I heard about how great the Tucson Gem and Mineral show was, but I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen it myself! For about a month, the entire city of Tucson uses every public facility they can find (hotels, convention centers, parking lots...you name it!) to allow vendors from all over the world display and sell their gems, minerals, and most importantly, beads. I'm talking hollowed out floors in hotels that have been replaced with nothing but strands of beads. They even have secret tents that only special people with special passes can get into. It was crazy!
Manny and I went one day a few weeks ago and didn't have nearly enough time (or money, I should add) to see everything. So we decided to go down a second time and buy even more beads! I have more beads than I'll ever use in 3 lifetimes, but if I went there a third time, I'm sure I would find more that I just had to have. Luckily it's over now and won't be back for another 11 months or so. Gives me some time to save up.
One of the shows there was the African Art Village. I actually got out my camera for this one because everything there was so beautiful and colorful. I wanted to decorate my whole house with trade beads, wood carvings, and beaded chairs. But since I can't do that, I decided to take pictures to remember them by. Apparently the people didn't like this very much because one guy had a complete and utter meltdown when he saw me with my camera. Apparently I wasn't the first one to be taking pictures of his stuff, and he was offended that we were treating his booth like a museum. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything from him and I ran off with my camera in hand. Here are some of the pics I took before I got chased out. Aah, the things we have to go through to get a decent picture these days....lol
I want to come someday - always wanted to go - but it never worked out time-wise!
Posted by: Angela Schrenk | 02/25/2010 at 11:56 PM