Tuesday morning mom took the puppies to have their tails docked and dew claws removed then we met them at her place before heading out on a road trip!
Mom driving across Lake Bridgeport at Runaway Bay
We made our way to Fort Worth TX to check out the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Not to be confused with a “mint”. The BEP is in charge of designing and printing all US paper currency and also stamps. There is one in Washington DC and then the one in Ft. Worth TX. The US Mints are in charge of designing and making coins. The ones in Philedelphia PA and Denver CO can be toured and they create coins for circulation while the ones in San Fransisco CA and West Point NY create all collector edition coins that are not in circulation.
It was so neat! You park then enter a building to go through security. No electronics including cell phones and cameras are allowed. No bags except purses which are hand searched are allowed in. Basically just you and your clothes can make it past security. Then you board a bus that takes you into the secure compound. The perimeter that you drive through is double fenced with barbwire and also cement barriers and such. It was crazy! Then you are dropped off at the main facility. You enter and are given a colored tour sticker to wear at all times. The lower floor has a museum like area to walk through and read exhibits about the history of the bureau and such. You then go upstairs to another exhibit area to learn about the money making process. There is also a video to watch about the engravers and such. Then your tour guide meets you and you are taken into the secure area. It is actually a walk way with glass windows that you can look down into the actual work room areas as you walk around and are told about the process. It was quite amazing to see so much money sitting around. WOW Each sheet of paper is printed with 32 bills on it. They are stacked in stacks of 10,000 sheets! For example 10,000 sheets of $1 bills is 32x1x10000 so each stack is $320,000! Pretty neat but even more impressive is that what we were seeing were $100 bills! So each stack was 32 million dollars worth of currency! And in just the 1st holding area of bills ready to be printed were at least 100 or more stacks. And as we explored the several different printing and inspection processes we saw dozens more holding areas with even more stacks and more stacks! It was kind of surreal!
After we made it back to the truck I took a couple pictures of the entry way and building from the visitor parking lot!
Then we headed over to Uncle John’s to visit him and Wendy for a bit since it was right down the road. Then it was on to Circle S Catfish Grill for an early supper.
We finally made it back to mom’s after a quick shopping trip. Then Jeff, Matt and I headed to the apartments because it’s easier to stay there especially after Jeff got to town.
And as I sit here writing about our day, I just got the news that Uncle John proposed to Wendy this evening! And of course she said yes! How super exciting! Welcome to the family Wendy and congrats to you both!
