Charmy and Rick's Big Road Trip Adventure to the ANA Summer Seminar w/Tons of Pics!!!

I hope you don’t mind, but this year’s ANA Summer Seminar report will be a little expanded since it will also include photos of my road trip to and from Colorado. So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, jack, scotch, etc., get comfy, and hopefully you will enjoy my photo-intensive journey to and from the Summer Seminar.

When I was planning this year’s trip to the ANA Coin Camp, instead of catching the usual flight through Denver to Colorado Springs, I decided I'd like to see some of the beautiful country along the way and thought about driving there. However, it’s not as fun (nor safe) to drive that far by yourself and I knew that Rick Snow and his friend Bruce usually drove from Tucson to Colorado Springs. So I asked him if he would mind if I rode/drove with them. Rick said Bruce wasn’t going this year and he would welcome the company. I’m about a 7-hour drive to Tucson so I found it easier and not that expensive to fly to Phoenix where Rick picked me up, so that’s where our road trip began.

We left Phoenix Thursday morning with a goal of reaching Durango, Colorado, by that evening. Here are photos of some of the sites we saw along the way…

We went through Winslow, Arizona, and we happened to find a street corner, and, you all know how the Eagles song goes .... "Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and such a fine sight to see. It's a girl, my Lord, in a [2006] Ford slowin' down to take a look at me ....."









We also went to Four Corners (Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado), and I just had to do the touristy thing and do the usual pose so I was in all four states at one time! The last time I was there was about 10 years ago with the boys (back when they didn't charge you to get in).







Soon we were out of the gold, tan and orange desert terrain and driving through the more lush green surroundings of beautiful Colorado.



Once in Durango, we found a very cute pub to have dinner – the dining room was down in the basement







Then we walked around the gorgeous town of Durango and checked out the various shops, including an art gallery that had this iconic photo for sale and some typical western gear.





The next day, we continued our trek to Colorado Springs.



We stopped briefly in historic Silverton.

 

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Then we on our way through the stunning San Juan Mountains.



















Next, we went through another history mining town, Ouray (where we would stay on our way back home).









Colorado being Colorado, we saw a few signs like this one….



Then it was back on the road, next stop Colorado Springs!







Unfortunately, due to several road closures along the way where we had to wait for at least ½ hour before they’d let traffic through, we missed the ANA wine tasting tour we signed up for on Friday evening, so we just checked into our dorm apartment.



Then we went to the Coltrain store for some beverages, and settled in at Lunar Lounge, turned on the tunes, and relaxed beneath the view of Pike’s Peak while watching the sun go down.

 

Tiny came by and showed us his latest hobo nickel carvings.







The next morning (Saturday), we saw some old friends at the cafeteria – this is Dan Adif



After breakfast, we headed over to the ANA office where I took the opportunity to view the very cool Treasures of the Deep exhibit as well as some of the other displays.



























The ANA penny pressing machine



The ANA library



More familiar faces… Ed Fischer, Steven Roach, and David Sklow

 

Then we headed over to the coin show.





Rick showed me this very cool scarce French coin he bought at the show





After we finished at the show and dropped our coins off at the ANA vault, we headed back to our dorm. Along the way on the campus lawn, we saw a couple guys who had strung a rope between a two trees and were actually walking on the rope.



Saturday evening was the introductory assembly at Worner Hall where all the instructors are introduced and everyone is given information about the events of the week, drinking lots of water, etc.





After the assembly, Rick and I headed over to Cripple Creek to play some poker!



There are several casinos, most of them very small, and we picked Wild Wood since it had the largest poker room.





Classes began on Sunday morning. This is the Summer Seminar program.



On our way to the cafeteria for breakfast, we ran into this little squirrel which was very unafraid. He started following Rick, and then turned around, faced me, struck a pose for my camera and waited for me to take his picture!



More familiar faces at the cafeteria….



Brian Fanton, Mike Ellis, Rod Gillis, Walt Ostromecki, and Rick Sear



I signed up for Rick’s class again this year because talking about and looking at Indian cents is my most favorite thing to do! Rick had also asked me to be his assistant throughout the class which helped keep all the coins we would be viewing more organized. These are the goodies he hands out to each person in his class, as well as a free pdf version of the latest edition of his huge Attribution Guide.

This is one of the first coins Rick showed us in class – a very neat 1864 reeded edge pattern Indian cent!





Of course, Rick talked about the very scarce 1856 Flying Eagle cents and its various varieties.



In between class, this is one of the YN’s favorite activities.



After classes on Sunday, Bob Campbell held a “bull session” on conserving coins, in particular, copper coins, which was very fascinating.

 

After Bob’s class, it was back to the cafeteria for dinner and more socializing.







After dinner we relaxed back at Lunar Lounge to watch the sun go down. I grabbed one of the bottles of wine I bought at Coltrain (by the way, they have a fabulous wine selection!), set up my iTunes and Boze speaker, and enjoyed the beautiful climate and scenery.





Then, within minutes, the dark clouds moved in and it began to pour – and I don’t mean lightly, the rain came down in buckets with huge sharp flashes of lightening followed by loud cracks of thunder!



At first, we moved against the wall for shelter under the overhang, but then as the rain kept pouring down, we moved under the shelter between the two buildings.



But the area between the buildings became a wind tunnel, so everyone moved into our apartment which was the corner apartment facing Lunar Lounge, and waited for the storm to pass.

This is Rick and Larry Sekulich drying off in our apartment.



And Mike Farone



After a couple hours, the rain was gone and everyone moved back to Lunar Lounge, along with whatever bottles of alcohol they wanted to drink.



Someone brought this vodka, and I have to tell you, it was awful!



Tiny and Dan



Monday morning it was back at class. We did a lot of grading coins and then discussing whether and why the coin warranted the grade given. This is a very rare beautiful 1864-L proof Indian cent.







Each day we broke for lunch around 11:45 and everyone heads over to the cafeteria. This is Worner Center where the cafeteria is located, and where most of the activities took place.





Someone noticed this name plaque on one of the office doors at the Worner Center and wondered if it was a relative of mine!




This is the very tasty salad bar at the cafeteria.

 

Right across the side street is the ANA headquarters.



Many of the classes are held across the main street at Armstrong Hall.





Rick had asked me to bring some of my toned coins, both proofs and some of the more colorful coins from my personal collection, to discuss in class. This is a blue/yellow/green 1894/94 PCGS MS64 BN Indian cent from my personal collection – one of my very favorite coins!





And this is a toned 1877 NGC MS65 RB coin also from my personal collection.



This is a very pretty lustrous iridescent 1877 PCGS MS64 BN from my inventory – everyone thought I should send this in for an upgrade!







After classes ended each day, we had about an hour before everyone headed to the cafeteria for dinner, so we would just catch up on emails, check out the message boards, or just take a nap.



Each year at Summer Seminar, Brian Fanton and Rick are always confused for the other – they like to say they are brothers from another mother!



On Monday evening a couple of deer wandered around the campus – Rick took these photos.





After dinner and the bull sessions, several of us struck up a lively game of poker (small stakes) – while the table next to us played an even livelier game of Uno!



Ed Fischer



Even though it looks like I did pretty well with these stacks, earlier in the game I had to rebuy about 3 times before I finally got some luck!



Tuesday morning - the area and buildings around campus are really beautiful.

 

Worner Center from a distance.





The main area in Armstrong Hall



Todd Pollock’s photography class



Students in my class







The campus is not exclusive to the Summer Seminar folks, there are usually a few other types of camps with kids going on at the same time. And for some reason, I think the entire campus showed up for dinner on Tuesday was so long it almost went out the door!





Tuesday night was the YN auction – the big event of the week! This is auction lot viewing about an hour before the auction.



The auction is usually very well attended!



Tiny encouraging bidders to bid big and often!









Glenn Holsonbake checking out the auction catalogue



Some of the YN’s eager and ready to assist!



Mark



One of the highlights is to auction off a pair of huge overalls with a lightbulb hat. It took two YNs to model Tiny’s overalls which are a usual auction item each session!

 

The winner of the oversalls auction gets to name a person of their choosing to wear them to the ANA reception and banquet Wednesday night. Then that person can match the bid NOT to wear them and name someone else to wear them and so on. So a friend of mine, Larry, won them at $400 and named my good buddy Rick to wear them. Well my now ex-buddy Rick promptly paid the $400 NOT to wear them AND named ME to wear them!! I really didn't want to spend $400 so I got stuck wearing them to the banquet! They also had an extra lightbulb hat that I bid on and won to keep, just so I could make Rick wear it to the banquet as payback!



Glenn tried on the hat and seemed to like it just fine!



And of course, after the auction comes another Lunar Lounge!



That’s Larry on the right, the guy who originally won the overalls and named Rick to wear them!



Bob Campbell and Ricardo de Leon Tailavas



Wednesday morning - more cafeteria socializing





Back at class, Rick showed us this beautiful 1856 Indian cent pattern!





Certificate of completion!



And our class photo!



I had to wear the overalls and hat to the reception as well as the awards banquet – I decided to channel my inner hillbilly! ;-) And Rick was a good sport to wear the light hat as well!







Me and the birdman!



A group of YNs at the reception



Some of the handsome young men all decked out!



A regular ex-YN – Sam Ernst!





Making sure we have enough wine at the banquet ;-)

 

And the banquet food….





Various tables of folks enjoying themselves at the banquet:

Me and Bob Campbell





Expert hobo carver Ron Landis and Rick at the banquet



Todd and Glenn





Larry and Mary

 

Some of the hobo carving students’ works of art







Todd and Rick accepting their instructor awards







Steve Carr and Doug Bird (EAC Class)



And Glenn receiving his Outstanding Encouragement of ‘YNs award – Glenn received a well-deserved standing ovation!







And the last night at Lunar Lounge – all the remaining bottles of alcohol lined up….



Another beautiful sunset on the Lunar Lounge!



Thursday morning it was time to head back home. We took a slightly different route on our return. We visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and watched the informational video before viewing the canyon.

 

It looked like a mini-grand canyon, though there was nothing mini about it!











It was a little scary looking down into the canyon because they had no safety fences or walls.









We stopped in the beautiful and quaint town of Ouray on our way back which is surrounded by tall mountains in a beautiful canyon.









We stayed at a very cute and rustic Matterhorn hotel that had a very comfy big cushy bed (so much appreciated after the skinny hard dorm beds!) The hotel had a nice patio area where we relaxed before exploring the town.







An 1897 photograph of Ouray I found in one of the stores



We found a great brewery that had an open patio overlooking the town

 

Beautiful view of Ouray from the pub



Friday morning we headed back through Red Mountain pass





And the gorgeous San Juan Mountains again





Though I drove some, Rick did most of the driving.



This time we went through Monument Valley in Utah





This is the general spot where they filmed Forrest Gump running down the highway with Monument Valley in the background!



We made it to Phoenix around 7pm. Since I didn’t know how late it would be when I got to Phoenix, I had scheduled my flight for the next morning. After 10 days being gone, boy was I happy to be home to my wonderful hubby and my adorable little Penny!

 

You're makingme homesick, my friend. I live near Colorado Springs and work in the city, but I'm deployed to the middle east right now. I've been elk hunting up near Ouray, too.

 

great write up.

 

Looks like you had a grand ole time, plenty of friends and beautiful looking coins to boot. Loved that 1863 reeded pattern cent! Plenty of great pics too! WTG.

 

You know your hardcore when you quote a band with the same name as a coin. . Thankyou Charmy-great report and photos!

 

Another great read!

 

I can't express how sorry I am you had to drive through Winslow. I have to unfortunately be there every other day for work on the railroad.

 

Wow, Coleguy, I'm sorry that's all you got out of this report... ;-)

 

Great write up as usual.