Celebration of Agates Show -- Post 3

I arrived home yesterday, which felt great. Although I was only gone 11 days, it seemed like it was a lot longer. Despite being home, I still have to play catch up with the photos taken at the international agate show held in Minneapolis this past weekend. Today I'll post the first half of the pictures from the show floor.

There was a running track up above the gym, which provided a good place to get overview photos.

My booth from the walking track...

My booth from floor level...

Other scenes from around the show...

This picture was taken before opening...

The Celebration of Agates International Show -- Post 2

Today I'll post the rest of the pictures from the seminar presentations at the Celebration of Agates Show held this past weekend in Minneapolis, MN.

First, here are some more of the "other" Lake Superior agates from John Marshall's presentation.  When the images were flashing on the screen, I remember thinking that they looked like Tom Shearer photographs.  Tom, as many of you know, was the photographer for my last agate book.  Low and behold, Tom did take the photos.

An incredible tube agate...

This agate is quite confusing...

A candy striper with crystal impressions....

A moss agate....

A brecciated agate with amethyst....

Another tube agate...

A Laker that was influenced by hydrothermal fluids....

A weird eye agate...

A more typical eye agate...

Wowser,..

  Bulls-eye....

Eyes and more eyes...

Intricate and weird...

Candy Striper extraordinaire...

Iris agates...

This incredible agate had some external force (perhaps lava) that altered the color on one end....

Another intricate and nice agate...

Fluorescent agate...

The seminar presenters and topics included:

Doug Moore: The Beautiful and Mysterious Thunderegg
Tarun Adlakha: Indian Dendritic Agates
Thom Lane: Plume Agates of California, Oregon and Idaho
John Stockwell: Thunderegg Agates East of the Mississippi
Gene Mueller: Agate Cave Discovery in Oregon
Dietrich Mayer: Moroccan Agates
Karen Brzys: The Story of Silica--Cosmic Source through Agate Genesis
Jack Hobart: Overview of Lake Superior Agates
Klaus Schaifer: Why is the Monkey in the Agate?
John Marshall: The Other Lake Superior Agates
Wayne Sukow: Iris Agate
Roger Clark: Bounty of the Black Hills -- Fairburn Agate
Dr. Jens Gotze: Between Legend and Science: The Mystery of Agate Formation

The Celebration of Agates International Agate Show -- Post 1

On Wednesday after leaving Interstate Park, my friends and I caravaned around an hour to Hastings, MN, which is located a little over 40 miles from Minneapolis.  Jill has an agate friend there who had invited us over.  We arrived early, so we killed time wandering the antique stores located in this Twin Cities suburb.  I bought several glass plates for use in making new agate plates.

Around 2:00 we drove over to Mark's house.  It was amazing.  Mark, has more Lake Superior agates than anyone I have ever met.  Apparently he hunted for agates several times a week for many years--until lately.  Now due to other constraints, he only gets out 2 or 3 times a week.  However, he had barrels and bins and glass cases full of Lake Superior agates. Thousands of them.  The glacial terrain where the St. Croix River and the Mississippi River converge must be good agate territory -- proof is in the size of his collection.

I knew that I didn't have much time since I wanted to purchase a few agates, organize my car, and then drive to Minneapolis.  As a result, I did not take any pictures of his incredible agate collection.  Sorry.

The drive was more than I have endured for more than a decade.  I hit rush hour in the Twin Cities and drove in stop and go traffic for two hours.  It was quite a relief to finally arrive at the Marriott.  I ate dinner and then got a good night sleep.  I knew that I had to be at the Celebration of Agates meeting well before 8:00 a.m.  Well, I tried to sleep....

I must admit that I was a bit nervous as Thursday morning dawned.  During my corporate career I spoke at a lot of large meetings, as well as at legislative hearings, etc.  But it has been a long time....

My speaking slot was just before lunch.  As nervous as I was, things went well for the most part -- until the AV company's computer died.  Apparently the cord had wiggled loose and the computer lost power.  Since at first the lights were out in the theater, It took them a few minutes to diagnose the problem, but there was a 4 or 5 minute gap in time.  I kept thinking that my power point presentation would start up any second, but it did not.  Thanks to Roger Clark who asked me what the Gitche Gumee Museum contains.  My response filled at least some of that gap. 

Once my presentation was over, I felt a great sense of relief.  My talk must have come off OK however, because since Thursday morning over 50 people have sought me out to give me positive feedback.

As a celebration of the international Agate Show, for the next few days I'll post some of the pictures I took from the presentations as well as on the show floor.  Tomorrow, I'll list the names of all the speakers and their topics.  But today I just want to post some pictures of nature's art.  Enjoy.

The show venue is Hopkins High School.

And now the stars of the show...

A thunderegg...

India dentritic agates...

Plume agates...

Moroccan agates...

Lake Superior agates...

Michigan copper replacement agates...

An agate that resembles a forest fire...

Unusual Lake Superior agates ...