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!

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.

Day 3 in Tucson (written on day 4)

We started out the morning at JOGS since that was the last day for the show. My first goal was Sunwest Silver since they had good prices on bezels and decent prices on charms. Their selection of charms is HUGE!!! However, just as we went in the door we noticed a mad rush to buy things at the first booth area. Well - we just had to see what all the fuss was about. So we started checking out the various tables ($10/strand table, $8/strand table, ...). My mom wants an multi-strand necklace inspired by one she saw at River Park but hers is going to be really eclectic based on the "ingredients" she has purchased for it thus far. So as she was digging for beads for her necklace I was looking for good buys. I found a few, she found some strands she wanted, we paid and continued into the depths of the show.

The next distractions were EARRINGS!!! My mom loves southwest style jewelry and is quickly sucked in when she sees turquoise! Needless to say there are MANY jewelry vendors and most have turquoise. This time she found some beautiful inlay jewelry (and yes EARRINGS!) at Select Lines. She was tempted to buy several pair - but we decided to wait until I heard back from a colleague to see if she wanted any for her stored. So we went on to Sunwest Silver (finally!). There I got bezels and charms and my mom found more EARRINGS! She did manage to resist temptation so we left with only my sterling findings in hand.

Sunwest Silver was the only booth I had on my to-do list so we decided to do a bit more looking around, coupled with a bathroom break, before heading over to the Gem Mall. As we headed to the restrooms what did my mom's eye behold??? EARRINGS!!! Now these earrings actually stopped me too. The design was all in wire with pearls and CZs and other beads. It was very free flowing and so artistic! The artist is Alex Simkin and I was enthralled and inspired by his design. The company is Designs by Alex Simkin and Alex makes the most wonderful combo of earvine and drop. Now Alex's wife, Cynthia, is a wonderful salesperson. She must be if she sold me a pair! She immediately started talking with us, somehow figured out I was the hard sell and offered to put some in my ear to show how they look. I was absolutely intrigued by them so I gave in. She found a wonderful pair for me (vine and dangle) and out went my little turquoise posts and in went these fun, fancy and sparkly ear vines with dangle. She pointed out the dangle could also be worn behind a post earring to add a bit of flair to a plain post earring. I loved them! I looked at all the other designs and even tried on a few and the ones she first picked were perfect for me - just CZs and silver. My mom had her eye on a much more elaborate pair, a lovely ear vine with pearls and then a swirling cloud of wire and pearls for the drop. Cynthia found a vine that would wrap around my mom's second piercing and we were hooked. Here is a picture of Alex and Cynthia in their booth:


Aren't they a cute couple!

With new sparklies in our ears we headed over to GL&W Gem Mall. I checked out a seller of vintage beady items - Sandy Schor Co. A neat place if you're looking for steampunk things or mixed media. I was hoping to find some brass bead caps in a certain style but had no luck. I did get to dig through bin after bin after bin of vintage rhinestones (and thank you Mom for helping out!) looking for some rosaline octagons and and cardinal rhinestones. Unfortunately our search only got us dirty hands ...

We then wandered around just to see what else drew our eye. Not surprising turquoise pulled us both in next. Turquoise Jewelry Mfg., Inc had gorgeous turquoise from Kingman, Narcozai, Bisbee and many other famous mines. All was guaranteed that it wasn't colored and it was all gorgeous. We wandered here, there through the show and then I had to do a quick run through SII Findings. I've purchased a few things from them and yesterday I found a great price on 2mm round, seamless, sterling beads. I snagged those along with some interesting bails. And then - LUNCH!

We had a quick bite at the one of the little food tents outside the Gem Mall tents. After that we went into the other Gem Mall tent where I visited my favorite sterling seller Kalpataru who always has some of the best prices and interesting beads. We wandered around for a bit and then headed for Holidome. We did a quick pass through Lucky Gems (on the suggestion of some fellow residents at our hotel) and then on to Holidome. We only had about 45 minutes there so I made sure I visited CGM Findings and Opex Opal. We got some gorgeous boulder opal there in years past - but they were very picked over by the time we got there this year. However ... they have some GORGEOUS, FIREY opal strands and I may have to go back and get some of the 2mm beads. Even in that small size they are full of flash and fire. We did a quick walk through the big tent and I did visit Tripps to see their settings since I contemplate buying from them regularly. They didn't bring sterling settings with them, but I did buy a prong setting tool. As we left the Holidome tent I was again amazed to see trays of precious gemstones sitting on tables. All the colors of the rainbow with so much sparkle and just laying out for the world to see and for anyone to run their fingers through! A moment at the Tucson gem show can be just breathtaking!

Since I've been quite verbose tonight I'll do a quick recap of dinner. If you have a lot of time to burn then eat at the Javalina Cantina. The food is good but the service is not. I did like the saguaro glass they used for the margaritas and my mom did enjoy it!

And here I am posing with the glass and a picture of the beautiful food presentation!


And that's it for now. I'll tell you all about todays happenings tomorrow!