Merchandise buying for Gallery Escalante – Summer 2013
Sunday, August 4th, we ventured to Las Vegas to attend the Trade Show. Found everything on “the list” and only 115 degrees. Lots of nice $2.95 bracelets and necklaces – some more amber and more copper color chains. Our hotel had been renamed due to a sale but it was still the same great quality but I’m sure the prices will go up. We’ve been paying $29.95 to $34.95 for a King Room. I just booked one for the Consumer Electronics Show in January and they are $60.00 No surprise.
We finished up our buying process, as we’ve always done it over the last 15 years, and then did the etra shopping at Fry’s, etc. On Tuesday morning we checked out early and headed to Chandler. We weren’t sure we go all the way, but there’s not much to amuse from Vegas to Chandler.
We stopped at Mr. D’s in Kingman for lunch. They’re across from the Powerhouse visitors center. Powerhouse folks are always helpful and we always make a donation to the jar. One of their newest displays is a picture of the pickup truck owned by a woman that live in Chloride, AZ (just outside Kingman) that was used by Disney as the model for TowMater. We got some ideas and guides for Wickenburg and went across for lunch.
On down Highway 93 we took the turn-off for Burro Creek Campground. We didn’t do much but look as it was 93 degrees and headed up. The campground is perfect for a visit to Bagdad Mining Town and for fishing at Beaver Dam. .A clean campground with restrooms but no water. On to Chandler for two nights at the Comfort Inn, which was excellent and a great hot breakfast.
The next day we visited the Heard Museum of Indian Art and Culture. I could have spent all day in there writing down ideas, patterns, and absorbing the spirit of the place. The many pieces of art were from the Navajo, Anasazi and Hopi tribes and were extremely well preserved. The woven sandals of turkey feathers and yucca were exceptional. They had one of the most unusual wedding pots we’ve ever seen and almost all the beadwork was stringing not weaving. The basketry was 90% coiled, but there were a few very old twined baskets for water, mostly from the Paiutes. The Mohaves made net-woven necklaces in the late 1800’s and there were a few on display. The Apache bead work was done in embroidery style using the couching stitch but lovely. Some of the woven mat, sandals and sieves and a few of the cradle boards were woven willow.
We had lunch at Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant and enjoyed cooling off before we ventured on over to the Desert Botanical Gardens . Most of the cactus had already bloomed but there was some older barrel cactus that was in full bloom The Prickley Pear was totally covered with fruit and very colorful. The gardens are incredible . If Escalante’s winters weren’t so cold we could start one here. The entrance garden is glass cactus. Tracy spent about an hour photographing one of the 5 trails established on this 145 Acre Garden which began in 1939, before he surrendered to the heat. Currently, the garden has over 50,000 specimens of succulent plants – the only garden in the world whose mission is to focus solely on desert plants. A must see www.dbg.org.
We’ll stop there for now and pick up more of the trip next week.