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Alaska Inspired Kblossoms Art Blog

5/28/2025

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This is our 1 week trip to Alaska Cruise Royal Carribean Serenade of the Seas from Vancouver which inspired my all Alaskan paintings above of whales, auroras and rainforest trees. We flew to Vancouver and boarded our ship and headed to Sitka, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Prince Rupert. It was cold and rainy throughout our whole trip in Alaska. We had the best fresh crab and lobster soup we ever tasted in Sitka at the Slammin Salmon Fishermans Alley. Sitka is a tiny island of 8,000 people. We saw many bald eagles at the Raptor Center, walked 2 miles in the Tongass National Forest, saw totem poles of the Tlingit people who have inhabited Sitka for 1,000 yrs before the Russians invaded and took over their land to harvest all the otter pelts for trade. We even saw 2 wild bald eagles by the estuary. We hiked in the rain to Mendenhall glacier and Nugget Waterfall in Juneau. Then we ate fresh Alaskan salmon and ribs at Cold Creek Salmon Bake in the pouring rain. We enjoyed hiking the Rushbrook Trail in Prince Rupert Canada, a luscious green temperate rainforest. In Vancouver we visited Chinatown and learned about the 1st Chinese immigrants from Guangdong China to Vancouver, saw Gastown and enjoyed the vibrant art and food scene at Granville Island. The dim sum in Vancouver was pretty good too.

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Vietnam Blog

11/7/2024

We visited Ho Chi Minh City, Southern Vietnam in November 2024. Also known as Saigon up to 1975 when the Vietnam War ended, it is the is the largest city in the country, with 9 million residents. The city is split up into 24 districts, with District 1 (and 3) being home to the majority of the tourist sites. Here you’ll find a mix of French colonial and modern buildings, markets, museums, street food, fine dining, parks, nightlife, and more! The city is flooded with motorbikes that zip all around you. The weather was hot and humid with random rain showers.
We loved going cafe hopping trying all types of Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk or egg foam. No matter what time of year you go, Ho Chi Minh City can be pretty hot and humid so we loved spending our afternoons cooling off indoors with a cold coffee or teas. Coffee was first introduced to Vietnam by the French in the 1850s and Vietnam is now the world’s second largest coffee producer, after Brazil. The main bean produced in Vietnam is the Robusta bean. This has almost twice the amount of caffeine of Arabica beans (what you likely drink at most coffee shops) and has a more bitter and strong taste. Condensed milk helps cut the intensity, but it’s still pretty strong! We loved our egg coffee making class at Lacàph Coffee Experiences Space as we learned about the history and art of making egg coffee.
We ate the famous Vietnamese bánh mì sandwich which came from the French combining ingredients from the French like baguette, pate, jalapeno and mayonnaise along with native Vietnamese ingredients like coriander, pickled radish and carrots, cucumber and pork. The phrase bánh mì just means “bread” in Vietnamese, but it is actually a sandwich and has become one of the most iconic food items Vietnam originating in Ho Chi Minh City in the late 1950s. We also liked eating bún thịt nướng, a delectable combination of grilled pork, fried spring rolls, noodles, veggies, fresh herbs, peanuts and fish sauce.
It was our first time watching a Water Puppet Show in Vietnam. They have dragons, birds, ducks, turtles and people made of wooden puppets and live singers who play various instruments telling traditional folklore of harvest and fishing. Múa rối nước is a physically demanding craft. Puppeteers stand in water throughout the show, and use the movement of the water to create drama, perfect the illusion, and tell a story. The puppeteers’ secret lies in the material of the puppets themselves, which are made of buoyant fig wood and painted with lacquer. The puppeteers skillfully maneuver the puppet’s arms using bamboo sticks and strings. It takes decades to become a master water puppeteer.
The Reunification Palace also known as Independence Palace, was originally built in 1871, but was replaced by the current version of the palace in 1962. This building is the former South Vietnamese government building and was the scene of the end of the war when North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the front gate in 1975, signifying the fall of Saigon.
The French had a great influence on Vietnam. We saw beautiful French colonial architecture. The French occupied Vietnam from 1858-1954 or 166 years that's why there's so much French influence in language and architecture and culture. The French introduced new ingredients, culinary techniques, and coffee culture to Vietnam during the colonial period. This led to a unique fusion of French and Vietnamese flavors, with traditional French dishes being reinterpreted using Vietnamese ingredients and techniques. notice many buildings around District 1 have a European feel to them. And one of the most obvious is the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was built between 1863-1880, with the original materials all being imported from France. Right next to the Notre Dame Cathedral is Ho Chi Minh City Book Street. The purpose of this street is to provide a space to spread the love and habit of reading. There are alot of cafes around to take a break and read too.
The Saigon Central Post Office is one of the oldest and most iconic buildings in the city with its French architecture style with yellow and white colors. It’s a working post office, and a popular thing to do here is send a postcard or letter back home! Inside you’ll find a bunch of postcards for sale, plus tables to sit at and write. Mailing is pretty simple and there is staff that can help you with postage.
The Opera House is yet another gorgeous French building built in 1898 surrounded by modern city skyrises. This is the home of the city’s orchestra and ballet. You can even watch the Vietnamese Bamboo Circus here called the A O Show, a must see acrobatic show depicting the beautiful history of Vietnam in a creative way with rattan objects.
The Ben Thanh Market is the most famous and oldest surviving market in the city and has been in the same spot, in some form, since the early 17th century! t’s a bustling market with tons of vendors selling all sorts of items, like coffee, nuts, trinkets, souvenirs, household items, meat, and fish. Since this market is mainly for tourists, the vendors ate quite aggressive in selling their souvenirs or food.
For sunset, we went to the Saigon Skydeck in the Bitexco Financial Tower. This very unique, modern skyscraper is the second tallest building in the city. And it is not only cool to look at from ground level, but has a spectacular overlook 49 floors up! Seeing the city from above really puts into perspective how large and busy it is. This tower represents Ho Chi Minh City's rapid industrialization and economic growth. They survived inflation and their middle class is doing very well due to the economic growth and trade with the world. Youth in Vietnam all learn English in school and on Youtube. After a day of sightseeing, we loved being able to look down and pick out all the spots we visited!
Since I was born in Cholon, the Chinatown near Saigon after the war ended, I wanted to learn about the Vietnam war from the Vietnamese perspective as I only saw the American perspective from history class. We visited the War Remnants Museum. This war took place between 1955 and 1975 and was officially fought between North and South Vietnam, with the United States intervening heavily in the 1960's. The horrible war had many negative effects on Vietnam, including massive bombings, Agent Orange, napalm, village massacres, and more. The images in the museum were very graphic at times and hard to look at, but really important to understand what the Vietnamese went through and still experience the after effects of to this day. My father fought in the Vietnam war in the 1970's for 1 year for the South as there was a mandatory draft. Growing up he would tell me lots of stories of the war. If we don't learn from the past, the future just repeats itself. It's been only about 50 yrs since the war but look at the horrors of war repeated in Gaza and Ukraine. Do governments ever learn as it's the civilians who suffer the most in the crossfire as governments fight over territory, political or religious ideology.
Overall Ho Chi Minh City seemed to have modernized so much that it looks alot like some cities in Taiwan like Tainan or Taichung. Even their Crescent Mall is super modern with 5 stories of nice brands, electronics, restaurants, cafes and even a large supermarket with fresh produce. I will surely miss all the great food in Vietnam as their chicken, pork and beef are free range without it antibiotics and growth hormones and taste way better than meat in the US. Their fish and seafood are tender and fresh too probably not farm raised with chemicals and directly from the ocean.

Taiwan Inspired Totoro and Spirited Away Artwork Blog

11/3/2023

Welcome to my Taiwan Inspired Totoro and Spirited Away Artwork blog! We traveled all over Taiwan in October visiting Tainan, Taichung, Sun Moon Lake, Taipei, Jiu Fen (九份) and Hualien. My favorite place on our Taiwan trip was visiting Jiu Fen, which transported us to a Spirited Away film with narrow alleyways all lit up with romantic red lanterns and it's known for it's great street food and snacks. Taiwan seems to have the largest collection of Studio Ghibli merchandise outside of Japan; I was able to find Totoro and Spirited Away character magnets, keychains, plushes, and purses everywhere in the Hinoki Village and mall in Taichung, Taipei, and Jiu Fen. You can see the remnants of Japanese influence all over Taiwan from the buildings in Jiu Fen, Hinoki Village in Taichung, Studio Ghibli stores, roads, bridges and dams built in Taroko Gorge by the Japanese who occupied the island for 100 years from 1895-1945 and brought infrastructure improvements to the island. We enjoyed seeing the lively crowds and eating at the delicious food stands at the Shilin Nightmarket (士林夜市) in Taipei. I loved seeing the beautiful delicately hand carved jade cabbage and all the Chinese jade carvings and porcelain cups at the National Palace Museum. We hiked about 3 miles in the beautiful Taroko Gorge, which has the bluest water and striated pattern rocks. We were able to see the eastern beaches in Hualien driving through green tropical mountains with blue ocean views. We took a boat ride to Sun Moon Lake and a gondola to the aboriginal village on a clear day and learned about the natives way of life and culture. We also visited the beautiful Lavender Cottage in Taichung where we tried delicious lavender milk tea and ice cream. We enjoyed going to cool trendy places in Taichung with lots of plants and local artisans called 酉5PM.TWCAUDEX and Shenji. Taiwan has been a beautiful country with kind people who always lent a helping hand or chatted with us along our trip. I highly recommend visiting this beautiful country full of natural tropical landscapes, delicious food, and rich culture and especially if you are a Studio Ghibli fan.
圓山大飯店 theTaipei Grand Hotel our favorite part of our trip in Taiwan where lots of world presidents and ambassadors come. We noticed dragon motifs everywhere. Dragons in Chinese culture symbolizes power, good luck and strength. They represent power and authority, particularly control over typhoons, water, rainfall and floods. Emperors were assumed to have descended from the dragons. That is why, out of the twelve zodiac signs, the Dragon is the most popular one.
The Yehliu Geopark is so beautiful with 6 million years of rock formation crashing waves reminding me of the Ponyo movie. We also got to see the majestic Shifen waterfall and launched our lantern of blessings in Shifen too. We also saw the Gaomei Wetland in Taichung on a cloudy day, there are crabs, fishes and windmills there and has a beautiful sunset if you are lucky to catch it.
I highly recommend going to Shifen Old Street to launch your own lantern. We got one about 6ft and drew blessings and cartoons on all 4 sides and the workers there will help you launch it on the train tracks. Near this area is the Shifen Waterfall, a majestic waterfall with a temple with elephant statues nearby. They even serve street market food there. You have to walk about 2 miles and cross 2 bridges to get there. We then went to Keelung nighmarket to eat their famous crab soup and luo mi fan rice.
I really enjoyed seeing the Dihua Street in Taipei. It's the oldest street in Taipei built in 1850 and was once a trading port. You can still see the old building facades. Young Taiwanese vendors sell everything from squid, milk tea, snacks, handmade ceramic goods, Chinese brushes, etc... You can even rent a 1920's style qipao and cheongsam to wear and take professional photos.

Singapore and Bali Inspired Painting Blog

4/15/2023

Singapore

Bali and Nusa Pineda

We went to Singapore, Bali and Nusa Pineda in April of 2023. It's our first time flying on a plane in 3 yrs since Covid started. Now all the Covid travel restrictions have been lifted in Singapore and Bali and high vaccination rates, we felt safe to travel abroad again. I started my new plant collection hobby during Covid and really wanted to see all the plants I grow living in their natural high humidity tropical environment in Singapore and in Bali's jungles. My favorite place to visit in Singapore was the magnificent Cloud Forest Dome which mimics a jungle. This greenhouse-like climate controlled glass dome has one of the world's largest waterfall and hundreds of rare plants on its tall plant walls including philodendron verrucosums, gloriosums, rare anthuriums, syngoniums, pothos, ferns and begonias. Singapore is a hot country year-round at 90 degrees with high humidity so going into the Cloud Dome and Flower Dome are great ways to cool off. There was a great Avatar display at the Cloud Dome with 6 stories of interactive fun with the Avatar 2 creatures. You can even fly a mountain banshee. I loved visiting the Singapore Botanic Garden and National Orchid Garden with hundreds of species of plants and beautiful orchids. I really was so amazed by the construction of the super trees at the Gardens by the Bay. We went to the OCBC Skyway during the day to see the city views and back at night to see the light show illuminating the tall trees with movie music. They plant tropical plants like air plants, syngoniums and vining pothos all over the trees. We dined at Spago Bar at the top of the Marina Bay Sands and saw a 360 view of the city skyline light up at night. The 51st floor of the Capita Spring Sky Garden also has gorgeous city views of Singapore. The Art Science Museum Team Lab exhibition was fun and interactive for all ages where you can draw your own sea creature and it moves on screen. The light beams, moving floral waterfall display was fun too. Another must do is eat Singapore's famous Chili Crab at Jumbo Seafood. We ate it at the Riverfront Point outdoors enjoying the beautiful river lights. We enjoyed the dimsum at Tim Ho Wan, Hainan chicken rice, and Ya Kun Kaya Toast. We went to many hawker centers around Singapore like the Maxwell Center and Lau Pa Sat Center that has alot of variety of delicious Asian food and drinks for a very cheap. Singapore is a melting pot of many Asian and European cultures like Malay, Chinese, and Indian with Buddhist and Hindu temples, mosques, churches everywhere. It's known as a "Gateway to Asia" and a "Garden city" as plants are grown on many high rise buildings to help cool down the city, provide beautiful landscaping and clear CO2. Most everyone speaks English so it's very easy to communicate. It was very easy to use public transit like the bus and MRT to get around town, which is very cheap. On the last day we visited Sentosa Island and enjoyed the beautiful beaches, bridges and rode the luge and zip lining down to the beach. The Wings of Time water light show was neat too with fireworks, water, and technical display of lights. We stayed at the Park Royal Pickering Hotel in Singapore. It has the most lush green gardens planted with syngoniums, pothos, flamingo anthuriums. You get to experience being in a urban garden in the middle of the bustling cityscape. It also has an infinity pool overlooking the city!

Nusa Pineda, a 45 minute boat ride from Bali, was a magical pristine island jungle with beautiful white sand beaches and coves and landscapes that look like Avatar. It's like paradise here one few tourists and all jungle landscapes with windy rough roads. I recommend hiring a driver as you don't want to drive the rocky roads yourself in 90 degree heat. We stayed at the beautiful bamboo huts Penida Bambu Green Villas sleeping with sounds of animals, birds, insects, chickens making loud noises and showering outdoors among nature. I recommend staying 2 nights in Nusa Pineda to see the whole island without rushing. My favorite was seeing Diamond Beach and Tembeling Beach. We stood at the top of Diamond Beach as the hike down is too treacherous and the line was too long. Getting to the secluded few tourists Tembling beach was an adventure of itself. You drive there, the 30 min bumpy fast ride on a scooter down hill fast with a local driver, then walk 30 min downhill to a swimming hole and gorgeous secluded beach. We ate dinner by the Crystal Bay beach with a group of hungry stray dogs under our table during sunset hour.

Bali is the 4th most popular travel destination in the world after Dubai, London, and Cancun. It's known as the Land of the Gods, with it's natural beauty of volcanos, rice terraces, waterfalls, and beaches. We mainly explored the central area of Ubud. Bali gets more tourists visiting than locals. In 2019, 6.9 million foreigners visited Bali vs. 4.2 million native people on the island. We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful Hindu temples all over Bali constructed of stone and wood with gold leaf carving designs. Hinduism was is the primary religion of Indonesian people. You will see huge Hindu god statues all over Bali and Hindu art, traditions, and rituals celebrated. Temples in Bali follow the same architectural principles as in India. The Balinese word for “temple” (Pura) refers to a sacred complex that is often encircled by walls. We visited the Pura Tirta Empul to watch the sacred water cleaning ritual.

Bali is home to over 20,000 temples, each of which is dedicated to a different virtue like family, community, and village. The Balinese people are so kind and peaceful. They believe in reincarnation and supporting their community, they put high respect to the balance of humans and animals and plants that nourish their bodies. We had fun swinging on various shaped swings at Aloha Ubud Swing, visited the green Tegallalang Rice Terraces, watched locals carve wood statues and figurines, saw the Mt Batur volcano, and visited Cantik Agriculture Luwak Coffee and saw the cute luwak animal that eats coffee beans and poops them out in the forest floor. The Balinese showed us how they hand clean, peel, dry and grind the coffee beans. We stayed at the Ubud Village Resort & Spa a serene paradise overlooking rice paddies and plants. We visited the beautiful Kanto Lampo Waterfall and Tegenungan Waterfall, both very popular for swimming. You have to hike 15 min downhill to both waterfalls and hike back up. Most excursions require entrance fees too. We saw exotic butterflies and held huge moths on our hands at Kemenuh Butterfly Park. We watched the sacred Sanghyang Dedari Dance and saw a dancer stomp out fire with his bare feet. The ceremony is intended to ask for safety from a disaster or epidemic that attacks a village. This dance is different from other Balinese dances, where dancers must be conscious while dancing. The Sanghyang dance requires the dancer's body to be possessed by the Dedari. Overall we enjoyed learning about Balinese culture, traditions and interacting with the locals and nature in Bali.

Diamond Valley Lake Wildflowers and CA Poppies

4/2/2023

In early April 2023, we hiked among beautiful poppies and CA wildflowers at Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet. We drove 1.5 hour east of LA and northeast of Temecula to see these beautiful poppies and CA wildflowers at Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet. There were fields of orange, yellow, purple all over the hills overlooking a gorgeous blue lake. It was an easy 1.3 mile loop hike not too crowded the further up you hike. It's $9 parking per person. It was perfect 70 degree CA sunny weather and thank goodness for our abundant rainy season to create this super bloom display of wildflowers! We stayed on the pathways being very careful not to trample on any delicate poppies and their ecosystem. We saw lots of California poppies, deep blue arroyo lupines, purple Canterbury bells, yellow rancher’s fiddleneck, white popcorn flowers and yellow daisies. All the watercolor paintings of flowers and poppies I painted above were inspired by the wildflowers I saw at Diamond Valley Lake!

Bishop Fall Foliage Inspired Paintings

10/15/2022

We visited Bishop in the Eastern Sierra's mid-October for fall foliage. It's difficult to predict every year when you will see fall colors, as it depends on how low temperatures drop in the high country. Bishop is the closest place from Los Angeles, only 4 hrs north, to see the true turning of the seasons from hot summer days to brisk cool mornings in the Eastern Sierras off of Highway 395. The changing colors of the leaves and the scenery is magical as the landscape turns from greens to red, oranges and yellows. We saw the most beautiful fall foliage, yellow aspens fluttering in the wind at Intake Two Lake, North Lake and Sabrina Lake. You can stop along the roads that lead to these lakes and see beautiful yellow and orange aspens. At Intake Two Lake, you can take a peaceful walk around the lake taking gorgeous photos of the lake's fall foliage reflection and watch the fisherman fish on the lake. All my watercolor and acrylogouche paintings were inspired by the fall foliage I saw in Bishop. I enjoyed the Bishop mountain drive watching the fluttering aspens fall to the ground. Autumn is the second Spring where every leaf is a flower. Check out my Kblossoms paintings here.

Kblossoms Arizona Grand Canyon, Caves and Waterfall Blog

8/2/2022

The theme of our Arizona roadtrip is waterfall and caves in the Sonoran desert with beautiful saguaros. On the first day we drove through a monsoon with roads flooding in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Our Boulders Resort stay in Scottsdale was so relaxing and looks like an arboretum with lots of saguaros cactus and boulder rock landscaping among golf courses. Their adobe casita rooms match the rocks. On the second day, we hiked to the Papapago Park Hole in the Rock in 100 degrees heat and visited the Desert Botanical Gardens and learned about butterflies, cactuses, animals living in the Sonoran desert. We hiked to the beautiful Tonto Natural Bridge Cave northeast of Phoenix AZ where we had to rock scramble on slippery rocks and a river to get to the cave. We then offroaded 15 miles to see the majestic Grand Falls Arizona that is fed by the Colorado River. There was recent monsoon that filled this majestic chocolate falls. We visited the Wupatki National Monument, near Flagstaff that preserves pueblos once inhabited by ancestors of the Hopi and Zuni people, amid red rocks and prairies. All the watercolor and acrylogouache cactus and succulent paintings above were inspired by Arizona's gorgeous Sonoran desert landscapes. We made it to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon driving about 2,000 miles round trip. In my humble opinion, the views of the North Rim are more gorgeous than the South Rim and there are fewer crowds. There are very few guard rails so you get as close to the edge as you feel comfortable. We explored the Navajo Moenave Dinosaur Tracks in Tuba City AZ and saw many velociraptor tracks and bones. On the last day we went to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon and saw the Eagle Point rock, Skywalk and saw spectacular river views at the top of Guano Point. The skywalk tickets were pricey but it wasn't too scary to walk it as the glass is scratched up so you can't see that you're 4,000 feet above ground with rocks below you. The Skywalk is 10ft wide and extends 70 ft over the rim. It was worth traveling the long distance from the North Rim to West Rim to see the magnificent red rock views of the canyon.

Utah and Arizona Red Rocks Sand Dunes Inspired Jewelry Blog

6/4/2021

Welcome to my Utah/Arizona red rocks inspired jewelry blog! Due to the Covid pandemic, we decided to drive explore our local neighboring states and enjoy the sheer natural beauty of the Southwest rocks and natural arch and sand dune formations. Utah is truly amazing place of natural wonder. Wherever I wander I am overwhelmed by the spirit of place and ethereal landscape. Utah is like art in captured in stone. The landscape of southern Utah is a wonderland of erosional artistry. A unique combination of geological processes has resulted in a landscape with an infinite variety of color and form. We went to Utah in the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021. We did a lot of hiking and explored the breathtaking sunset canyon view at Cedar Break near Escalante. We hiked to the Tropic Ditch Falls in Bryce Canyon National Park and saw beautiful orange hoodos and river rocks. We also were brave enough to offroad in deep sand for miles to then hike to the remote Cosmic Ashtray, Escalante a beautiful volcanic sand hole on top of many high cliffs with an unmarked path. We also hiked 4 miles with 5 river crossings to reach the Escalante Natural Bridge. We got to go witness the beautiful cake like layered red rocks at Capitol Reef National Park. We hiked on beautiful rocks that look at Joshua tree rocks on water at Watson Lake in Prescott Arizona. We were sandblasted by white sand at the Great Chamber in Utah that looks like a window to heaven with the gorgeous blue skies and clouds. We hiked in in an unknown path to Sunset Arch in Escalante. The beautiful red rock colors and scenery of Utah and Arizona has inspired me to create my jewelry designs here using carnelian and citrine stones with gold colors that capture the essence of the red rocks in crystal form. We seized any opportunity to explore and photograph the almost limitless natural wonders in the red rock country of Utah. Hopefully these pictures will encourage you to come out for a visit and start your own journey!

Kblossoms Planty Paintings, Plant Collection, Monstera Albo T-Shirt

2/12/2021

Since the coronavirus pandemic started in 2020 I developed a new hobby to learn about growing plants! Before Covid I started with only 3 plants and now I have 60 unique plants! I love creating an urban jungle environment in my home with plants as it elevates my mood and relaxes me. I've been learning about plant care and propagation online, on YouTube and by visiting local nurseries. Above are pictures of some of my plants and local plant shops I have visited in Los Angeles. On my spare time I like to shine the leaves of my plants, prune them, water them, repot them if they are too big, stare at their beautiful leaves, and visit local nurseries. I also love to paint my favorite plants too for fun, above are all my planty doodles! My favorite plant in my collection is the albo monstera borsigiana. I love the variegation huge beautiful leaves of my albo monstera that I got from PlantMadness in CA, they have healthy beautiful albo monsteras that are locally grown and shipped with care. I designed my own Baby Yoda Monstera Albo T-shirt for plant lovers out there who love Grogu. Baby yoda is oh so cute using the force to make the monstera plant grow! The albo monstera is my favorite plant in my collection. It comes in men's and women's sizes and is made of a soft ring cotton fabric and you can order one here. You can buy my poster prints of my planty paintings here. Thanks for reading!

Tuscon Gem Show 2020

2/9/2020

We went to the Tuscon Gem and Mineral Show in February 2020 to collect more rare and beautiful crystals and precious stone pendants and rondelles to design more Kblossoms jewelry! We attended 4 gem shows in Tuscon Arizona: The Pueblo Gem and Mineral Show, 22nd Street Mineral Gem and Fossil Show, Kino Gem Show, and Jogs Gem and Mineral Show. Many of the Tuscon hotels and city was converted into gem showrooms and tents. They even used hotel rooms as show rooms! I loved the huge deep grape color purple amethyst hearts and angel wing geodes from Uruguay. My favorite crystals were the clear quartz and citrine spheres and towers illuminated by lights. The Tuscon Gem and Mineral show is the largest in the country with great wholesale prices. I was so happy to hand select some amber, larimar, london blue topaz, emerald quartz, and green amethyst tear drop crystals and pink ruby rondelle pieces to create jewelry designs with. I bought some beautiful golden yellow and burgundy red baltic amber gold floral lining pendants from Poland.
A trip to Tuscon wouldn't be complete without visiting the beautiful Saguero National Park and Sabino Canyon. We went to see the tall saguero cactuses in the rain among storm clouds. Sabino Canyon has a beautiful mountains, creeks, and waterfall hikes you can do in a day. Just visit their visitor center for some suggestions. The saguero cactuses stand tall and have arms that seem to wave to you and they are so unique. We hiked among the sagueros in rainy conditions on this trip. We hope to come back one day to see the beautiful pink orange sunsets in the Saguero National Park, the classic Arizona sunset. Hope you like all the handmade precious stone jewelry I designed from the stones and crystals I bought at the Tuscon Gem Show! Check out my Poshmark store here to see all my precious stone jewelry designs.

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