Back from another overnighter...

[tenaya]

...and am home, safe and sound. The cats missed us. :)

This time we went to a rock and gem show at the Avi Casino at the tip of Nevada. Bought some cool stuff. Spent $10 on an Walk Like An Egyptian slot machine and had a great time watching the silly graphics for 20 minutes.

In the Fort Mojave tribe language, Whalia means moon, and Malika means ground squirrel. I'm tempted to rename Abby....

It was a good thing we postponed the trip from leaving on Wednesday night. The road near the Colorado had been closed due to flooding, flash floods so we would have been stranded at the casino, not to mention would have had a hellish drive out there on Wednesday. At Quartzsite, where we were two weeks ago, "A California Department of Transportation spokeswoman says a tornado near the Arizona state line has toppled big-rigs and downed high-voltage power poles atop a car with a person inside." Glad we missed that.

And again, was amused by the desert inhabitants. They are peculiar. Had an interesting talk with a jovial man who was explaining how he can see the 12th dimension where God exists. Luckily, God's one truth is Love, and his footprint is creativity. Apparently, after 2001, the horrendousness of 9/11 hastened things. We have all been given 12 years to choose sides between Love/God and evil. There is no area of grey. I don't/can't love Rush Limbaugh. What that means for my immortal soul, I don't know.

Also, I have a Stargate keychain bob hanging from my rearview mirror. I silently amused myself by observing it on the various desert landscapes we drove through. Even after all these years, I still think a Stargate on a alien landscape is the coolest thing.

Comments

[green_grrl]

I love your trips to the desert!

What a cool idea about the Stargate keychain--I should do that. I loved when they came acrossreally alien landscapes. But other than Abydos and Cold Lazarus and Message in a Bottle, pretty much everywhere they went looked like British Columbia. :-(

Are you, by chance, planning to come to the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show? If you are, I would love to do a meetup! (If you hadn't planned on it so far but decided to come, you would probably be sunk as far as finding a hotel room.)

[tenaya]

Very true about the tree filled landscapes on the show. The desert looks so raw and alien to me anyway, that it's a good mix for my imagination. *g*

A few of the vendors were packing up today to head to Tucson. I've never been there. It sounds quite formidable. And before yesterday, I thought it was very high end on goods and prices, but there seemed to be the regular types getting ready to leave.

You've been there before? What's it like? You must tell me how it goes. I'm quite intrigued.

[green_grrl]

As a Tucsonan, it's more like, "Oh, geez, there's a gazillion people coming to our city and it's going to be a zoo for a while"! But I have visited bits and pieces of the whole thing over the years. Various lots around town fill up with tents, so it's like numerous swap meets all opening up for a few weeks. A few exhibit halls and resorts get used for showspace as well. Some hotels/motels fill up with vendors, and they'll do business out of their rooms. The Convention Center will have a display of something amazing, to pull in all the schoolkids and museum-quality fans.

It's a complete mix: There are dealers selling high-quality gemstones. There are dealers selling the usual rocks and beads. And there are dealers selling big straw hats and other peripherals! Some sell wholesale only, some sell retail only, and some do either.

http://www.visittucson.org/visitor/events/gemshow/ - good overview
http://www.visittucson.org/visitor/events/gemshow/winter/ - list of different shows participating
http://www.tgms.org/2010show.htm - official website

[tenaya]

Thank you for all the info. It sounds really cool. I'll have to pencil it in for next year...check out the do-ability of it with any other trips. It certainly is a the mecca for that group of people and I am intrigued.

Thanks!

[green_grrl]

I'll be happy to see you any time you want to come!