For years, I've wanted to visit Tucson's town-full-of-shows gem and mineral extravaganza, but schedule or budget or both always managed to get in the way. I finally got my wish, when earlier this February I flew from snowy Milwaukee, Wisconsin (left), to sunny Tucson, Arizona (right) for a week of jewelry immersion. 

I tried as best I could to capture the overwhelming and eclectic nature of these shows through a bunch of photos. Here's my virtual scrapbook so that you can follow along.
 

Upon arrival, we wanted to get into the Wild West spirit. So dinner was at the ultra-touristy and cute Pinnacle Peak.  While waiting for a table, I couldn't help but try one the old miner persona, a la wooden standee. (I love cheesy touristy stuff, can you tell??)
 

 
What amazed me the most about Tucson was the diversity of not only the items for sale at each show, but the also the diversity of the shows and venues themselves.

Vendors were set up in hotel rooms, tents, non-descript alleyways, and in high security convention centers.

There were tables upon tables of crystals and carved rocks. And there were massive rough crystal geodes...

How about a natural amethyst coffee table base? (That's going on my Christmas list.)

Here I'm posing next to a gigantic rough citrine geode still crated up.

There were also breathtakingly huge fossils to check out, like this very cool turtle. 

And of course there were walls and walls (and walls!) of beads made out of everything imaginable: gemstones, glass, ceramic, polymer, fiber, etc.

I was especially excited to check out the rough rock. I have lapidary equipment in my home studio, and am always on the lookout for something new and pretty to grind and polish.

This table was laden with Prima Verde, a newly discovered stone offered by the folks at The Unconventional Lapidarist. (I picked up a pound or two, myself.)

 If you're wondering what it looks like polished, here are some samples they had on display.

A well-known Tucson landmark is the snake bridge. It's a pedestrian bridge shaped like a rattlesnake, fangs and everything. 

As I walked through it, I definitely got a feel for the snake's "ribs."

And I was delighted yet startled (read: practically jumped out of my skin) to find out that there's a motion sensor as you walk out the tail end of the bridge. As soon as you're close enough to see that giant rattle, a hidden speaker lets off a loud rattlling sound. Brilliant.

Back to the gem shows... AGTA was a treat. It's enormous showfloor held more gems and pearls and finished jewelry than you could imagine. 

It was at AGTA that fellow editor Jill Erickson and I met up with Todd Reed. He was as friendly and nice as his signature rough diamond designs are beautiful.

 
He even let me try on one of his bracelets. (And let me tell you, tens of thousands of dollars feel pretty good on your wrist!) 

Of course it wasn't all just meeting with artists like Todd, and scouting for new information. There was plenty of quality shopping time to be had.

Here, I'm hunting for loose green amethysts amid a table full of gemstones at AGTA. 

After taking a little break for food and rest, Jill and I headed over to check out a local shop, Obsidian Gallery.

It's a small but well chosen gallery with art, decoratives objects, and of course jewelry.  

Jill and I also made sure to check our Rio Grande's Catalog in Motion show. We caught one of the free informative lectures: Bill Fretz demonstrating hammering techniques.

"In motion" is right! People were elbow to elbow to try out all the new products Rio had on display.

It was especially cool that you could touch and try out nearly everything.

Check out this mammoth pile o' pliers!

It was also pretty neat to see that beside their diplay showcasing Spectrum Finishing papers, Rio Grande had my review posted from our March issue.

Jill spotted it, and we were both so tickled that we had to take a photo. You can see it here.

We wrapped up our exploring with a stop at the Electric Park show. It's outdoor, laid back attitude was a nice change from the crowded streets of downtown.

 More massive crystals!

After a week of non-stop gem shows, Jill and I were almost sparkled out. (Hey, I said "almost.")

I even had to run to a nearby Target to buy an extra duffel bag just to haul all my stones, goodies, and tools home. 

I'm glad that I finally got to Tucson. After attending, I'm not sure how I got along in the jewelry world without it. To be surrounded by that much enthusiasm, beauty, and creativity is so invigorating.

As I enjoyed the sunset on my flight home, I wasn't even sad to leave. I already knew that this wouldn't be my last trip out to Tucson. 

Did any of you go? What were your favorite parts?  And tips for folks thinking about heading out next year?