Whidbey Island hunt

Ferry boat ride over to Whidbey Island

Finds of the day!

I had to hop on the Washington State Ferry early this morning, but first needed to fuel the truck up. Of course I was near my favorite car wash and had to check out the above ground finds for coins. To my amazement a few shiny coins were waiting for me; one quarter was in the coin return of a vacuum station, a dime and penny sat near a coin return at the car wash station and the other two coins (dime and penny) were on the pavement.

I caught the 7:30am ferry to Whidbey Island to go to a job site for roof and gutter cleaning. Do you think that I brought my metal detector? Indeed! When I was finished with work it was close to 3:00pm, so I had to get in some quick detecting before it got dark. My first stop was Ebbey Landing, an historic lookout point/trail in Coupeville, WA. This stop brought in $.63 of clad (2 quarters, 1 dime and 3 pennies). My next stop was the City Beach in Oak Harbor. I ended up finding $.47 (1 quarter, 2 dimes and 2 pennies). I did however find a couple of other non-coin items. The first find was a Lions pin and the second was a copper bracelet. I'm still waiting patiently for my first silver coin.

Daily totals: $1.57

Above ground finds: $.47

Below ground finds: $1.10

Total finds to date: $7.18 Day 7

The Lincoln Penny Project grand total finds: $46.66

Above ground finds: $38.39

Below ground finds: $8.27

How much did we find on the second day of the year?

It's January 2, 2010 and the second day of the year turned out to be a winner. Claire and I went to a couple different stops in Coupeville on Whidbey Island with the new metal detector. The first stop was the Coupeville Town Park which brought in one quarter, four dimes and eight pennies ($.73), and the second stop was where they hold the farmer's market. We ended up finding one quarter, a dime and two pennies ($.37). The park also brought in a child's mood ring and the market grounds find was a piece of costume jewelry. We did find some junk as well, but didn't find any above ground money. Still trying to track down our first piece of silver, gold or old coin of value. Can you believe we also got in some exercise?

Check out one of the interesting blogs we are tracking Money Walker! It's a great story about money hunting and exercise.

Daily total: $1.10

Below ground finds: $1.10

Total to date: $1.56 Day 2

Look what the first day of 2010 brought in!

It's the first day of the year and the excitement will build for the next 364 days for The Lincoln Penny Project. Claire and I challenged each other to see which one of us would come up with the first find of the year. I told her that I would find a dime first and she said she would find a penny. Our first stop was Half Price Books-and the parking lot gave up zip. She did end up scoring on some great $1.00 books though. Then we went to the Redmond Town Center. On the way back to our car we both took different routes. I ended up calling Claire over to our first find of the year....it was a dime, four pennies and a nickel ( a total of $.19). How cool!

Our next journey was on the Washington State Ferry to Whidbey Island. We stopped off at the Red Apple Grocery for some snacks and found $.06. We then got to our final destination-Coupeville. It was nearing dusk and I had to try and get in 15 minutes of metal detecting-which I ended up digging 2 dimes and a penny ($.21).

First find of the year nets us $.46

Above ground finds: $.25

Below ground finds: $.21

Grand total to date: $.46 Day 1

Whidbey Island find

This is our first day out with the new metal detector. Max was so excited he put it all together and was ready to hit the dirt digging. We went over to see Brittany and spend some time with her. She got home from work and we all ended up playing games until midnight.

For over 20 years we have had family picnics on Whidbey Island at my parent's place. We would play all kinds of games-and one in particular was, "Money in the Hay Stack." My dad would lay the tarp on the grass and dump the hay out. All of the adults would contribute to the pot by throwing in loose change and dollar bills for the kids. What a perfect place to try out the metal detector. It actually worked out awesome. The detector was hitting all kinds of signals. Max and I started digging and came up with $.46 in change. We didn't want the yard to look like a mole factory-so we gave it a rest. Of course we did a great job of putting the dirt back in the hole and the grass patch back on. It looks like it was never disturbed.

On our way back home we took the ferry and ended up finding 2 quarters in the coin return of the newspaper and vending machine.

Daily total: $.96

Grand total to date: $37.58

Above ground finds: $37.12

Below ground finds: $.46

Check out this Wheat Back Penny!

It was Thanksgiving day and we were on our way to Whidbey Island to spend turkey day with my family. The great thing about going to Whidbey is that you can drive around through Deception Pass or take the Washington State Ferry; both drives provide some awesome scenery. Since we got an early jump, we opted to take the ferry. During holiday weekends-the ferry can be a long wait if one doesn't get moving early. When Claire and I got on the boat, the ferry attendant guided us to our spot. If we would have parked one space away, we would have missed the find. As I opened the car door, I looked down (naturally). To my amazement-Honest Abe was staring up at me from the ferry boat deck. It appeared to be old, but I couldn't make out the date right away. Of course I turned it over to see if it had wheat ears-and indeed it did. It was a 1930 Wheatie! Wow...almost 80 years old, how cool! Earlier finds of the week didn't amount to much, but the wheat back made up for it.

My family will be getting a metal detector for Christmas. I had a couple detectors over 30 years ago, but never kept up with it. Because we have been finding all of these treasures above ground, we started thinking what gems could be under ground. We have decided on getting an Ace 250 Garrett detector.

Recent finds: $.41
Grand total to date: $32.48

A Sunday morning drive

Sunday proved to be a better day for hunting. We had a day trip planned for Coupeville on Whidbey Island. Our plan was to drive around and stop at Deception Pass for a hike down to the beach-and then go to my mom's in Coupeville to help her put outdoor things away for the winter. Before our hike, I found a quarter sitting in the vending machine where the pop gets dispensed. Was someone pitching quarters? It appears that I was the winner. That was our most important find of the day. We always like to note a find that links to a special event/hike, etc. Other noted finds of the day consisted of Claire's quarter find at the car wash, her penny find at Topp Foods in Burlington, and 3 cents at another car was near home.

I ended up finding $.21 at a Texaco in Freeland-and a nickel was waiting for me at a newspaper coin return at the ferry landing in Clinton. Not a bad day! Check out the cool, round rocks that resemble coins.

Daily find total: $.80

Grand total to date: $19.24

91 finding days averages out to .21 per day.