Drenched in Denver at the 46th Annual Gem and Mineral Show

As the shows draw to a close, I have to say it's been a fun and interesting week here in Denver.  Our reason for coming was to attend the 46th Annual Gem, Fossil and Mineral Show, as both buyer and seller.  Although there were shows in various locations throughout the week here, we were sharing space outdoors at the Denver Coliseum with some wonderful Mexican mining friends from September 7th to the 15th.

We arrived midday on the 7th, and were greeted with brilliant, sunny skies, and scorching temperatures.  Our first full sales day was on Sunday, the 8th, where we had another hot but beautiful day, and had a great time meeting people from Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Washington, Missouri, Oklahoma and more, all here for the show.  Our tables featured an eclectic mix of our amethyst, amber, opal, obsidian and fire agate gathered in Mexico, as well as many other unique jewelry items collected from our travels.  We also featured my hand beaded artistic necklaces and Eduardo's beautifully wrapped pendants and rings.  Sunday was a great and successful day!

Monday afternoon is when the weather started to turn, and the rest of the week would prove to be a roller coaster of rainy weather.  Although able to sell for part of the day, by about 3:45 on both Monday and Tuesday, we made a hasty retreat to the car with our things when the sky started to look like this,

And once the rain started, within minutes the place looked like this!

It proceeded to rain nonstop throughout the next day, now Wednesday, so we seized the opportunity to visit some of the indoor shows. We were able to buy some great material for our work, and meet more interesting rock and mineral loving folks from around the country, and the world.  You can expect to see these great amethyst specimens on our tables the next time you come to visit us.

We met a wonderful gentleman who is one of the few craftsmen that makes fine handcrafted jewelry from dinosaur bone set in sterling silver.  I did not know that dinosaur bone occurs naturally in a variety of colors!  Take a look at this beautiful mosaic bracelet made from the bone.

On Thursday we awoke to yet another relentless day of rain, this time with the additional feature of flash flood warnings popping up periodically on our iPhones.  I checked sigalert.com to see what the situation was on the local freeways, and found one of the ramps we used daily was closed due to standing water on the freeway.  Four feet of standing water, to be exact.

Being Angelinos, this weather is a bit foreign to us.  We decided not to risk going out, and instead spent Thursday at the hotel catching up on some work.

Friday morning showed some partial clearing, but left us with a puddle the size of a small lake in front of our tables.

With the rain once again threatening, we decided to visit the Denver Mart instead to check out the Renaissance Bead Show, as well the International Gem and Jewelry Show.  I was very happy to pick up some mermaid beads, along with many beautiful glass seed beads to add to my repetoire at the Renaissance show.  At the International show, I saw some extremely expensive minerals for serious collectors.  Check out this sulfur specimen, for a cool $45,000.00.

Saturday the heavens parted, and we were blessed with sunshine!  We set up our tables and were once again able to sell, sending a variety of fossils, stones, and jewelry, as well as several mermaid necklaces to new homes.  A great day!  Then at about 4:00 pm, the weather turned again, and the sky grew darker than dark.

Time to pack it up pronto and fling the things back into the car!  And then the rain came.

And that brings us to this morning, Sunday, the last day of the shows.  Did it rain today?  Yes.  All day.  But it gave us the opportunity to attend the indoor part of the coliseum show, along with our new friend Kim who we met earlier this week, and we had a great day.  I continued to be wowed by the fossils.  Here's the head and tusks of a wooly mammoth from the Ice Age,

and a fossil from Australia that had impressions of octopus type creatures.

I really enjoyed seeing how many young people love rocks and fossils.  Some were attending the show because they had a school assignment, and some came just because they are already collectors.  So great to see natural passion at such a young age.

Tomorrow morning we will go back to pick up our table, help our friends to pack up, and start the journey to our next destination, Wisconsin.  Although the weather proved to be a real challenge to selling outdoors, we are so grateful for the opportunity to be here.  We reached our goal to both buy new material and sell some of our treasures, and it was very satisfying, indeed.

I send you a ton of good wishes for a happy, healthy and productive week.  Good night and sweet dreams!

xo Linda