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On our way to Chanute, I could not pass up the opportunity to stop in Kansas City for a little BBQ. Just so happens that with a little internet searching I found a great little place to stop—that was FREE! The Federal Reserve in KC is one of a handful of processing plants for money. Knowing that we were going to Printing and Engraving in Fort Worth, this seemed like a great place to stop! We were pleasantly surprised at how incredibly cool and interactive the museum was! |
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A history board told the story of our nations money, and it is shocking at how many money systems were around even into the later parts of the 1800’s! Other cool hands on places were when Malena put a dollar in and received four mint quarters! A wall to show how many millions of dollars actually look like. I salivated. Seemed so small, but yet, so much could be achieved with it. |
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Caden will tell you the most fun thing in the museum was the ‘make your own currency’ computers. You could chose from a variety of backgrounds, denominations, and even personalize it with various seals and sayings. It was very fun for all the kids. Cade took it seriously—don’t you LOVE his facial pose! After you make your money you put in your email and they email it to you so you can print it out. We didn’t get far before Cade was asking everyone for a printer. |
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In the area of the museum you could not photograph, you could see how money is processed. The job of the Reserve is to process the money. Money going into banks is sent here, fed into large machines that pull out and shred the dollars that are not able to be re-circulated. This happens in 1/20th of a second. Then stacks of money called ‘pallets’ are put in clear plastic bins and moved into a large vault by three very cool yellow robots named Huey, Dewey and Louis. At the end of the tour each guest was given a bag of shredded money. They say if you tape it all together, you would have about 164.00—We aren’t trying it though, shreds are microscopic!!! |
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Imagine this. Something that weighs less than a bag of dog food (27lbs) is worth 632,362 dollars! Crazy! There are not many Federal Reserves in the US, so we are really glad we stopped. The coin collection was extensive, and since Cade is slightly obsessed with Abe Lincoln I decided to show his favorite! |
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Below was a program that showed you the cost of inflation. The kids and I spent a LONG time here! It was a lot of fun to see how much gas was when I was a child, and compare! It was a real eye opener to the kids! Yet they still needed to go to the gift shop! |
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When you go into the FRKC you have to present a photo ID and they process you in. When you leave, they process you out. Then, you pass through an automated revolving door. Audrey...got…stuck. It was pretty funny! |
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And we got our BBQ—according to many sites Arthur Bryant’s was the place to be, so we went! |