Tucson Gem Show 2012

I was pumped to have the opportunity to check out the Tucson Gem Show this year, since I’ve always wanted to go since I could remember. My visualization of what it would be like actually was very similar–warm, desert landscape with tons of exhibitors who each have the coolest gems, jewels, fossils, and anything else a rock hound would love, all in one town. Yes, I said town, because literally the entire town of Tucson turns into a museum shop full of mineral specimens and odd little treasures. Not sure if going there without a hotel reservation was a good thing or not, but we lucked out and stayed at the JW Marriott in Tucson, which has become my new most favorite hotel. It was the perfect dichotomy between roughing it up, walking all day looking at gems, and then heading back to a lap of luxury come dinnertime. We checked out lots of the different shows around Tucson, embraced the starry skies at night by the fire, went on 8am hikes through the cacti, and enjoyed an hour-long massage before heading back on a four-hour flight. We didn’t buy much for the jewelry store, but I got a couple things for my sisters (a fossilized walrus tusk carved into a bunny, quartz crystal specimen) and a display piece for my new house.

Pictured above:

{early morning hike through the cacti, watching the sunrise

these are gold specimens, so cool!

this cactus is at least 100 year old, up close and personal

huge amethyst geode that was amazingly big, eventhough I’m short

lots of museum quality mineral specimens, all for sale

amethyst geodes for sale–I bought the one furthest to the left in the foreground, a pretty lilac purple

ahhh a cave bear skeleton

Wulfenite!  super rare and super cool

day two, checked out more of the fossils and skeletons of things that once roamed the Earth

the infamous Hooker Emerald

pterodactyl skeleton}