My wife and I had to take my son to the Childrens Hospital in Philadelphia, a 3 hour drive from where we live, for an appointment she thought was on Monday. Well, turns out his appointment was on Tuesday, so we had a day to burn with no plans on what to do. We heard then that the Independence Mall was a great place to visit, you know, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben Franklins grave site. We got there and I spotted a sign with an arrow that said "United States Mint". My first thought was WOW! Now how do I get the wife to agree that this would be a great place to visit. I was amazed that she agreed with me, so we went for a tour of the Mint. If any of you have been there recently, to get in you have to show a picture I.D. and have you and any bags you may have with you X-rayed, everything just short of a body cavity search :rolling: . haha. The tour itself wasn't too bad, alot of info on Mint history and the minting process. I honestly was expecting more. Although I did purchase a 2006 11 pc. Silver proof set at their gift shop, I was happy with that. Overall, it was a neat thing to see. Just thought I'd share that with all of you.:hug:
It's been quite a few years since I was at the mint. I think I set off the detector 2 or 3 times before I was finally let in (That was pre-9/11 so security was just entry through a metal detector). We did have to check our cameras at the gate though, no photos allowed. What hurt most was seeing all those mint errors and blank planchets laying everywhere. Very interesting and a lot of fun especially the gift shop. The place was buzzing because the Sac dollar and the state quarter program was just getting ready to kick-off.
Very nice! I'm glad you got to go; my only time in Philly was in summer 2004 and I had the same revelation- saw a sign for the mint and got excited, only to be told that tours could only be arranged through my own state's senator, and at least two weeks in advance! I'm glad they've calmed down a bit.
Was pretty much told the same when I wanted to visit the mint in Denver in January 2005. And since I'm not from the US, I don't even "have" a senator. So, no way. But now that things have apparently become easier, a little "detour" is planned for next year. Well, not really scheduled yet, but at least I brought it up and have not heard any objections from my beloved one so far ... Christian
