Getting ready to go out of town is never fun, watering plants, doing laundry, packing, charging batteries, mowing and making sure our pets have lots of clean water and feed. We have housesitters, but I like to be sure everything is in order before heading out of town, just my way of doing things.
Jim and I managed to make our plane on time and relaxed once off the ground and heading to Denver. Once there we caught the bus to the rental car agency to pick up our choice of Hummer, Suburban or Minivan....well, no doubt Jim would not be caught dead in a Hummer, and I would not be caught dead in a Suburban...so minivan it was! Frankly, parking a minivan at the Holiday Inn makes sense since parking is at a premium and those big "beasts" would have been tough to navigate into tight spaces.

Our minivan was smelling a big odd when we got in, but we figured the odor would go once we had opened windows and aired it out. Well, it only got worse the whole trip! It smelled like smoked jerky on steroids and flies were, eventually, coming out of the airducts! I never did open the hood to see what was in there!
We didn't do much driving, luckily.

Off to our hotel near the convention center, unpack, clean up and head over to a wonderful "collector's dinner" at the house of a local collector. We managed to see some fabulous minerals, drink great wine and enjoy a meal with a table full of rowdy and enthusiastic mineral folks. Lots of fun talk about trends and acquisitions, stories of old and everyone was having a delightful time.

I don't know about Jim, but I was pretty tired and managed to sleep pretty well through the night with only minor worries of the hurricane and my parents house, which is 16 miles from Galveston.
That all changed on Friday when the storm stories only sounded more dire. It started to nag at me even though I knew my parents were safe at my brother's home West of Houston.

We went to the main show after chatting with my Mom and Dad, so was in a better mood and we had breakfast with one of my best friends, Irv Brown. We walked over to the MAD case and were amazed at how well it was set up, the colour aspects were beautiful in their own right! Our group is amazing, it is filled with true enthusiasts and passionate mineral lovers. It was evident in the display and Karl, Wally and Jeff were to be commended for their great efforts in setting it all up. I noticed our "sister" group, the HAMS folks from Houston, also had a fabulous case full of minerals just around the corner.

It was quite a morning, Jim and I got to visit with SO many people by just standing in one spot! I finally met the wonderful John White, ex curator of the Smithsonian mineral treasures! He also founded the MinRec many years ago. We have emailed and chatted on the phone many times, but this was the first time we met in person.
John Veevart, Gus Eiffler, Scott Werschky, Dave Wilber, Gary White, Dawn Minette Cooper, Ann and Si Frazier, Helene Rosenberg all managed to stop to say hello and visit. Jim and I realized that we were not seeing any minerals by standing there so we head down one of the many corridors full of dealers and went into Stuart Wilensky's area to see what amazing minerals he had on display! Stuart has very fine minerals and we left a nose print or two on the glass.

Kristalle, Arkenstone, Evan Jones, Collector's Edge, Dan and Diana Weinrich were all clustered in the same area and we spent the better part of the day gawking at the fine choices they had on display for sale. We did manage to acquire quite a few great things and we felt some worthy additions were coming home with us, some only a few hundred dollars too! Jim and I have been enjoying rarities and adding pieces from old locations also.

We walked around the main show a bit, took lots of photos and enjoyed seeing the "dinosaur man" entertain the children, which were abundant, as he traveled back and forth "biting" the heads of everyone. He is marvelous to watch and the kids were just laughing as they saw him bite their parents.

Many people set up displays of wonderful minerals such as the "Minerals of Colorado" or "Mount Antero". Scott Rudolph bought Keith Proctor's collection and had two fishbowl cabinets full of his pieces. The plaque said from the collection of Scott Rudolph and Keith Proctor in each case. My eye always goes to the full plate of SHM rhodochrosite, it is quite magnificent!

It was a show where you ran into people you know and find that, at the end of the day, you only saw a very small part of the exhibitions!

Off to dinner with Stuart Wilensky, Irv Brown and Jim Gibbs from our MAD group. The weather had been rainy all day and we enjoyed a hearty dinner at Dave and Busters. Good chatter and great fellowship made for a relaxing evening...oh, and the Cosmopolitan I drank didn't hurt either!

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Saturday.

I stayed up the whole night once back in the hotel room and turning on the weather channel. Hurricane Ike had made landfall right near my parents lovely home they built on the water. My parents are in their upper 70's and very active and hardworking. They have loved the ocean all their lives, we grew up near Cape Cod in Massachusetts and we were all sailing as wee ones. They retired in Bacliff, just inside the bay, on the west shore near Galveston many years ago and they love to wake to the sound of seagulls and waves lapping against their bulkhead. But this hurricane was makign a beeline to their area. They had gotten out just fine, along with my aunt and uncle who were visiting from England. I knew they were safe. We can only guess how bad the damage is and my prayers are that they still have a home standing, we still just don't know due to the roads being closed, debris everywhere, and being told they could not come back just yet by the authorities. Anyhow, I was exhausted from being up all night as we managed the show on Saturday.

This time we went to the Zinn's Holiday Inn show just down the road from the Denver Main show. Talk about a madhouse of wonderful people, dealers, hotel personnel and children! It was a zoo! I just loved all the energy, excitement and hoopla this show has. We managed to get to an elevator and went straight up to the third floor where the madness isn't quite so prevalent!

We found a favourite dealer of ours nestled away in a room full of flats of great thumbnails, miniatures and all sizes loaded on tables and in cabinets and spent the better part of the morning there! We added a couple of hundred new T/Ns and some awesome rarities to our collection. The poor fellow who was using the calculator kept trying to catch up with me as well as Jim as we put piece after piece in front of him to add and wrap.

I left Jim in the room and did a little research by walking the hall and entering rooms that I thought might be welcoming. The first room I went into had a fellow from the midwest area and he was watching a football game and not once did he look at me, even though I said hello to him. I think the game had him zombied. I spent about 5 minutes in there and left shaking my head as to his inability to even acknowledge me. Down the hall I went with similar experiences until I went into a room with four young men. I figured they might not wish to stop their conversations but they greeted me, made me feel welcome and were very helpful. It was obvious two of them were guests, but they were also very warm and friendly and we got into some good conversations about my concepts on how to bring more women into the collecting world. This caused some very exciting concepts to be discussed and these fine fellows were very appreciative of any ideas that would help to elevate the attendance of more women! Aaron Rhein of Gem 222, James Skalsky of Gaia Tree Alive, ltd. and Thomas Tiegler of Petaca were kindly respectful and attentive to suggestions. I commend them on making a woman of my age feel very invited to ask questions, view minerals and to be welcomed in on conversation. How nice! I also found the same warm invitation from a fellow who runs Altamont minerals. His name is Jared Burger and he is out of Ithaca, New York although relocating to Denver soon. He was very attentive and made me feel comfortable. Jim and I went back the next day and spent quite a bit of time and money looking over what he had, and it all happened because of his attitude and his way of making me WANT to purchase from him. We also met his girlfriend on Sunday, Audrey..she is a delight! They had some wonderful Pezzotaites and we bought five of them as well as many other items.

I looked at my watch and told Jim that we had to get to the mainshow to do our Mindat Meeting! We rushed off so he could drop me at the main show and then he had to find a place to park! That is not easy at this show..it is well attended, believe me!
I walked in and there, in front of me, were a mulitude of mindaters! I apologized for my tardiness and they were all introducing themselves. I finally got to meet, face to face, some of the fun people that make the message board so wonderul. We all went to get Alfredo Petrov and have a group photo taken, this was great fun for us as it is hard to find a spot without huge crowds there! Some poor fellow was handed three cameras and told to snap away!
I got a fun shot and will post it shortly.

We then went our own way as we all had plans to visit favourite mineral dealers and look at displays.
My head was spinning from visiting with so many people and I got to spend a short time talking with Joan and Jesse which was a delightful thing! Jolyon was there, camera about his neck, and he was shooting away at various minerals and people. It is always a treat to visit with him. And David V.B. was there, towering over everybody and looking quite fit and healthy too! I do believe he enjoys trying to rile me up on occasion, but I can handle his perverse sense of humour despite his best efforts! ( Hmmm, is that a challenge David? )

The rest of the day was spent at the Main show and I truly had fun. Chocolate was plentiful and fresh flowers were in vases in more dealers booths than I have ever seen before...perhaps they are listening to my suggestions on how to entice more women into seeing their wares?

I was asked to write a guest editorial for the Mineralogical Record about women in the collecting market and my views on how to help others to help women appreciate minerals. It will be a fun topic for me to write about.

I called my parents at my brother's home, they were worried as they are not sure they have a home to go home to. But they are well and that is what really counts.

We had dinner with Bryan and Kathryn Lees in Golden that night, it was wonderful to hear tales of the Sweet Home Mine and all the adventures, both good and bad. They are truly both unique and diverse people and we have spent quite a bit of time enjoying their company over the last few years. Good food, wine and company made for a memorable experience.
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Sunday.

We packed our gear up, loaded the stinky van and walked over to the Main Show. My birthday is this Thursday and Jim bought me an incredible necklace from Morgan Sonsthagen Jewelry of Denver who was at the show. My mentor, Helene Rosenberg, was helping out at his booth and showed Jim a necklace made of gorgeous Tahitian cultured pearls that were breathtaking. Jim put them around my neck and here they still sit! Helene was instrumental in helping me hang in this hobby when I was unsure of how I felt after being rather dismally treated by a few individuals at a show. I walked into where she was working in Tucson, at the Collector's Edge room in the Inn Suites, and she taught me that women were indeed in this world and that many were supportive of mentoring others. She talked with me for over an hour and she put the spirit and passion in me that stays with me still. I will never forget her kindness and thoughtful help. So she is always special to me and I warn people to stand back when we see each other, it is all hugs and smiles.

We had a nice shopping spree and picked up some Philadelphia academy pieces which were significant to our collection as well as varied locations and habits for rhodochrosite. Cobaltian calcite, arsentsumebite, blue crystalized hemimorphite, serandite, nagar aquas, smithsonite, magnatite, were but some of the additions to our collection this weekend. Every dealer we talked with said the show was very profitable and they had a record year, so there were plenty of folks spending money there! It is encouraging to see so many people walking around with treasures in boxes and smiling as they were pleased with their acquisitions.

I had a fellow introduce himself to me, Ryan Bowling, of Mindat forum fame. It is always a pure pleasure to meet up with Mindat regulars. What a nice man he is too.
I met "Ruby" as she is known on Mindat, and Caleb who loves Silver minerals.

I did manage to miss my hook up with Mindat folks on Sunday, just could not get out of where we were in time...so I apologize for that! I missed Rock, although I did wave as he drove out as I drove in..but not sure he saw me. I went in to say hello to John Cornish and gave him a hug, he is such a nice guy. We were heading to the airport and finished up some business before rushing out the door to leave. After turning our smelly van back in and pulling out our preprinted boarding passes thanks to the hotel internet and printer, we were waiting for our plane and eating McDonalds in the seating area just talking about all the fun we had. Jim and I rate this as one of our best shows ever due to incredible pieces, cool temperatures, fun dinners and best of all, the wonderful people we spent time with! I appreciate all the Mindaters that I met up with, thanks for taking the time for a group photo. You are all sweet and enjoyable to talk with. My very Best regards,
Gail Spann

PS...still no word on the condition of my parents home, will let you know ASAP.

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