Since we had to check out of the cabin by noon and daughter wasn’t coming until 8, we had time to kill in the city.
I was vacillating between the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory and the Federal Reserve Museum. I would have liked to do both, but both happened to close at 4. Which is ridiculous if you ask me. So we could only fit one in, and given the limited time and the fact that lunch was demanded before any museums would be considered, the shorter excursion won.
It’s not the most exciting museum in the world unless you are a fiend for monetary policy. But hey – it’s free and even if monetary policy is not your thing, you can see some $100,000 bills, see some gold minted in Georgia, various other types of currency from around the world and from the past, and you can get a little peak at the bank’s sorting facility, the most interesting aspect of which to me was the fully automated little robotic machines that transport bags of money around the floor.
Plus you can get a little bag of shredded currency when you’re done.
Money is such an odd thing, isn’t it? Such an interesting experience to move through an exhibit of currency – stones, tobacco, rectangular pieces of paper – and try to explain to a child how something like this is “worth” something.
As if you even understand it yourself.
Your kids are so adorable!
Great thoughts. Sometimes when we take a closer look at certain things, they don’t make much sense at all.
Andie
Amy,
The Fed puts out free comic books explaining various finance issues, including one that talks about how money is used in lieu of trade called Once Upon a Dime.
Go here to order:
https://www.newyorkfed.org/publications/result.cfm?comics=1
They’re pretty well done. We order a new batch once every five years, when the old ones fall apart.
Julia
Oops — just looked and that particular comic is OOP. But for free, you can order the others!
ooo- that little boy looks pretty happy to be holding so much money-even if it is shredded…