A Penny For Your Thoughts....

About 15 years ago I started collecting flattened pennies. You know, where you spend 51 cents to get a penny flattened and embossed. I'm not some serious collector, but generally if I see the penny machines, I stop and get one. Maybe two if the designs are good. I know I have gotten more over the years but I didn't always try and keep track of them. A few years ago raine_days gave me a nifty folder to hold my pennies.

It holds 36 pennies and after my trip to Universal Studios last weekend, I have finally filled it up! I have pennies from the Pacific Science Center in Seattle; the Space Needle; the Mariners; Leavenworth, Washington (a "Bavarian" town in Eastern WA); the Mall of America; Wild waves (water park near Seattle); Lake George, NY; Kings Dominion (amusement park in VA); Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum; American History Museum; Natural History Museum; the White House; the National Zoo; the Washington Monument; Oregon Zoo; Chesapeake Bay, MD; Detroit; San Francisco; Sacramento; Redondo Beach, CA; Route 66; Cherokee Nation, OK; and Cedar Point (an amusement park in Ohio). I also have two from London, one from Prague, and one from Rome. Technically those aren't pennies but they are flattened pieces of metal nonetheless!! If anyone took the time to count all the places, you'd realize they don't add up to 36. I do have some duplicates. Anyway, when you are out and about, you now know you can get me a souvenir for 51 cents (sometimes 76 cents at the more pricier locales) and I'll actually be happy!

Of all of these, there is one I wish I would have gotten when I had the chance. At one travel plaza in Maryland you had a choice of a couple designs. I believe I chose the Naval Academy and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I foolishly skipped over the one with Frank Zappa. It was so awesomely bad!!