Sabbatikos

It started with a moldy raspberry. The size of a car. Posted on Instagram.

Last December in Los Angeles, we attended an exhibit of artist Kathleen Ryan’s Bad Fruit sculptures after spotting them on Instagram and feeling drawn to her show at the Karma Gallery in West Hollywood. Entering the gallery was a little intimidating, but once inside we were met by enormous life sized everyday foods transformed by striking geological embellishments. We first stood before several mattress sized slices of toast rising into mineral landscapes where butter should have been. These colossal pieces stood alone in a large open space, each surface covered with intricate bedazzlements. In the next room a single giant raspberry collapsed inward under the weight of azurite, malachite, quartz crystals, and lapis stones. It was mesmerizing, bewildering, and strangely beautiful. At the time I did not know what most of these minerals and gems were, only that they had been woven into truly remarkable works of art.

A few months later in Tucson, after a late brunch that fittingly included toast, berries, and a couple of cocktails, we wandered into the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, one of the largest gatherings of crystals and geological wonders on Earth. As we moved through the convention center among stalls filled with gems, fossils, crystals, and stones, we found ourselves thinking back to Ryan’s sculptures with a new level of appreciation, now surrounded by the real world materials and costs of her impossible molding brunch.

Bad Fruit did not send us to Tucson in search of gems. This was simply a long weekend escape from the cold, rain soaked days of the Pacific Northwest, a chance to dry out and shake off the moss. We had never been to Tucson before, and it felt like the right kind of place to explore, with towering saguaros, the wide expanse of the Sonoran Desert, and the promise of great Mexican food. We were staying downtown at the Leo Kent Hotel (which I would not recommend thanks to the persistent noise of street racing and coal rolling trucks all night long).

On our first morning we wandered over to The Cup Café located in the historic Hotel Congress, for an elevated comfort food brunch. We were off to a slow start, and somehow it was raining in Tucson. With better weather on the horizon, we decided to save Saguaro National Park and other outdoor adventures for later in the trip and look for something to do nearby. Just a few blocks away, the Tucson Convention Center was hosting the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. This is not just any gem and mineral show, it is the Mother-of-All Gem and Mineral Shows! Depending on who you ask, it is the largest gathering of gems, minerals, fossils, meteorites, crystals, and geological wonders. That sounded intriguing enough, so we went. And it turned out to be incredible, educational, and potentially hobby-habit forming.

We spent hours at the gem show wandering from booth to booth, stopping to ask questions and study the displays. With each table we learned something new about crystals, fossils, and gemstones. It was captivating, and the vendors seemed delighted to indulge our curiosity, sharing their knowledge with the kind of enthusiasm that only comes from people passionate about their hobby and business (and desire to sell us something). By the time we finally looked up, my step counter revealed we had walked several miles across the convention floor. And our pockets were full of fossils, crystals, and stones we had bought. We had worked up quite an appetite, the afternoon was slipping away, and we still had a dinner reservation waiting for us.

That evening we headed to Casa Madre for dinner. The restaurant is tiny and therefore difficult to get into, but we had managed to secure an early reservation. Tucked behind a larger brewery and reached through a charming little alley, the entrance feels almost hidden. Inside, the space is intimate and warmly lit, with a striking and art-cluttered bar illuminated by glowing Himalayan salt blocks that cast a soft amber light across the room and then slowly rotated to different colors and tones throughout the night. The service was excellent and welcoming, and the kitchen delivered some delicious dishes that I neglected to take pictures of. It was the perfect place to unwind after an afternoon wandering through a world of minerals and stones.

It was pouring rain when we stepped out of dinner, so we caught a car back to the hotel. We arrived back surprisingly early and found ourselves wondering how to spend the rest of the evening. A quick search for things happening in Tucson that night led us to a jazz show at The Century Room at Hotel Congress, featuring Chicago based vocalist Alyssa Allgood.

The Century Room reminded me of a smaller version of Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle. Tucked inside the historic Hotel Congress, where we had stopped earlier in the day for brunch, the club was small, dimly lit, and felt intimate and exclusive. We were seated at a two top between the stage and the bar, close enough to watch the band but far enough back to enjoy a little people watching. Alyssa Allgood performed with a relaxed and easy confidence that allowed her to deliver innovative interpretations of jazz standards along with several original compositions. Her house band was seasoned and tight, trading improvised phrases with the authority of musicians who know each other well enough to know exactly where they are going. What began as a day interrupted by unexpected rain turned into a day of discovery and small adventures, like the spontaneity of a jazz solo.

Despite the rain and a restless night filled with street noise, it turned out to be an unforgettable day. It connected us back to our recent trip to Los Angeles, taught us far more about gems and minerals than we ever expected to learn, and gave us great food and live music along the way. Days like this are exactly why we travel.