February 17, 2009

Today was a short travel day, but we were able to take a tour of the U.S. Mint, one of only four money-making, and two currency-making operations in the U.S. (San Francisco now makes specialty "mirror" coins we were told on our tour, although that was never really explained. 

The reservation sheet (you have to book weeks ahead of time to get a spot) said we had to be there at LEAST 15 minutes ahead of time, so Colleen had to call an audible and go to a different light rail lot as the first one was full. The reason why so early was apparently the slow walk through security.  The security guy (jokingly?) told us they took things more seriously there than airports because they were guarding money.

Once inside, the guy who later identified himself as Tom (the tour guide) counted us down ("Your tour begins in 14 minutes!" "You have 13 and a half minutes to check out the displays!" "That's a good question and we'll answer that in 13 minutes!") Literally every 30 seconds through 2 minutes. It made Colleen nervous - all that counting.

The actual tour itself was great - Tom really tailored things to kids, letting them answer all the questions, although he didn't answer the question from the kid who kept putting his hand up.  We learned the mint is not taxpayer funded, and it turns more than a billion dollars in profit each year (pennies and nickels cost more to make than they're worth, but dimes, quarters, half-dollars and dollars are cheaper to make then their face value, and what they charge the federal reserve), which is "half of what we need," according to one kid on the tour. Colleen was told she would "turn into a pumpkin" for looking at the coin making/sorting before it was described on the tour (she was a "young lady," just like everyone else.)

There was also an armed security guard who followed us around to apparently protect the money. It was odd though at the end when Tom had us line up into two rows around the station where the armed guards used to be on the ready to shoot people when they were guarding gold at that particular location. (Gold's still there at the Denver mint, in some undisclosed location.) Was the middle of the hall unstable or something? Because Tom was very specific. 

There were lots of questions to be had but no time to answer them (we were told we had 2 minutes when we lined up.) The only thing Colleen can figure is that Tom does all the tours, and had to get ready to do the 15 minute countdown. We ran into him later leaving the gift shop, where he wished us a good day. It was very interesting and very informative and Colleen gives it an A- (points off for the hyperactive counting).

Then it was back home to pack and get ready to meet Colleen's good friend Dawn for lunch. This makes the blog because a.) Dawn is awesome and b.) the lights went out during Joe Biden's speech on the economic stimulus bill signing, being broadcast live from Denver on CNN. The power was soon restored, although when we went to neighboring Target, they were still on a generator. -- POSTED BY COLLEEN