Continuing our family tour of Upstate New York we came across another hidden gem Lake George.  Now I will admit that years ago before our first daughter Hanna was born my wife and I took our Babymoon here.  Babymoon you say?  Yes we never heard of it either but were told by the doctor that once my wife made it to her second trimester it was the perfect time to take a Babymoon which is like a honeymoon only you take it before your first child is born.  I guess it’s kind of like a “kiss your sanity goodbye” final vacation.  We initially stayed for a long weekend which was the perfect amount of time to hang out on the lake and just enjoy the quaint little town.  This time unfortunately we were just visiting for one night before heading finally making our way back to Jersey the next day.  But we didn’t let that scare us away from taking in the beauty of the lake.

By the time we wandered around a bit, everyone was pretty exhausted so we checked into our hotel.  After a short rest everyone was getting hungry but no one really wanted to go back out so I offered (wink wink) to head out and pick up some food.  Using my trusty Yelp! app on my phone I found a pizza place at the top of Canada Street that runs along the west side of Lake George.  Why did I do this?  Because there were a bunch of penny machines located nearby.  What a crazy questions I’m surprised you didn’t think it of.  Anyways, after placing our food order I had about 30 minutes to wander around and collect everything I could.  My first stop was the Village Emporium.

As with most of the stores on this street they were jammed packed with T-shirts, sweaters, shot glasses and all sorts of other things you would usually find in this type of souvenir store.

Just inside the main front entrance was the penny machine.  Just like I wrote about previously when visiting a store in Saratoga Springs this machine is a little unique.  I won’t go into details again, but please heed my warning “READ THE INSTRUCTIONS”.  Don’t just jam your coins in, the machine works just a little differently than you may be used to.

The machine offered 3 designs.  The Minnie Ha Ha Ship, I Love Lake George NY with a Teddy Bear, and My Lucky Lake George Penny with Shamrocks.  I felt like I was playing beat the clock as my dinner was going to be ready before I knew it and I still had quite a few places to check out.  Thankfully just a few stores away was my next stop the Waterfront Living store.

When I was doing some research before our trip I saw that this machine was a recent addition to Lake George.

The machine isn’t right inside the main store, but out under the covered area near the street.  I don’t know if this is left open while the store is closed so make sure to go during business hours to make sure you can access it.

These had some cool images on them.  The four designs available included I Love (heart) Lake George, a couple of Black Bears, Laid Back at Lake George, NY and Enjoying the View with some Hot Air Balloons.  Tick tock, tick tock time to get moving.  Just another short walk away was Riley’s at the Lake.

My wife and I used to have a cat named Riley and we always think of her when we visit this store.  Before you get any ideas it’s not a pet store just another Lake George Souvenir shop with a penny machine inside, oh and some t-shirts and a giant stuffed black bear out front.

This machine had quite a few quarters and pennies laying in the bottom of the machine.  I was a little nervous it wouldn’t work right but that was all for nothing as the machine worked perfectly and out popped my four new coins.

The coins rolled a little long but the images were all intact.  The designs were I Love NY, Adarondak Mtns (Yes this is how it’s spelled on the coins take a look yourself), a Moose Lake George NY, and My Lucky Penny Lake George NY.  I left the store and continued heading down to the next traffic light and made a left onto Beach Road.  This is where you can sign up to enjoy a dinner cruise, or other boat excursions out onto the lake.  They also have a really nice walkway that follows the southern end of the lake with a beautiful view of the entire lake and surrounding mountains.  As with the main street there are also many different shops and restaurants along this road.  One of those was the Olde Curiosity Shop.

There wasn’t much in here I hadn’t already seen in other nearby souvenir shops, but as I made my way to the back of the store I found the penny machine hidden inside.

This machine worked fine except it wasn’t level so it kept tilting to one side each time I turned the handle which took a little doing to not crack my skull on the corner.  But with some coordination I pressed the coins without permanently hurting myself.

The coins at this l location had designs of a War Drum, a Cannon, one of the River Boats, and a Colonist with a Native American.  This last coin is a perfect segue into the final stop on my quick penny squishing mission.  At the top of the fairly large hill located behind the store was Fort William Henry which is now a museum.

As I quickly made my way up the hill there are a few various pathways that all lead towards the museum.  As you get closer you can hear the sound of marching and gun fire all from the battle reenactments that take place at various times during the day.

Fort Henry was constructed in 1755 to command the southern end of Lake George.  It was a British outpost to protect colonies further to the south.  Since I was rushing against the clock and my food was getting very close to be done I didn’t have time to really check out the museum in all its glory.  Instead I ran in to explore the gift shop.

As you can see from the above picture just outside the gift shop was a penny machine.  I headed over but quickly noticed the large sign tape to the top.

“Out of Order” how could they do this to me.  Oh well no biggie sometimes this happens and you just have to roll with it.  After we got back home from our trip I waited about a week and sent a letter to Fort Henry Museum with some quarters and pennies asking if someone could press me a set when the machine was back up and running.  A very short time later I received my self addresses stamped envelope back with a nice set of coins.

The pennies had some similar images to ones I had already collected but were still a great addition to my collection.  The coins showed a Colonies and Native America, I Love Lake George, a Cannon, and a Steam Powered Paddle Boat.

Now back at  Fort Henry I took a quick look around the gift shop and then headed outside.  Our takeout order was just about ready so I made a mad dash back to the restaurant, paid for our food and jumped in my car.  Somehow I had made it and our food was still hot which my family would appreciate.  Once I got back to our hotel we quickly dug into all our food and had a great time just lounging in our room, laughing and reminiscing about the trip so far.  Sometimes those are the best moments of family vacation, not waiting in lines or fighting crowds but just enjoying each others company.

Being originally from Canada the winter Olympics were always more my cup of tea, but I have definitely been enjoying the 2016 Rio games.  With the Rio Olympics recently completed and my family driving through Upstate New York we jumped at the change to check out Lake Placid.  Home of the 1932 and more recently the 1980 Winter Olympics.

After arriving in Lake Placid we found a nice parking spot right near the lake and decided to walk around Main Street and take in the Olympic Spirit still alive and well.

Of course the most memorable event during the 1980 Olympics was the Miracle on Ice USA Men’s Team miraculous win over Russia.  I was only a few years old when it actually happened but in the years since have always been completely overwhelmed with the story behind that USA team and what they accomplished.

After visiting some of the Olympic facilities and souvenir shops we were getting hungry and had lunch at a quaint little place called the Black Bear Restaurant.  It overlooked the Lake which a breathtaking view and the food was really good.  The interior of this place was cute with lots of reference to black bears which Hanna really got a kick out of.

On our way back to our car we checked out on last gift shop called Riley’s.  We had visited another of their locations in Lake George years ago and found some great gifts to bring back.

As soon as I walked inside the front door I was greeted by the familiar sound of a penny machine being cranked.  Just inside was a nice four design hand crank machine with some great designs.

There were a few people using it ahead of me but once my turn came I rolled my designs and checked out the finished products.

The designs had images of the 1980 Men’s Hockey Miracle on Ice (Really cool), Skiing Whiteface Mountain, a Moose, and a Figure Skater.  With these pennies collected I tried to remember if I had any other Olympic coins and couldn’t remember any.  My fingers are crossed that somewhere someone is working on a special set to commemorate the 2016 games.

Once we were back in our card with Lake Placid faded behind us we were off to our next stop in the Adirondack’s.  Stay tuned to see where we end up next.

Our next stop on our Upstate New York tour was thanks to pennycollector.com.  We were actually in the area to see a miniature train museum (I have loves these since I was a kid) but when we got there the train museum didn’t open for a few hours.  So I used my trusty penny finder app on my phone and as luck would have it only a few miles away was the Natural Stone Bridge and Caves Park in Pottersville, NY.

I’m not a geologist at all but this place was still pretty cool to check out.  We didn’t venture too far into the caves but they had a lot of interesting information available.

Before we left we checked out the Rock Shop because I was hoping the pressed coin machines were there and not deep in one of the caves.  Thankfully my claustrophobia wouldn’t need to be tested this day.

This shop actually had two coin machines.  The first was a four design hand crank penny machine.

The images included Brave Cave Explorers, two of the images were of cavemen but slightly different versions, and the four image had Adventure Tour Explore your World.  As you can see from the image above the machine rolled the pennies long and each came out with a bit of a tail, but the images weren’t distorted as all.

The second machine only had one design but was a rare find in our hobby.  This machine pressed dimes.  The cost was $0.75 plus your dime for a total of $0.85.  The machine is set up with a fancy cabinet that advertised Dime “n” Mine which I thought was pretty cool.

The image on the dime was another caveman which as you can probably tell was a theme here.  I stored the new coins away and hear the call of the model railroad.  I was glad to have found this place and had a great time here.  Be sure to get the Penny Finder App for your iPhone’s, I think it’s about $2 but comes in handy when you need to know if there are penny machines lurking nearby.  Happy collecting!!

For the last few years my family has been going back to our Native homeland Canada the first weekend in August for a family reunion.  After the family festivities we have been taking little side trips on our way back down to Jersey and this year we decided to check out upstate New York.  One of our stops was in Historic Saratoga Springs.

Obviously this quaint town is known for horse racing which is event everywhere you go. The main street downtown is really great to just park nearby and take a nice leisurely walk checking out the little shops along the way.

One of those great little shops was called Impressions of Saratoga.  This had tons of great souvenirs and the people working there were very friendly.  Just inside the front door near the checkout area was the only pressed penny machine in town (what are the odds we would stop into this place?!?!).

I have used this type of machine a few times in the past and it can be a little confusing if you are used to the other more standard style machines.  Most of the ones like this always have a hand written sign from the merchant trying to clearly explain how it works as I’m sure they get a lot of refund requests because the customer didn’t read what to do.  Unlike most other machines there is only 1 (ONE) button and you press it first to highlight the little light beside whichever design you are interested in pressing.  Once the selection is made you pop in your change and the machine does the rest.  My assumption is people just put in their money and try pressing the light beside their design which does absolutely nothing and they end up with whatever design the previous user had requested.  In any case it’s not difficult just different so please take this “life tip” and read the darn instructions before using it.

The first image says Lucky Penny and has a Jockey and Horse in mid-race, next is the Columbian Spring, and lastly the Battlefield Monument.  With my new pennies safely stored away we picked up a plush horse for Hanna and headed outside.  It was a beautiful day and I wish we had more time schedule in Saratoga Springs it really was great to check out.  But we had other places to visit and not a lot of time.  Check back soon to see where we headed next.

What a long day I’d had so far.  It started early at the Natural History Museum and has been non-stop since.  Thankfully I was moving away from the busy area of Times Square as I walked towards my last penny machine.

Located on 5th Ave between 33rd and 34th Streets is one of many NYC souvenir stores.  This just is actually located right across the street from the Empire State Building which makes it a pretty busy location.

I’ve been up in the Empire State building in the past and it’s a really cool experience.  When you’re at the top in the Observation area you get the most amazing views of New York City, but be forewarned it does get pretty windy way up there.  On this trip I wasn’t heading up to the top but instead just to the gift shop across the street to use the penny machine located right outside on the sidewalk.

The machine itself had some really nice New York themed artwork, and especially liked the topper with the manhole cover stating Collectible Pennies.

The designs available at this location included the New York City Skyline, ESB (Empire State Building, the New York Yankees, and Ellis Island.  With this coins stored away I stood there for a few moments enjoying the fact that I had managed to visit all the places I had wanted to see.  I was also able to get almost all the pressed pennies I wanted and only missed 3 sets due to broker machines.  Not too shabby.

My cousin had sent me a few txt messages as they had spent most of their day visiting Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  He then walked across the Brooklyn bridge and back to the Manhattan side which is where I ended up meeting him right near New York City Hall.  We sat on some benches near a few street performers and watched the show while getting caught up on things since our last visit together.  With the sun starting to go down we headed to the subway station and took a train over to Brooklyn and came up to street level right by the Barclays Center.

Once the gates opened we headed inside and made our way to our seats.  This was my first time visiting this new arena and it was beautiful.  Really a great place to watch a hockey game.

The New York Islanders were playing the Buffalo Sabres and for most of the game it was close.  But by the end the Sabres had pulled out the win with a 2-1 final score.

It had been a really long and busy day.  Unfortunately we still had about a 2 hour commute back to Jersey before I finally got into bed.  Luckily I had taken the next day off from work so I was planning on sleeping as long as possible.

Sometimes I think I overdo these trips with trying to fit too many places into one day, but as I heard my pocket jingling with all those new pressed coins I knew I had made the right choice.  My feet were going to be killing me for the next few days, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

In the heart of Times Square is one of the biggest toy stores I have ever been in.  I remember as a kid the town I grew up in didn’t have one of these mega toy stores so the only time I got to visit one was when we went on vacation.  Now they seem to be everywhere and even though I’m no longer a kid I still could spend hours in this store.

This Toys ‘R Us is really amazing.  As soon as you walk in off of Broadway you are greeted by a huge ferris wheel.  Yes the ferris wheel is inside the building.

There are multiple floors that have every toy you could think of.  I found an entire area just dedicated to the biggest Lego collection I have ever come across.  I started at the bottom and worked my way up.  Down near the area where you can get on the ferris wheel I found the first penny machine in the store.

The machine was kind of located in the middle of the pathway so I caused a bit of a traffic jam while I used the machine.

This first set of designs were sports related which seemed kind of strange for a toy story.  They included the Toys ‘R Us Logo, NY Sports Fan, New York Yankees, and the New York Mets.  I quickly moved out of the way to let the crowd behind me pass by.  Then I began my tour of each floor checking out each floor.  After picking out a few items for my daughter I went through the checkout and then towards the side exit.  This is where I finally found the second machine.

After waiting a few minutes for a couple of people to finish using the machine I moved in to press my set.  The machine worked nicely, but a couple of the coins came out a little misshapen.

These designs also didn’t have any toy related designs, but were still New York themed which was a nice addition to my collection.  The images were the Toys ‘R Us Logo with the New York Skyline, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square New York, and New York’s Bravest.

With my pennies and gifts in hand I headed outside and was greeted by the Naked Cowboy who was singing and playing his guitar right in Times Square.  He’s not technically naked but does wear a tiny little bathing suite type bottom.  You can feel free to google him if you are really interested.  He has been located here for years and has become quite the attraction for tourists to take pictures with.  I waved at him and walked on by as I had one last place to go before meeting up with my cousin for the Hockey game.