Earlier this summer my family took a trip to Colorado, and here we are many weeks later and I’m finally getting around to sharing the adventure with you. We had booked a cabin in a place called Bailey that was about an hour outside of Denver. We were up in the mountains with a nice piece of property and plenty of peace and quiet. It was unbelievable and we truly enjoyed being there. However, every so often we would venture out to explore. One of the first places we decided to check out was the Denver Zoo.

Something I found interesting about this zoo is it had underground parking. I’ve visited lots of zoos over the years, and I think that was a first.

Once inside the zoo was quite large and sprawled out in various directions. There was plenty of shade which I always appreciate, but the temperatures during our trip were beautiful and with no humidity like we suffer from in Florida I was in heaven.

The exhibits were fun and of course had plenty of all the usual animals you would expect. We stopped for snacks and ice cream along the way, and even took a quick ride on a classic carousel filled with colorfully decorated animals. The zoo had a decent crowd during our visit but nothing like we are used to at the Disney parks so we really enjoyed the slower pace of our visit.

Hopefully this goes without saying, but I was sure to keep an eye out for any elongated coins. They were scattered pretty throughly throughout the park. The first machine we found was the one pictured above, the cabinets were very familiar however the marquee was quite a bit different. I wasn’t sure why there were two images of each coin design, and why one of them was filled with different colors. It was a bit unique and I must admit it caught my eye so who am I to complain. The machines had been updated to the newer payment system accepting either cash, credit or digital payments. Each machine was pre-filled with zinc pennies and cost $1 each to press each penny.

Some of the machine locations I had researched on pennycollector.com were not in the same locations during my trip. It’s still on my to-do list to make some updated notes for other collectors to reference but this was one of those machines. Originally it was listed as being near the carousel we had ridden however the machine was no where to be found. Eventually I came across is near the primate section of the zoo.

The next machine was in the correct location but on the complete opposite side of the zoo near a section called the Elephant Passage. It was kind of hidden behind a large bush and I almost walked right past it. Thankfully my elongated coin spidey-sense was tingling helped me spot it at the last moment.

Finally the last machine was found over near the giraffe exhibit. By this time my family was pretty tired, we were still trying to get adjusted to our temporary time zone, and the higher elevation. They were resting a bit in one of the quick service restaurants having a light lunch while I quickly trekked through the last section of the zoo we hadn’t visited yet. After pressing the set I finished walking this last area and then headed back to join up with my family.

Before we headed out we did make a quick stop in the gift shop. My youngest fell in love with a cute plush animal so we adopted that and while in line to check out I saw they had some generic Penny passport books for $6 which was pretty reasonable. I didn’t pick one up since I already have one of these versions, and at this point in my collection I prefer to get ones only if they are customized for the location I visited.

Those of you eagle eyed readers may have noticed among the penny machine photos that the bottom of each machine had a number. I found four machines, but seemed to miss machine #2. I inquired with a few employees at the zoo and they insisted that there were currently only four machines. Could I have missed it, well it’s certainly possible but to toot my own horn that doesn’t happen to often. I’m pretty good at finding all machines and knowing the common locations that the vendors like to place them. If any of you have visited the Denver Zoo and have any information on Machine #2 please let me know in the comments and maybe we will have to go back sometime again in the future.

Stay tuned for more posts about our Colorado trip. We had plenty of other things on our list to do, and of course lots of pennies and even some medallions to collection along the way. Keep on Pressing!

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