Over the years, during our 2 weeks stay in Tucson we have driven to, & visited
• The Grand Canyon several times,
• Organised night observations at the Kitt Peak Observatory 4 times, using the facilities of the National Astronomical Optical Observatory,
• We have visited The Desert museum several times to see Arizonan flora & fauna, birds, insects snakes & lizards, bears etc
• We’ve climbed in and around Various Caves & Caverns, visited Meteor Crater, or Canyon Diablo as some know it
• We’ve even Crossed the border into Mexico at Nogales at least 3 times, but to be honest once in a lifetime is quite enough, the rest of Mexico may be wonderful, but this border town is - well - different
• We’ve visited The Copper mines at Bisbee & the Asarco Copper mines south of Tucson
• The Peridot Mines at Peridot on the Apache reservation & given talks to Apache elders & Children about their future in the gem & jewellery trade with the enormous range of minerals & gemstones that they have access to
• As well as countless other interesting outings, picnics & parties & BBQs

Hilary & I usually manage to get away for 2 or 3 days R & R & we’ll show you a couple of this years slides at the end. Tucson’s climate in February is very pleasant, warm & sunny, generally between 60 - 75 F dropping to cool but comfortable in the evenings. There is usually very little rain but one year we did experience some "el niño" oddities with a flurry of snow and some high winds.

Tucson was started as the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show in the mid 1950’s by a small group of collectors & enthusiasts, & has grown into the world’s largest gem & mineral show, bringing together gem & mineral dealers, collectors & buyers from almost all mineral producing countries.

With the first few slides I hope to give you a flavour of the various peripheral shows & the truly enormous range of related materials on offer. Some of the photos were taken discretely, or from a distance, others through glass or under adverse lighting conditions, so please to make allowances, as some are not quite as perfect as we would have wished.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

"A" landmark	credits and apologies	Tucson Show Guide	map of downtown Tucson

detailed map	calendar of events	Shuttle Bus map	the Strip

sidewalk stand	dealer stand	pest control	geode furniture

coffee table base	more colours	Marc Jobin compound	stands at Days Inn

dinosaur eggs?	will this fit under the seat?	genuine stuffed bison	trappers goods

crystals for healing	dear Opal	serpentine bugs	lunch?

but not here	1/2 ton marble sphere	"raspberyl"	"raspberyl"

more pearls than anything else	$20 per gram	we bought these pearls	new ivory substitute

new ivory substitute	new ivory substitute	synthetic green periclase	original water colours

spiesbraten over mesquite	plan of show area	main entrance to the convention centre	typical saquaro outside the centre

aisle 3 of 15	Brazilian emerald	natural colour pearls	scorpion in plastic

centipede in plastic	Montana sapphires	first day crowd	carved serpentine

beads	beads	and more beads	Australian prehnite

Australian prehnite	spodumene beads	spodumene beads	"blizzard stone?"

"blizzard stone?"	Cassis Rufa	abalone pearls	Louisiana Opal

Louisiana Opal polished	red orthoclase?	opal carving	opal carving 2

opal carving 2, another view	Russian synthetic quartz	Russian synthetic quartz	seed plate for synthetic quartz

pulled Czochralski sapphire	hematite	diffusion-treated Indian star sapphires	sculpture by Munsteiner 1

sculpture by Munsteiner 2	Munsteiner rock crystal ear studs	Munsteiner ring 1	Munsteiner ring 2

smoky quartz with garnet crytals	Gabbie Tolkowski	board of Gem-A USA	dinner

AGA nominees	after the formalities	Anne Dale and Richard Hughes	Gem-A London representatives

Joshua Tree	Hoover Dam	Las Vegas	Las Vegas

Monument Valley	Monument Valley	Monument Valley	Taliesin West