Kit and Carol on the Road

I have lost count of how many years we have been coming to Tucson in February--and Avoiding the Gem Show. The Tucson Gem and Mineral show is the biggest in the WORLD. It is the reason that hotels and rental cars are impossible. Between the rain and the super bowl we thought today might be a good day to try it. We have not quite figured it out--appparantly there are venues all over town. But we were told that Electric Park was a good place to start and so that's where we went. We easily found a place to park but because of the mornings rain there was a lot of stepping over puddles--the floors were wet even under the tents. What can I say but WOW. Imagine hundreds of vendors selling just about everything imaginable. Tools for rock hunting and saws for rock cutting, Huge bins of raw rock/minerals everywhere, strings of beads beyond belief, carved things, tye dyed T shirts, crystals, slabs of rock, jewelry, pieces for making jewelry. Our favorite were these huge outdoor sculpture things--made of HUGE pieces of crystal, and rock of all kind--pieces of petrified wood you cannot imagine. Why didn't we take the camera?? Buddhas carved from stone, boxes and vases. Oh--and the fossils. I was blown away by the fossils. Real fossils of leaves, and fish, huge slabs with tons of fossils in them, copies of dinosaur skulls. Rocks sold by the pound, kilo, table, and box. (This is a show largely for dealers but some venues like this are open to the general public.) Enough on that topic. Tomorrow looks to be a sunny day. That's the way rain comes here--after one day of rain you are back to sitting by the pool.