3rd Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium, August 2013

Katya and I were delighted to be invited to attend the 3rd Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium this August, even more so as I was asked to give a presentation there about mindat.org.On the Friday evening before the symposium we attended an opening party held at the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science.The next day, Saturday, was the symposium itself, held at the SMU campus in Dallas.After the presentation many of us visited The Arkenstone's showroom nearby where Rob and his team had prepared snacks, drinks and of course minerals to view and to buy.The following day our friends Gail and Jim Spann organized a "Soiree" for the visiting mineral community and local friends, this has now become a regular August event, this being the sixth year it has been run. This year's event was more work than usual to organize as it came during the complete reconstruction of their home.We stayed for a couple more days in Dallas to relax and spend some private time with our friends. Before we left, we had a chance to go on a boat ride with Gail, Jim and family to see the sunset over Lake Ray Hubbard - we couldn't have asked for a nicer way to end the trip.Thank you to Gail and Jim for hosting us for the trip, thank you to Rob Lavinsky for inviting and funding our visit to the symposium. We look forward to returning next year!