Somewhere in those buildings you see is the Denver Mint. I wish I could have taken a picture of the outside of it, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I couldn't. I had checked on the internet when the mint was open etc., and it said reservations was recommended. But I thought, heck here it is school has started we probably won't need them. When I picked up brochures, it said reservations highly recommended. So went on line and sure enough, it was all filled for the time we were going to be in Denver, so expanded and couldn'tget in until Thursday and had to drive from Monument. It did say you could walk up early in the morning and try to get in. So Friday morning John and I got to downtown close to the mint, and found a parking place about 2 blocks away. By the way it was pouring down rain and had been ever since the night before. We walked up to the ticket booth and sure enough no one crazy enough but us was there. The rules were, (luckily I had read them) no cameras, purses, bags of any kind (you get the idea). John had to take his boots off, as the alarm went off when he went thru. (There are metal arches in his boots) The tour was great, had a great tour guide, he offered all sorts of info. He said that they loose money making the coins, like it takes 28 cents to make the quarters, but the paper money (which is not made there) it takes about 25 cents to make it. Last year they made a quarter of a billion dollars which went towards to federal debt! If anyone is ever near a mint, take the tour (be sure and make reservations!)
The capitol is very nice, the guy who drew it up is the same one that did Texas's. A lot of construction going on. Their legislators work 4 months and make 30,000 dollars a year. Unless they are on their death bed, they are required to be in the chamber to vote.
The wood around the door frames came from Arkansas and was hand carved. I believe it was ash.
One interesting thing they had was the circled of presidents. The last 7 have been painted by the same man.
All in all a very wet but rewarding day.
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