Over Labor Day weekend, Andy and I visited the local Potawatomi Zoo. A few years ago, the old machine was replaced with brand new penny designs. Being so close from home, I never planned to visit to get the new coins. It was because there was a few minutes of spare time, and the Asian grocery store I shop was near by, that we went to crank out the new pennies this time.
But the Potawatomi Zoo is worth visiting if you were in the area. I can’t say it’s very different from all the other zoos across the country, but it has its own charm. Ride the Zoo Train, it’s my favorite.
New ECs from Potawatomi Zoo South Bend, IN
I recently moved to Walkersville, MD and it took me weeks before being able to post imagines online. Not that I was great at updating the blog before, but having all the coins packed up in 10 different boxes tend to handicap organization process.
The biggest problem, after fishing out all the coins from various nooks and crannies, was getting Internet connection. My new apartment has a wireless network that only my laptop can connect to, my scanner has an outdated cable connection that only hooks up to my desktop, and I have no cross-over cable to connect my desktop to my laptop. Luckily, my buddy Suhail loaned me his USB to transfer the files. I scanned 20 coins from the San Diego Zoo and posted them up just now.
New ECs from San Diego Zoo San Diego, CA
Jennifer sent me an email one weekend, saying that she was at Ithaca with Adam. At first I thought Adam was socializing with the good peers at Cornell, after all Ph.D. students meet and toss around dissertation ideas, right? But she explained that, instead of visiting the Hampton, like the rest of the Manhattan crowds, the two of them opted to go hiking around Ithaca’s gorges instead.
The last time I was in the area was 1998. I was accepted to Cornell’s summer college program, made some friends in similar predicament, and a group of us walked by a local waterfall to satisfy the urging of our eager parents, all of whom spent thousands of dollars for us to attend the program and wanted to live vicariously through every dollar.
There’s me! A decade younger and not at all enjoying the beautiful surroundings.
Jennifer and Adam seemed to have a good time. Both of them are much more athletic than I was and they did drive 5 hours for the view. They visited Taughannock Falls, which is slightly higher than the American side of the Niagara Falls. From the pictures they took, it was a good trip.
What I can’t figure out is, how did they end up in Watkins Glen?
Almost an hour drive, directly west of Ithaca, is Watkins Glen. The town is supposed to be scenic, being at the tip of Fingers Lake. But Watkins Glen is most well known for auto racing, something that neither my family nor Adam’s (as far as I can tell) is interested in.
As it turned out, the shop where they rolled the pennies was in Schuyler, directly outside of the park’s entrance. Penny designs can be deceiving.
New ECs from Watkins Glen Schuyler, NY
During my week long business trip, I drove down to Panama City Beach to press some pennies. Two hours each way, which made this quite a detour.
Most of these locations are tourist traps, with the exception of Angelo’s Steak Pit, which looked like a nice restaurant. But if you look closely, most of their coins have a misspell “PAMAMA” instead of “PANAMA”.
New ECs from Alvin’s Island Panama City Beach, FL
New ECs from Angelo’s Steak Pit Panama City Beach, FL
New ECs from Shell Port Panama City Beach, FL
New ECs from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Panama City Beach, FL
New EC from Zoo World Panama City Beach, FL
Jason gave this coin to me one day after his YMCA camp. He said he found it on the ground.
I washed it carefully and cataloged it. It’s one that I don’t have 
New EC from WDW Resort Walt Disney World
New ECs from San Diego Zoo San Diego, CA
I got my first North Dakota coins from Paul this weekend! It’s always exciting to gain a new state into the collection.
New ECs from Dacotah Territories Gift Shop Medora, ND
New EC from Fort Cody Trading Post North Platte, NE
I realized that if I have to scan the new San Diego Zoo coins all at once, I probably will wait till Christmas to get started. So, a machine at a time, whenever I get a minute.
I have the Komono Dragon coin from previous trades already, but it was in zinc. I’m glad to have a chance to upgrade my current collection.
New ECs from San Diego Zoo San Diego, CA
Found one more coin from Old Town Market.
Jason accompanied me to the Human-Computer Interaction International 2009 conference in San Diego. We were able to visit many San Diego locations during conference breaks and pressed a total of 59 coins! Some are redundant though, since it’s difficult to keep track of which San Diego Zoo coins I possess already.
Made some changes to the Old Town store names and added new coins to the trade list.
Moved location at Inka’s Art San Diego, CA
New ECs from Old Town Alley Shop San Diego, CA
New EC from Cafe Coyote San Diego, CA
New ECs from Old Town Market San Diego, CA
Remaining San Diego Zoo coins to come…
