My family and I took a trip from Texas to Michigan to visit my grandparents this summer. We made it a point to visit as many penny machines as we could find! During our road trip, we got pennies from Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Arkansas - I filled up an entire Michigan Penny Collector book and had even more!
Michigan -
We visited Ludington State Park to get pennies and a medallion, but the Big Sable Point Lighthouse did not have the medallions. We got 4 pennies, though.
 |
| Pennies at the state park. |
My family and I got to ride the Dunes at Mac Wood's Dune Rides in Mears. We also found a machine there (hadn't even planned that one!), with 3 pennies. We also bought the Michigan Penny Collector book there too.
 |
| Surprise penny machine at the Dunes! |
 |
| The shoes were cool! |
Pentwater, Mi is a neat little tourist town and the penny machine is located at the Cosmic Candy Company... they had all kinds of fun candy and fancy popcorn. My whole family had a great time in that store! They had 4 pennies.
 |
| Pennies, Candy and Popcorn! |
And we went out to a little town called Bitely, since they have a penny machine! There wasn't much else in that little town, other than the Up North Gift Company. 3 pennies there.
Indiana -
On our way home we stopped at two Travel Plazas in Portage, Indiana. Both places had 4 pennies available and only one was a duplicate, so we got 7 pennies there.
 |
| Rest stop pennies. |
Illinois -
Rockome Gardens in Arcola, IL was a really neat place. We didn't have much time to really get to look around, but the nice people let us in for free to just get the pennies. They had one there, and the machine was an electric press (we didn't crank it).
 |
| Electric machine at the Amish stop? |
We stayed next to and ate at 17th Street BBQ in Marion, IL... and they have their own penny machine! The food was really good too! Got 4 pennies there.
 |
| Mmm, BBQ pennies! |
Then we took a little side trip to Makanda, Il, but the little Boardwalk there was all closed up and we couldn't get the pennies. BUT, my mom left a note and an envelope with quarters, pennies and postage under their door in hopes that someone would find it and send us pennies. Just over a week later, we received an envelope with 4 pennies from Makanda!!!
 |
| We can SEE the penny machine, but can't get to it! |
Missouri -
We stopped at Boomland in Charleston, MO for drinks and 3 more pennies!
 |
| BOOM pennies! |
Unfortunately we got to Lambert's Cafe too early, they weren't opened yet and we couldn't wait around long enough, so we weren't able to get the pennies there this time. Or eat their "throwed rolls."
Arkansas -
Our last stop was at Brown's Country Store in Benton, AR for one more penny before we got home!
 |
| Arkansas penny! |
It was a fun trip and I was glad to come home with so many new pennies to add to my collection!
What a great idea for a collection! You are still so young, I can't imagine how many pennies you will have when you are a grown up! It makes me wonder if you can go to other countries and find these coin press machines? It would be fun to collect foreign coins too. I collect salt n pepper shakers, making sure to get some every time I go on vacation! But I think your collection is perhaps smarter because pennies don't take up much room!
ReplyDeleteI like seeing all those pictures of you by the penny machines. We are glad you were able to get some pressed pennies here in Michigan. We'll keep an eye out for any more that might be around the state or any new ones. Enjoy your second grade work and we'll see you sometime this winter! :)
ReplyDeleteLove, Grandma J.
Next time you come to Michigan you'll have to check out... The Detroit Science Museum, The Ann Arbor Hands on Museum, Frankenmuth, and The Henry Ford Museum. That's some of the places we've gotten pressed pennies. My 9 y/o son collects them too. Thanks for the list of others... we'll have to add those to our bucket list next year. We live in Michigan... in the capitol of the state.
ReplyDeleteWow, Preston, that was some adventure you had finding all the penny machines!! I loved that when your mom put the envelope under the door with everything in it, and then they sent you the pennies, that was really cool!! What a neat souvenir you have to remember your trip by. Makes me want to start my own penny collection! Happy penny machine hunting! Your Friend, Elena Parr
ReplyDelete