I started off the show season with a fun little gathering at a beautiful new lodge in Rye, Colorado called The Craftsman Lodge. I got the chance to meet a lot of new people in my small town, which would show up over and over in my life over the summer. That same week I went camping in Rocky Mountain National Park over Memorial Weekend. I also had a booth at the Estes Park Art Market; where I had record-breaking sales even though it was cold, snowy at times and rainy most of the weekend. One of my favorite things about Estes Park is the elk which wander all over town as well as into my camp ground; they are such large and majestic animals. The snow-covered mountains were beautiful and I explored as much of the park as I could via road (no time for hiking). Lots of the park was still closed due to snow on the roads. I look forward to spending a lot more time in this park in the future.
My next show was Greenhorn Valley Days just a mile or so from home in Greenhorn Meadows Park, Colorado City. I did far better than I expected and made some more friends and good contacts and saw many of the people that I met at the chamber of commerce event at the Craftsman Lodge. That same week I attended a Gem and Mineral show in Denver, CO and went to two parties with my friend Sheryl.
The next weekend I had a booth at the 44th Annual Pikes Peak Gem & Mineral Show in Colorado Springs, CO. I enjoyed the drive through the Garden of the Gods and spent the night in Cripple Creek, CO. My mom came with me and was a big help at the show. I had fun with the silent auction for minerals and I got to see some rock hound friends and introduce a few of them to my mom. I had told my mom a lot about the rock hounds that I spend so much time with since most of the sales events I do are at rock and mineral shows. I got to see Bodie, who is one of my favorites. I was busy in the booth so I missed seeing the elaborate mini railroad exhibit, gold panning, and the florescent mineral exhibit… I look forward to seeing them next year.
As the summer speeds by I spent the next two weekends at events in Cripple Creek, CO. First, was Donkey Derby Days (the town has many wild donkies left over from the gold rush era) They gather the donkies for races and other events. The entire event raises money for the care and feeding of the donkies throughout the year. My sales were good. The highlight was listening to the Gin Blossoms & the Rembrandts playing live while I tore down the booth. When I finished mom and I ran over to the Palladium where they were playing and the bouncer let us in free for the encore performance. I forgot how much I love this band; it brought back many memories hearing them again. The Palladium is so small and intimate, that we got to get really close to the band. The next weekend, I was also in Cripple Creek for an old fashioned 4th of July Celebration. My booth was challenging because of high winds but sales were relatively good and the booth space was very inexpensive so it was worth it. There was gold panning, bands, a beer garden, chainsaw woodcarvings and sand sculpture contests. Best of all… both nights the fourth and the fifth, had great fireworks. What I love about watching the fireworks in Cripple Creek is that I can drive right under them with my convertible and sit in comfort for the display and when it is over there is no crowd to deal with I can just start my car and drive off.
In between all of these trips and events I have been cutting stones, and making jewelry out of recycled copper. This month I will be traveling to Santa Fe, Northern California, and Creede, CO where my show is actually held inside an old mine.
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