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…
I just got back from my San Diego conference (more on which later) when I received a post card and a coin from my good friend Chris D. I’m delighted to add it to my collection!
New EC from the Alamo San Antonio, CA
It sure is amazing that with so many online coin supplier, it is impossible to find a 14″ double row heavy duty red coin storage box. I use the red boxes for domestic and black ones for international. Apparently it’s a mistake since they only make the heavy duty ones in black now… I don’t like the regular duty ones, since they feel a bit flimsy.
So far, I found Coin Supply Express to have a good price on the boxes and JP’s Corner to have a good price on the 2×2s.
Oh no! It’s been so long since my last update! I really appreciate all the site’s visitors, who are willing to drop by even though I haven’t been updating as regularly.
I got a few more coins from driving around:
New ECs from Ohio Turnpike Service Plaza Fallen Timbers Mile 49 - Eastbound Swanton, Ohio - All the Ohio Turnpike’s machines have been replaced. Even though I pass by the entire strip a couple of times per month, I haven’t been very stringent on collecting the whole set.
New EC from Cabela’s Hamburg, PA - I’ve passed this Cabela many times when driving to NYC. Finally I had a chance to stop and press the coin.
Austin, who’s always been wonderful at helping me add to my collection, pressed these for me:
New EC from The Yankee Candle Co. South Deefield, MA - Austin said that he had to go to a Yankee Candle fair to press this one 
New EC from Parker’s Maple Barn Manson, NH
New EC from Great Wolf Lodge Pocono Mountains, PA
New EC from Thornes Marketplace Northampton, MA
On one of my frequent trips between MI and MD, I took a detour to Cacapon Lodge at Cacapon Resort State Park.
It was Sunday night when I drove into Berkeley Springs, WV. I figured that since the machine was in a lodge, it must be open 24-7. The park actually closes at 10PM, and it was 9:30PM when I got to the gates. I have no doubt that it’s a beautiful park, but at night, the Cacapon was incredibly creepy. Past the gates, the road winds through a forest of trees. It reminded me of the scene where Snow White was running away from the evil stepmother.
The fun didn’t end when the pennies were pressed. When I got home, I realized that it was impossible to tell what the initials on the coins were.
If you look at a vertical coin, the initials look like “CZC”
If you look at a horizontal coin, the initials look like “UNU”
The jury’s not out on this one, but you can see for yourself here:
New ECs from Cacapon Resort Lodge Berkeley Springs, WV
Once in a while, I go through my “Box of Lost ECs,” trying to find where these coins were pressed so I can log them into the database.
I had this Bass Pro Shop EC for a long time, and I never thought I’d find where it was pressed. There are so many Bass Pro Shops all over the country, each of them having their own machine. It wasn’t until I perused through all the designs did I realize that many of the Bass Pro Shop ECs are unique. Of course, many locations have the logo design and some of the leaping deer or walking bear imagines overlap. But most shops have special imagines designed specifically for that location. For example, the Bossier City in Louisiana has a Mardi Gras design. I also learned from this search that my Cincinnati Bass Pro Shop ECs have been removed.
New EC from Ports of Call Santa Cruz, CA
New EC from Bass Pro Shop Springfield, MO
Since we’re on the topic (we’re always on the press penny topic), I’d like to share a recent punctuation discovery.
The apostrophe is only used to note possessives of nouns. Therefore, EC’s is not grammatically correct for noting multiple press pennies. I made many of these mistakes before 
I’ll leave them to note progress.
Next thing I want to find out is where the comma goes: before or after the parenthesis?
I’ve been traveling between Maryland and Michigan. Usually I pick up coins along the way; travel plazas, Cabelas, or local restaurants. I was looking at places where I could have missed when I spotted that Cumberland listed a local that is just off the highway.
I got this coin from the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. Hopefully I’ll pick up the coin from Hagerstown next time.
I also see a flaw in the new Trade List coding. It’s always harder with Washington DC… The way I had it arranged that it’s both a state and the only city. However, I’ll have to put in special output code so the bullets will be lined up.
New EC from the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad Cumberland, MD
Scott took half a day off to see an Orioles game. Minutes before he left the office, I suddenly remembered that there may be penny machines at the stadium. There is a 4-die machine at the Camden Yards and my colleagues helped me gathered a few copper pennies for Scott to take with him.
This morning, I found four new ECs on my desk 
Special thanks to Belinda and Scott for the Camden Yards pennies!
