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Costa Mesa 2009 Show and Trip Report- |
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For the 12th year running, I again
traveled to Costa Mesa, California,
to set up and sell at the annual May show at the Holiday Inn- |
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On my way to Costa
Mesa, I drove by the MASSIVE construction project for the new freeway
bridge going in between Reno and Carson City on US395-
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The Costa Mesa show-
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Welcome to my showroom!
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It was a good show this year, I was
even able to get a few of my new Colorado
Goethites clean enough to bring along-
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My good friend Bill Stutz taking
pictures of my display-
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Here's a nice pic of Bill and I.
I'm holding the Petersen Mountain
Royal Flush Pocket "Orb and Scepter" specimens that I collected in 2007- |
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All the pretties!
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Here is my display
of some of the world's finest Fresnoite
specimens, that I collected
back in 1998- |
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I shared the room
with my good friends John and Lyn Kilian, of the Kilian Collection-
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John and Lyn had
many beautiful specimens; including superb Aquamarines, Heliodors,
Tourmalines, Rhodochrosites, Azurites, Golds, Silvers and Coppers,
not to mention two incredible GEM-RED Brazilian Rhodonite crystals!!!
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Sunday night, Bill helped me tear
down at the show, and then we drove 45 minutes to his house. Just
2 hours after we got there, a 5.0 Earthquake hit near the hotel
in Costa Mesa! We still felt it, even 40 miles away! I
am sure glad that I was out of Later that night, we spotted a
big raccoon in Bill's HUGE backyard tree. In an apparent
evolutionary response, the critters of L.A. seemed to have developed
headlights for eyes! |
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The next day, Bill and I did our
traditional, yearly BBQ, |
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We had so much
fun today
that I had to take pictures of it all! |
Here's the BBQ
feast, about 15 pounds of pork babybacks and tenderloins, all rubbed
down and ready to be smoked for 4+ hours-
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One BBQ secret
is to spray apple juice on the meat, to keep it moist
and to give a nice browning effect on the outside- |
The meat had to
be turned
on occasion- |
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Smokin' away!
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A drool-worthy
moment! The hardest thing about the slow process of smoking
meat, is of course the waiting... But, one must be patient,
grasshopper!
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Almost done!
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A quick taste test!
And the results are- Mega YUMMY!!! |
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And we are ready to PORK out!!!
Thanks BILL!!! |
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After dinner, Bill,
his wife Jackie,
and I, drove over to Universal Studios so we could all see the NEW STAR TREK MOVIE on their amazing 60x80-Foot Imax screen! The theater was loaded with 12,000-Watts of digital sound!!! |
We had a few hours
before the movie started, so we played "tourist"-
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Bill checking the
sights out-
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Bill and Jackie
enjoying the evening.
Not even King Kong himself could separate them! |
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We walked into
one store that was entirely dedicated
to just one thing- SUGAR!!! |
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Jackie with an...,
um,...well??? Whatever it was, I strongly suspect that it
somehow
had to be edible, coming from this store! Behind her is literally over a *TON* (2,000+ Pounds) of M&M's! |
They even had a
statue of Marilyn Monroe made from over 340,000 jelly beans!!!
Even the security poles were filled with candy! |
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I'm ready to go
see
the movie! And yes, it was AWESOME!!! Star Trek Rules! |
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The next day I was on the road
again, with a huge bag of BBQ in tow,
getting spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada mountains most of the way home! |