this drops too small, this drops too big ... oh,, yay, this drop is just right!) and in the process of looking I found other beads that I just had to have ...

Onyx drops, grey (aka phantom) quartz, ruby hearts (oh so pretty!), jasper earring pairs, green oyster (first time I've seen it and it's cool! - green sprinkly inside mother of pearl)

And that, my friends, was that.  We headed back to the condo, Kathy, my kitchen beautician, colored my hair to turn some of that blondie-grey into just blondie ... And now it's time to hit the sack.  More on our adventures tomorrow!

Tucson - Day 4

It's getting colder in Tucson in the AM now.  It was 45F degrees when we headed out to breakfast at the Waffle House next door.  Check out my post from last year for pictures - most of the same people are still working there and they still make the food exactly how you want with no complaints.  After that we made a quick run to the Best Bead Show.  I happened on some lampwork disks that would match the wonderful blacks/browns/white in the black agate with quartz beads I bought so I got those.  Then I met a gal who owns San Fran Arts & Craft and has some true vintage Czech and Japanese glass beads.  She had some very unique beads that I wanted for my stash.  And, of course, I forgot to take a picture.  Her store is in Sonoma though so I can keep an eye out for more unique beads when I go up there to visit relatives - yay!  The folks I really wanted to see - Blue Heeler Glass - weren't able to come after all.  Wah!  Another impulse buy nipped in the bud!

Next we were off to To Bead True Blue to visit my favorite lampwork twisty maker Colleen Girard.  She is CLG Lampwork and you, too, can buy her twisty beads (and focals of course) online.  We found her at the show and what should we find?  She didn't bring any twisties!!! Ack!!!  I was so disappointed!  (like I really need more lampwork beads)  We chitchatted with her a bit and she told me to send pictures of whatever I wanted twisties to match and she would make custom ones in the appropriate glass.  Of course I knew this already - I just wanted to do some impulse shopping!  Her twisties are just so touchable and fun to peruse!  We went looking for a gal who does gorgeous bead embroidery on cuffs and such.  My mom bought a beautiful bracelet from her a few years back at the Pasadena Bead show and wanted to say hi and show her the bracelet she made.  We could not remember her name so we checked out most of the rooms but couldn't find a sign of her.  As we were looking for her we ran across BeadsAddict and their absolutely wonderful drusy!  Widya's (on the left in the photo) family, in Indonesia, creates these beauties!  She was able to answer any question we had on the stone and the guy helping her (did I get his name??? no - agh!!) is a consumate salesman.  He kept helping us find more drusies in the style we seemed to prefer and then would show us other things "just in case" we might like them.  They were both very gracious and helpful.  It was a definite pleasure doing business with them - and you can too!  I also included a picture of one of the trays of drusies.

Next stop was Starbuck's - yay!  We were feeling Starbuck's deprived since there isn't a single one to be found in south Tucson.  Since we were in the central Tucson are for TBTB we knew there was one somewhere and found it.  The hot mocha was yummy!

Then it was down to JOGS.  I had a list of folks to see and found most of them.  Fortunately I found some new ones too!  Last year I didn't actually wander up and down every isle so I figured it would be a good thing to do this year.  I was sure glad I did because I wandered into the turquoise section and found some wonderful beads (that I had to have) at the Eljen Group's booth.  Elven and Linda (pictured below) were absolutely wonderful people to buy from.  Linda was especially helpful since we both had similar tastes in colors for design.  She showed me some absolutely luscious turquoise beads they'll have next year and I just have to get them.  You'll have to wait until next year to find out what they are!  Years ago Elven was able to buy the last remaining rough from the #8 mine (perhaps I should say - known rough - who knows what might be hiding in some warehouse somewhere?) and he developed a way to harden it to make it useable.  You can read more about the Eljen process which is used if you google it.  The GIA has classified turquoise treated with this process as "impregnated natural turquoise".   Here are Linda, Elven and some of their beautiful turquoise!

We wandered around JOGS until I think we covered every square inch.  I did see some gorgeous rhodocrosite and sugilite at Kameyab - but just couldn't afford them!  My mom found a Bisbee turquoise cabachon that was calling to her too but just couldn't afford it either.  Neither of us dare walk into JOGS tomorrow - or we might give in to temptation!  Since we finished up a bit earlier than expected we went back to Holidome to wander through the ballroom area.  We also made a quick run through another room where my mom found some wonderful multi-tourmaline rondelles and I found some interesting iolite square brios.  I'm always looking for interesting cuts and these drew my eye.  I can't wait to make something with them. Next we headed into the big tent to get some wonderful sterling findings from Stones and Findings.  Some of my other jewelry designer friends found this booth yesterday.  I got sidetracked with the rhodocrosite heart brios at the booth across the aisle and by the time I was done there I had to leave and didn't get to check out the sterling.  So today I took time to peruse all their beautiful sterling findings and make some selections for my own designs.  You'll be seeing those at some point in the future when I design with them.  My last stop was Azur Global Imports.  I am always on the lookout for 22" sterling finished chains.  They are incredibly hard to find and only seem to be available in Italian chain.  I have no idea why - but when I find a source for them I rejoice.  My last source, found at a San Diego Gem Faire, just disappeared off the web.  Today I got to rejoice again!  Yay!  I now have more 22" sterling snake chain in stock.  - OK - so small things make me happy - what can I say?

At that point my mom and I were both done in so we headed off to get dinner, came back, packed and are now heading off to sleepy-land.  Sleep well everyone!  Tomorrow night I may have time to take good pictures of my finds and share the beauties with you.

Tucson - Day 3

Back again and these posts are getting later and later at night!  Today we started off at Tucson Electric Park.  Our hotel is near Holidome and it was a nightmare of traffic this morning!  The show opened today and anyone showing up at 9:45AM was in for a looonnnnggg wait to get into the parking lot.  I knew it would be a mess which is why we went elsewhere this morning.  One of my favorite gem sellers, Royal Quality Gems, was at TEP again this year.   I couldn't find a web link for them.  Here's a picture of me with the owner and his wife.

My next stop was Miland Tools.  I had a list to check out and Miland gladly showed them all to me.  I changed my mind on a few things and added some texture hammers to my to-buy list as well.  Miland makes his own tools and has a money back warranty if you don't like the way they work.  I love visiting with him and his son!  Darn it if I didn't get pictures of him again this year!  After that we wandered around TEP just to see what else was there.  My mom bought a beautiful cabachon from Zee and we saw this interesting rock fish art and I would LOVE to have this chunk of stone with malachite azurite in it!

Next was lunch and then Holidome!!!  No pictures from Holidome but I finally found those darned rhodocrosite heart brios!  Yay!  Hopefully the gal who wanted them likes them - LOL!  If not there are others who will.  And, of course, I visited my favorite sterling bead seller, Kalpataru, again.  And I made another quick visit to Lucky Gems for more rondelles (at the request of some friends).  My mom and I wandered around some more, stopped to check out a few more places - one of which had the rhodo brios as well as some lovely ametrine brios and faceted ovals - quite yummy.  My mom also found some beautiful fluorite at one place (I'll have to dig up the card and update the blog later) where I also found what they called "cocoa quartz".  They said it's natural.  I've never seen it before - but I love the rich brown color - so I bought the 4 nicest little strands.  After Holidome my mom and I joined some other beading friends for dinner and goodie show-and-tell.  Oh - what beautiful and interesting things everyone bought!  Lights out now and I'll write for you all tomorrow.

Tucson day 1!

Flew in, went to 3 shows, ate dinner and now we're tired!  Went to the Pueblo Gem and Mineral show, AGTA and GJX shows today.  Had a blast at the Pueblo Gem and Mineral show (aka Riverpark Inn)!  I always do!  I just love the variety of things you can see at this show - some very eclectic things too!  I snagged larimar from Larimar Conlight.  Snagged some nice boulder opal with flash at The Opal Zone.  The best thing is that Richard Eddy - the guy who does the cutting and polishing - was doing the selling too!  I love the efficiency and excellent documentation of stones at Yau Shing Gems so I bought more nice top drill gemmies.  No friendly chit-chat but they gladly quote prices, will go looking for specific things in their multitudes of bins and ring you up quickly and politely!  Then lunch at the Riverpark Inn!  They always have a BBQ going on so you can get fresh cooked chicken sandwiches or burgers. 

Then mom and I headed back to the otherside of the freeway to meet up with our friend Marilyn and her hubby Paul.  Did I get a picture of us all?  No!  Doh!  She showed me around AGTA.  I found out it was just a bit too rich for my pocketbook but oh the sparkle!!!  I still find it amazing you can walk around and there are plates, bowls and little containers of diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies (and pretty much any other gem you can think of) anywhere and everywhere you look.  So much beauty from Mother Nature!  I did find some possible purchases at GJX!  I'll check out around at some other venues to compare price and quality and if I go back and purchase I'll share the details with you!

I'm too tired tonight to post photos and links so you'll have wait until tomorrow to see anything - if I have energy tomorrow!  The wireless signal is pretty crappy in our room so I'm having to stay wired to do anything on the computer which is just a drag!  OK - yes - I'm spoiled by WIFI!

Day 5 - are we done yet?

We started out the day (Thursday) eating another breakfast at the Waffle House on E. Irvington. This is where we had the BEST service in all the restaurants we ate at in Tucson. In fact I think Waffle House should give lessons on proper restaurant customer service to quite a few other places in this town. I don't know if all Waffle House restaurants are this inviting - but I hope so! When you walk in all the staff sings out a hearty "Good Morning"! They do this for everyone who walks in. They sit you as quickly as possible (but when the place is full you may have to wait a bit for a table). They quickly bring you coffee or juice or whatever you want. Your breakfast is made to order and if you need something cooked a bit more they happily take it back. I know this because I like my scrambled eggs cooked well done and dry, bacon and hashbrowns cooked well done and crispy and they err on the side of not quite as well done as I like. But they took it back and cooked it some more until it was perfect. I absolutely enjoyed my breakfast all 3 times we ate there. And their cinnamon raisin bread is great! It is loaded with cinnamon - just the way I like it.

Some folks call them "Awful House" or a greasy spoon - but I expect some grease (or oil) when I'm eating bacon and hashbrowns and I hate greasy food but thought my breakfast was delicious. My eggs weren't at all greasy. They also didn't put a pound of butter on the toast - just a light swipe with more on the table if that wasn't enough. So - I highly recommend the Waffle House on E. Irvington for a hearty, welcoming breakfast. They are open 24 hours so you can try them anytime. I didn't try a waffle - but they have maple syrup which gives them another plus in my book! Here's a picture of the morning staff and the front of the restaurant.


Our next stop was Electric Park. This place ended up being a blast. They had boxes and bins of rough, polished chunks, petrified wood, tools and I don't know what else. There aren't a ton of high grade gems here - but one of my favorite gemstone dealers, Royal Quality Gems, was here and I had to pay him a visit. I also met one of my online friends, Robyn Hawk. She has a running blog about Tucson, Tucson Gem Show - Live!, every year and it is always interesting. And, since my mom grew up in Barstow, we had to stop and say hi to Diamond Pacific Tools. They have some awesome looking tools - tumblers, grinders and polishers, grinding and polishing wheels and lots more. And, small town that Barstow is, Don Depue (technical director) knew some of my mom's cousins who live in Barstow. Here's a picture of Robyn and I and one of Don and my mom with some tools in the background, of course!



We next wanted around the pavilion and found a company that uses pressure to inject gold, silver and copper into quartz. This creates some beautiful stones! The company is Gold in Quartz. I absolutely loved the cabs they had for sale and my mom had to buy the cutest seahorse! I'll get a picture of it to share with you next time I visit her. I should have saved some cabachon budget for this show! But I have their card so I can give them a call once I have some sales from all the beauties I bought in Tucson this week. Here's a picture of Onnik Arakelian and his wife at the show.


We wandered through all the outdoor tents and I made a stop at Peru Minerals where I got some pyrite cubes and hearts (including a broken heart!) and some rhodocrosite hearts. They had many carved animals, hearts in many sizes and stones, tumbled rocks and lots more.



We wandered around more, talked to some vendors, saw a LOT of beautiful polished and unpolished stones and generally enjoyed ourself. We went back into the pavilion to say goodbye to Robyn and the one booth she kept trying to visit was finally open. This was Miland Tools and, darn her, she got me hooked on more tools. Miland Seuss is the tool maker. He will gladly demonstrate any tool you want to see. I bought a texture hammer (rain pattern) and cuff making plier today (synclastic). Both Miland and his son are so very gracious and helpful and love to talk!

After Electric Park we went in search of food. The food situation in the southern part of Tucson is really pitiful if you don't like a lot of fast food. We hoped that if we drove toward downtown we might find something that looked good. We both like taquitos so we stopped at The Taco Shop Co. It doesn't look like much on the outside but the taquitos were fresh cooked, the guacamole was good, the lettuce and tomatoes were fresh and they had Dr. Pepper to drink. We spent a total of $7.50 on a not too filling, but still tasty lunch for two. You can't beat that!


Our next stop was back to Holidome. I had a list of places to see and did a pretty good job of sticking to it. Our first stop was Opex Opals. I bought some gorgoues 5x7 cabs. I also found out the 2mm beads I looked at earlier were actually synthetic so I passed on those. We then headed into the big tent in search of some center drilled keshi and apatite rondelles for some gem friends. I didn't find the pearl place initially so we cruised by booths as we looked for BV Gems. My mom slowed down at a place with hair jewelry and I found BV Gems and started shopping. I picked out the apatite rondelles and then started looking at other beauties. I snagged bags of rubies, tourmaline and amethyst rondelles from the $10 sale box. I also picked up 2 strands of pink topaz long beads - beautiful! Here's a picture of Sunil and his wife and some of the beautiful gems I bought.


Our final stop was Ta Pearls. Another gem friend had already picked through the center drilled keshi so by the time I got there most of the good strands were gone. I still dug through and was able to get a nice looking strand of white and bronze center drilled.

And that was it for the day. We ended our day early and went back to the hotel to rest a bit. I thought I would do a quick stop at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show - but I just didn't have the energy. After several hours of just vegging we drove north for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (good food, so-so service) and called it a day.

Day 4 - and we go some more!

I may actually catch up on my posts today. Here are our adventures from yesterday.

We started out at GL&W at the Grant Inn. This venue has an interesting mix of sellers. Outside you could buy inexpensive beads, shells, purses and wood carvings among other things. Inside the wholesale pavilions you could buy the normal variety of precious and semi-precious stones and beads in addition to jewelry, gems and minerals from Aghanistan, Africa, Pakistan, India and many other locals. We wandered among all the booths and were drawn to one selling fossils from many locales including Morocco. We live in Morocco for 2 years so we struck up a conversation with Joe Aaronson at Pangaea Industries, Inc. It turns out we lived in Morocco before he was even born! Now does that make me old?? LOL! We did buy some fossil coasters and pendants that were both found in Morocco since they really do look cool and who doesn't want to have a 350 million year old ammonite hanging around ones neck? Here's a picture of Joe and of some of the cool fossils we got from him.



We made a short stop in the 2nd pavilion and bought some cabs - malachite/azurite for me and bloodstone for my mom since it was one of my Grandpa's favorite stones. Then we headed out to meet some of my mom's old work friends at the Old Pueblo Grill. We had a wonderful lunch. Good food, wonderful company and great service. It was a nice change from our dinner the night before! Here is a picture of our wonderful and patient server.



After lunch we went back to GL&W at the Grant Inn. I found Kalpataru at this location (they often have something different at each venue), got some really neat sterling and gemmie beads and then we headed down to Globex at the Days Inn and the Pueblo Gem and Mineral show at the Riverpark Inn so I could look for some cabs for some friends. We first wandered through Globex and it reminded me of a middle eastern bazaar. There were folks selling barrels, buckets and boxes of rough stone along with polished cabs and strands of gemstones. We saw scarves, leather shoes, interesting hats, carved statues from wood and stone, giant slabs of stone with gorgeous pictures from the stone patterns - all for sale. And there were gyros, arizona fry bread, lamb kabobs, kettle corn and much more available for eating. It was pretty amazing!

Our next stop was our final visit to the Pueblo Gem and Mineral show at the Riverpark Inn where I dug through cabs at Magic Mountain Gems (again) and fortunately was able to find some nice ones in the right price range for my friends. By the time I was done with that we were done in and ready to eat and go back to the hotel. We ate at Chop Stix which is near our hotel and headed back to the room. We were amazed to see the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile in our hotel parking lot. That is not a sight you see everyday. Here it is the next morning ...





And that ends our adventures from yesterday.