Spring Pilgrimage to Arizona in 2026

Already, we are on day 3 of 2026. I noticed that my blog posts were very few and far between. When everyone is making New Year’s Resolutions, my resolution is to keep my blog updated once a month, even if my life seems quite boring and I have nothing exciting to share with you.

Last year was my year to make a comeback. Unfortunately, my Arizona shows did not show the sales I was hoping for and I decided to get a part-time job to make sure that my bills were paid and my roof stayed over my head. Last year, I only had a handful of art shows with the Arizona shows in March, a few local shows in May and July and my annual trip to Bozeman, Montana for the SweetPea Festival. My annual drive to Portland, Oregon for the ScanFair once again marked my last show for 2025.

I am still working this part-time job and like it quite a bit. It doesn’t pay great sums of money, but my manager allows me to take, for example, an entire month off to go to Ireland! That was the best vacation I have had in a very long time. My sister and I travelled on a Rick Steves’ Tour through Ireland where all of our needs were taken care of with food, accomodations and travel between cities and regions. The way I usually travel includes so much stress and chaos and this way of travel was ideal.

I have already been accepted into two shows in Tucson, Arizona and I am awaiting responses from two other shows which hopefully will be four weeks of shows in a row. I’m in my studio preparing my inventory for these shows almost every day.

The first show of 2026 will be a return to the Tucson Museum of Art for their 39th Annual Spring Artisans Market which begins on Friday, February 27th and runs through Sunday, March 1st. I love visiting and showing my jewelry in Tucson, especially at the beautiful Tucson Museum of Art which is located in the old town.

I will also return to Tucson’s Fourth Avenue Street Fair which takes place on Friday, March 20th and runs through Sunday, March 22nd. Friday, March 20th will mark the first day of spring, the Vernal Equinox. I have been to Arizona many, many years during my professional career as a jewelry artist and most of those years have been in the Spring. This is something that I always look forward to because where I live in the Seattle area, we experience a dark, wet, cold, long winter which starts in November and drones on into March. When I have my Arizona shows lined up, I feel hopeful and look forward to my Spring Pilgrimage to Arizona.

I remember that one year (maybe 2017) when I drove down (over 1,600 miles) and the whole desert seemed to be in bloom. Instead of only brown desert, I witnessed flowers blooming and saw more green than usual. This was not a typical spring in Arizona with the rainfall being minimal compared to where I live in the Pacific Northwest. It was delightful and I am hoping for this to happen again, but I am just so grateful that I have the opportunity to leave the cold, gray, wet Pacific Northwest to warm my bones and see blue skies and sunshine for Spring once again.

Southwest Journey Revisited - Spring 2025 - Part 1

I’ve just returned from a 17 day journey from my home in the verdant Pacific Northwest all the way down to Litchfield Park, Sedona, Camp Verde and Tempe, Arizona and back through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and finally back home.

What an incredible adventure we had. I brought my Cairn Terrier, Kaela with me and we travelled thousands of miles. She is the best little companion anyone could have.

We started our journey on Wednesday, February 27th driving to Boise, Idaho the first night. Drove further through Idaho and into the wide open landscapes of the Nevada deserts and stayed in Alamo. I have stayed at the Sunset Inn off of the highway about 5 times so far. It’s a perfect stopping point on my route to Arizona. The middle of the desert you can see so many more stars than I ever get the chance to see back home in a very light-polluted and densely populated Seattle Metropolitan area.

The next morning we stopped at my usual spot at the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge for a beautiful, quiet and peaceful walk with nobody around.

We couldn’t stay long because I still had 400 miles to drive to set up for my booth at Litchfield Park. The first day, we had incredibly strong winds and all of the artists were holding down there tents for fear of a strong gust of wind lifting up our booths to toss in the air. Luckily, this did not happen.

After the Litchfield Park Art & Wine Festival, I wanted to drive over to New Mexico. We left early and as I was driving north, I started to have some doubts. The sky looked dark gray with heavy clouds. Sure enough, as I was approaching Flagstaff, Arizona, the snow started and immediately, I made a decsion to turn back south. I drove to Sedona, which I was very happy to see again. All Roads seem to lead me back to Sedona. Bought a sandwich and with my map ready, we headed down a long dirt road to Baldwin trail. Promises of better parking opportunities and fewer tourists. The weather was quite cold and windy in Sedona also, but we still had breaks of sunshine.

I found The Lodge in Camp Verde and booked three nights to settle in and explore this area i had never explored earlier. I searched for hikes in the area and had spoken with several locals and found out about a hike along Clear Creek. The long, dirt road was so rutted out and bumpy. Luckily, I had purchased new, beefy traction tires right before I left on this journey and they were essential to have when I drove out to the trailhead. What a beautiful hike this was. It was so interesting to hike along the creek with nobody around again.

When my Dad had visited me when I lived in Phoenix back in 2002, we had visited Montezuma Castle Monument and Kaela and I did the same on Thursday morning, before we drove down to Tempe to set up my booth for the spring Tempe Arts Festival.

At the Tempe Arts Festival, we were so cold and it rained all day on Saturday. It was quite miserable and I felt like I was back in the Pacific Northwest.

I still wanted to visit New Mexico, so after the art show on Monday morning, I headed east. This was so different than my normal Monday-after-an-AZ art show. I would normally drive straight home in three days, but now I had my last opportunity to check out New Mexico.

We arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico just after sunset. I visited the Botanical Gardens,