American Planning Association National Planning Conference

Diana's annual meeting of witches and wizards took place at the Convention Center in Minneapolis and Noel, happily drove her there and back again and enjoyed some fun side trips both in Minneapolis and along our zig-zag route to and fro. Here is the story in picture and word . . .

Thursday 4/23/09 – Noel prepped the carrots and celery and other food for our drive to Minneapolis. His role was to check off the checklist and fit the items needed for this 10 day trip in the Camry and pick up Diana from Windsor Town Hall at 2p to begin. At a bit pass 2p we set off, northbound along I25 then east on I80, to our first night's stay in (what else?) Motel 6, Lincoln, NE. This was Noel's first occasion to night drive since his cataract surgery and permanent corrective lens implanting (in January) and to test a specially made set of glasses that correct his vision perfectly, including astigmatism, (to eliminate halos around bright lights, such as headlights) while still wearing his daily contacts. They worked perfectly! Night driving is a joy again!

Friday 4/24/09 – Off bright and early, we continue east on I80 to Des Moines and then north along I35. Shortly after entering Minnesota we find our first, of many, Squished Penny Machines in Austin, MN the home of the SPAM museum. Anything you could hope to contain a SPAM logo can be found there. Also a 15min video and rows of displays tell the SPAM “story”. We got our Squished Pennies and looked around a bit when the cashier asked, “May I help you find anything?”

To this Noel said, “I don't find any vegetarian SPAM.” She raises an eyebrow and Noel asks, “No tofu SPAM?”

On to Minneapolis and we check into the downtown Hilton. Very nice. After settling in we walk the Skyway (Minneapolis' extensive, enclosed and raised walkway) to the Minneapolis Convention Center. We arrive too late to check Diana in for the conference so return to our room for a long winter's nap.

Saturday 4/25/09 – Up early again and back to the Convention Center to check Diana in and hustle to her first session. Noel returns to the hotel to prepare it for 5 days stay and then meets Diana for lunch. Diana's class continues after lunch until almost 5p and Noel travels the streets of the area learning the layout. A bit of dinner, a look around the hotel's facilities, and we turn in early after a full day.

Sunday 4/26/09 – We started the day with a “3 hour tour”, but this one was on a bus. The continuous rain made it seem like a boat and it was bright yellow like the Beatle's submarine , , , We didn't get lost and found out about some cool things about the Twin Cities. A popular misconception, for example, is the Mississippi splits Minneapolis and St. Paul. Not true! The two major rivers – the Minnesota and the Mississippi wind in and out of the two cities. We should always be able to remember, now, that St. Paul is the state capitol. Many, many other tidbits and a stop at Minnehaha Falls.

Back to the room for a quick lunch. Diana gets her “law credit” with this afternoon's class. Meanwhile, Noel spends an hour walking the skyway and the streets in the light rain back to the Convention Center to meet with Diana. Already a long day so we go to the hotel's Health Club for a long soak in the hot tub. Back to the room for a two hour nap before the evening's Opening Reception. A quite good one, too. A huge variety of foods and drink, all included. We had both “dressed” for a night out. We looked good!

A very good cover band, too, of mostly 80's rock but a very good variety. Four singers, keyboards, drums, guitar and two horn/sax players. Very strong! We ate and drank our fill and listened to the band a tad more then back to the room to rest for another early day.

Monday 4/27/09 – A complete day of classes AND a Twins ballgame! What a day! While Diana goofed off listening to engaging speakers on a myriad of fascinating subjects like “The Supreme Court undermining of green space in the ever increasing need for accurate expressway lane striping” Noel had to catch up laundry for our continued travels.

Experiencing a baseball game at a field other than Coors gives a new respect for such a fun field we get to regularly watch the Rockies in. It was nice being in a dome on a cold evening though.

Tuesday 4/28/09 – Another day of informative lectures and shopping for supplies for our continued travels. Running low on Ginger Ale . . . The mid-60s got the better of us and we used each break to check out Loring Park the Statue Park and the Mississippi River Mill Ruins Park. We turned in early to get a jump on getaway day - tomorrow.

Pictures from the Squished Penny Machines of the Greater Twin Cities area OR we can't remember when we did which but here they are . . .

Wednesday 4/29/09 – Slept until almost 8a! Well deserved and much needed and works into our shortened day's schedule. After packing the car, with the help of an over eager bellman, we drive off, in the rain, southwest toward New Ulm, MN (boyhood home of our friend John Minium) and our first Squished Penny Machine NOT in the Minneapolis area. Normally at the base of a monument elsewhere it is located in the town's civic center for the off season. Quick and easy (though still in the rain).

Next to Pipestone National Monument and a look at the Native American handcrafted pipes and other items carved from the pink pipestone quarried from a nearby riverbed. A very soft yet durable rock with very pretty color. We skipped the trail to the river owing to the steady downpour.

The next Squished Penny Machine along our route is in Walnut Grove, MN. Yes, of Little House on the Prairie fame. It is the childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Squished Penny Machines is in Oleson's Mercantile. Very cool but we didn't see Michael Landon.

Noel was looking forward to The Red Baron Museum in Marshall, MN – our next reported Squished Penny Machine – but after some investigation, we find out it had closed and all the artifacts, including the Squished Penny Machine, are gone except for a bust of the WWI flying ace in the airports office.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota is only a few miles west and we find the next two Squished Penny Machines there – one at the zoo and one at the airport.

Our final stop for the day was Mitchell, SD, home of the famous Corn Palace. It was closed when we arrived that evening so we will stop, instead, on the way out of town in the morning. We did find a fine and very cheap Mexican restaurant (Los Sombreros) for dinner before snuggling into our Motel 6 room.

Thursday 4/30/09 – We did the Corn Palace straight away, as promised :) An amazing place, really. First built in 1892 it really defines the Town of Mitchell, SD. The art on the outside of the building is a mosaic made from all the crops that are grown in South Dakota.

On down the road now, our next Squished Penny Machine is in Cactus Flats, the Badlands Trading Post. Then, and without looking for a Squished Penny Machine, we drive the loop drive in Badlands Nat'l Monument. This was Noel's first Nat'l Monument he experienced in the 70's when he first drove west. It's just as spectacular now . . .

Wall Drug must have more billboards posted around the world than any other store. They also have three Squished Penny Machines and that isn't mentioned on any of those billboards. Where's the sense in that?

Ellsworth Air Force Base is the home of an Air and Space Museum with a Squished Penny Machine AND a SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest aircraft ever. How cool is that! As a retired ATCS I could tell you much more about it but I'd have to kill you :)

We grabbed a great deal at a hotel in Rapid City (with a huge indoor pool and hot tub), canceled our Motel 6 reservations (amazing!) and settling in early for a soak and in-room pizza to plan our stops for tomorrow. Only about 20 more Squished Penny Machines before we get back home . . .

Friday 5/1/09 – Wow! We circled and crisscrossed the entire Black Hills in one day, finding adventure and Squished Pennies along the way. After scarfing the free buffet breakfast at our motel our first stop is the Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, SD. We learn that it's opening day for the gift shop and it's BRAND NEW, NEVER BEFORE CRANKED Squished Penny Machine! We got it's first ever Squished Pennies :)

Next was Ft. Hayes, the site of the filming of Dances with Wolves. This wasn't open yet but folks were around getting it ready for a new season. They had purchased an antique engine used in the movie and adapted it to an old gold press converted to a Squished Penny Machine! The pennies must be placed into the die path with a pair of pliers. Way cool setup!

Reptile Gardens has a chicken named Henda that answers questions that you ask her. Sort of a Poultry Prognosticator. We collected all eight pennies and the dime - the only dime of the trip.

Diana called several of the Squished Penny Machine locations that she wasn't sure of their operating hours. Most of them opened for the season in May and it was still April when she called; April 30 :). We did get a call back from Old McDonald's Farm when we were just a few miles from their location. We were at Cosmos and just discovering their machine was out of order when Amy, of Old McDonald's Farm called and met us in the parking lot to let us in to score more Squished Pennies from another closed business.

Into Keystone, SD we locate a business preparing to open 1880 Train Station. We also collected the pennies from Big Thunder Gold Mine, Mid-West Mercantile and Black Hills Souvenirs and Gifts.

Buffalo crunching grass along the road to Hot Springs, SD was a fun distraction. We find, in Hot Springs, SD, a Squished Penny Machine at Evans Plunge – an indoor recreational swimming pool fed by a hot spring – and one at Mammoth Site, an actual fossil dig site.

Now back northbound, via the east side Black Hills bypass to join I90 again in Rapid City, we head west to Sturgis. Sturgis is a sleepy little town, but for one week a year (and it's not this week!) and it's at the exit for Deadwood, SD. Two Squished Penny Machines – one in the vault of an old bank – and we stop by a Star Wars penny slot and win $60! We splurge on their Crack! (crab buffet) and try a Deal or No Deal penny slot machine on the way out. We get to an offer of 7540 but decide to go to the last level. We either have 15000 or 175 in our case . . . drum-roll please . . . we win . . . 175! :( Fun though :)

Saturday 5/2/09 – After 45 Squishing Machines and using of 5 rolls of quarters in them, we arrive back in Colorado, with happy memories and shiny mementos.