I arrived at the Colorado Springs airport Saturday July 12 at 11:30am after about 6 hours of traveling. It was not possible to miss the ANA sign marking the gathering area for the shuttle to the Seminar site. After I fetched my bags, there was only a short wait for enough people to fill the van, and we were off with ANA authenticator J.P. Martin driving. Fifteen minutes later we arrived at Loomis Dormitory on the Colorado College campus, home for the next week.
Registration was quick and easy. Among the registrars were ANA convention
director Ruthann Brettell and Barbara Olson, education assistant, who capably
and reliably answered many questions prior to my departure. We got
a meal card (this proved to be a magical little piece of plastic), room
key, and temporary college ID good for the library and gym. We received
a name badge, also bearing our home town and course name. Everyone dutifully
wore these all week, a great boon to learning names.
My second-floor room--I had reserved a single at additional cost--was at first real culture shock. There was a single austere bed that turned out to be remarkably comfortable, a desk and chair, a small bookcase, and a sort of dresser. Add to that a wastebasket, and you have the entire furnishings. There was also a very small closet with two towels, one blanket, and no hangers. The room was dimly but adequately lit by small overhead flourescents. Oh, there was a nice view of Pike's Peak from the room's large window. Not a bad touch for otherwise monk-like surroundings. Still, the room was quite adequate, and I would not exchange the less elegant but very inexpensive Loomis accommodations for much pricier quasi-luxury of a motel room.
Just off the main entrance to Loomis is a large lounge with big, overstuffed chairs. A buffet lunch was set up there on Saturday. Loomis was to be a major focus for informal activities throughout the week.
The local coin club had its annual show this weekend, and the ANA provided a shuttle to the show, a scant mile off, as indicated by the Colorado Springs map that I had bought back home. After several hours on an airplane, I felt like a walk. It was a hot day, but the humidity was so much lower than what I am used to in North Carolina, that I was very comfortable. At about 2pm, I started off for the show, but soon came upon Dave and Christie Bowers. They offered me a ride in their car and I took this opportunity to chat with them a bit. I have always admired Dave's writings, and I was anxious to ask him a little about his work style. He was there for a week of research in the ANA library, and I saw him several times with his laptop computer. Christie was a student in the Chinese numismatics course.
The show was about 50 tables. I found two nice items for my collection,
a piece of Indiana obsolete currency and a heavily chopped Chinese lotus
dollar, at the table of local dealer Dick Horst. I did walk back to Loomis. 
The Seminar is held on the campus of Colorado College, and it is important to understand a little about the physical arrangement. This is a small liberal arts college--perhaps twenty buildings on either side of Cascade Avenue--that hosts a number of special summer programs at its facilities. The ANA headquarters is on the immediate edge of the campus, about 150 yards down Cascade from Loomis Dorm. Between these two buildings is the Worner Center, housing the cafeteria, bookstore, lounge, and a few classrooms. In addition to our meals, some classes, the evening "bull sessions," and the YN auction were held at Worner. Across Cascade from Worner is the Armstrong Building, site of the remaining classes.
The ANA keeps its building open late during the Seminar. I took a look at the library and headed back to Loomis. In the lounge I met Roger Durand, the instructor for my course "Obsolete Bank Notes and Scrip." I knew Roger by reputation, but had met him only once, briefly. He is an affable and very approachable man. I introduced myself, and we began to talk. We were soon joined by Smithsonian curator Jim Hughes. Late Saturday afternoon in the Loomis lounge was a time of Seminar veterans renewing their friendships, and new attendees like me finding a lot of familiar faces from years of attending ANA summer conventions and other large shows.
The Saturday evening meal in Worner was the first at our regular meal site. This is a treat to anyone who likes to eat. The meal card gets you into a cafeteria with an amazing variety of good (but far from great) and plentiful food. It's all self-service cafeteria style, return as often as you wish. I used the opportunity to eat more vegetables and salads that I normally do, foods I love but don't bother to prepare too often.
The cafeteria is another focus for socializing. The Seminar group pretty much had the place to ourselves for the weekend, but beginning Monday morning, other groups joined us. The facility was nevertheless rarely crowded, and never oppressively so. One of the dining rooms was outside, with a dramatic view of Pike's Peak and the surrounding mountain range.
After dinner was the opening session. There was the obligatory greeting
and welcome from ANA officials, but the overall program was managed by
Education Director James Taylor. All the instructors were introduced and
we were given a few "nuts and bolts" suggestions for the week. The keynote
address was by Bill Fivaz, primarily about how to get the most out of the
hobby. To set the tone of informality for the week, Bill stripped from
his long pants, white shirt and tie to walking shorts and polo shirt, which
he was wearing underneath.
The session ended with ice cream and cookies for all. It was now about
9pm (11pm my body time), and I was exhausted. I went to bed and slept well.
I awoke very early on Sunday morning, but stayed in bed until about 5:30am. I got up for a walk, thinking I would have the place to myself. But a lot of other east coast people were also stirring, each apparently sharing the need to adapt to the two-hour time differential.
The morning was cool, still, and clear. I walked down Cascade a mile or so, admiring the large houses with interesting, different architecture from what I was most used to. This is a fairly wealthy area. Early morning lawn sprinkling is common, and results in unreasonably green grass in an otherwise semi-arid region.
After the walk, it was time for my first experience with the communal (thankfully separate but presumably equal for each sex) bathroom, a short walk down the hall. Although crowded with early risers, it was clean and entirely adequate, and well laid-out for efficiency. The bathroom turned out to be another site for socializing, at least brief chats while shaving.
Coffee was available every early morning in the Loomis lounge, thanks to some returning students, whose names I didn't get. But thank you all!
Breakfast was from 7am until 8:30. Like every other meal, breakfast presented a spectacular opportunity for over-indulgence. I resisted consistently and successfully, at least for this daily meal.
The ANA's annual book sale began at 10am Sunday. Many people arrived very early to await opening. I didn't but still got in about 10:30. The books are donated items and library duplicates, from red books to auction catalogs. I found much ballast for my return trip.
Classes started at 1pm Sunday afternoon. My class had 6 students.
Every evening except Saturday (the introductory ceremony) and Thursday (the graduation banquet) there was a special tour, usually at modest additional cost and requiring advanced registration. These competed with "bull sessions," one hour presentations on a variety of topics, much like the Summer Convention's Numismatic Theatre, but a bit less formal. Sunday afternoon/evening was the trip to Pike's Peak, my only special tour. We were bussed to the cog train station, where the 45 minute trip to the top began and ended. Pike's Peak is 14,100 feet high. Colorado Springs itself is 6100 feet (the "mile and a quarter high" city). As a "flat-lander" I found Colorado Springs oxygen level a little taxing during stair climbs. However, the top of Pike's Peak, as beautiful as it is, left me dizzy and not entirely in control of my movements. I took it very easy and drank a lot of water. The trip only provides about 40 minutes at the top, but this was ample. The train ride itself was narrated by a young and able guide, full of corny but amusing jokes, and the sights along the way are the better part of the experience. I particularly enjoyed the small, ubiquitous flowers that can be found at the highest level on the arctic tundra (really). The trip was well worth the mild discomfort at the top. The only glitch of the week (for me, at least) occurred on this trip. The box lunches didn't make the bus, but they were waiting for us when we returned to Loomis at about 9pm.
Monday was the first full day of classes. My sleep had pretty much adapted
to the two-hour difference, and as the week went on, although I continued
to be an early riser, the bathroom grew increasingly less crowded. Classes
were held from 9am to noon and 1:30pm until 4pm. For anyone who has never
taken all-day classes, this surely sounds 
like
an easy load. While it is not in fact an arduous schedule, 5 1/2 hours
of class time each day is quite enough, even for a fascinating subject
and lively teacher, both true for my course.
At 4:30 on Monday, and repeated on Tuesday, was an introduction to the production of the Numismatist and to the Numismatic Information Network at the ANA headquarters. Hosted by editor Barbara Gregory and information systems manager Susie Nulty (also a Seminar instructor) with part-time assistant Trevor Robbins, this was a behind-the-scenes tour of two significant parts of the ANA. Barbara and Susie are permanent ANA staff, and they embody the devotion to their jobs and to the members that seems pervasive to both ANA staff and officials.
After supper, there were three sequential "bull sessions," all well-attended. I have always been amazed that the Numismatic Theatre sessions at the Summer Convention are, for the most part, poorly attended. Not so at the Summer Seminar.
One of the Seminar classes is on engraving, and the students for this special session are chosen after submission of a portfolio. Tuesday evening was an opening of the students' art, for the most part not engraving, but sculpture, water color, and other media. This was clearly a talented group of individuals.
After class on Tuesday, I headed for the library to browse the shelves for books in my area of interest. Librarian Lynn Chen energetically manages the library. Several people came in wanting to take tests, presumably for some of the correspondence courses. Lynn is effusively and cheerfully helpful. She knows her library and the material.
Supper about 6pm. I had an enjoyable talk with Tom Rockwell. At 83, he is probably the oldest student. The author of at least one Numismatist article, he is knowledgeable about a number of subjects. He is embarking on an area new to him--medieval numismatics.
At 7pm is Roger Durand's bull session on obsolete currency. Roger, in 45 minutes, gave a well-illustrated program on the development of the obsolete note in America as a monetary and art form. He demonstrated how the engraving improved from the crudenesses of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to the innovations of Jacob Perkins, to the golden age of bank note engraving, about 1850 to the mid 1860s.
The 8pm presentation, on coin cleaning and presentation, was offered by J.P. Martin, Don Bonser, and Tom Hallenbeck. Dressed in whites and wearing rubber gloves and masks, they approached the subject humorously, and the audience responded accordingly.
The 10pm session on coin photography was well-known to me from earlier ANA Numismatic Theatre sessions and I passed on it. I headed for Loomis. The lounge was crowded with students examining lots for the YN auction, to be held the next night.
The YN (young numismatist) auction is to raise money for YN scholarships.
It is the YNs who solicit donations--most lots are donated--and consignments,
catalog the material, hold the lot viewing, and do almost everything else
except serve as auctioneer. The catalogs had been delivered to our classrooms
earlier on Tuesday.
Wednesday's class was divided into a morning classroom session and afternoon in the library and museum. We were introduced to the major books and non-book material relating to obsolete currency, and we had a guided tour of the obsoletes in the ANA library.
The evening was devoted to the YN auction. While serious numismatic material is offered, and the purpose is serious, the event is one of lightness and humor. Action began at 6pm and continued until 11pm. A number of lots, as soon as they were won by their purchasers, were immediately returned to be auctioned again. Some lots are amusing--for instance, the 100% off-center 1793 error chain cent, a great, although uncertifiable, rarity. At least two men--ANA governor J.T. Stanton and a popular and apparently perennial student named Buddha--sacrificed their beards to consortiums of purchasers, together raising about $4000 for beard clippings. Proceeds from this years auction were estimated to be about $23,000.
Thursday is the last day of the Seminar. By now, our class is pretty cohesive, and we have grown quite fond of our instructor. Our last session is a hands-on one where we try to estimate the market value of notes using specific criteria laid out by Roger, and certain other less systematic factors that tend to change the market guidelines--factors that Roger calls "Kentucky windage"--adjusting the aim of our rifle to correct for wind and gravity. We're not looking forward to the end of the week. Nevertheless, although one hears occasional comments that the Seminar should be two weeks, one week is enough.
At 6pm Thursday there's a special reception in the Loomis lounge, now
familiar ground to all. At 7 we adjourn to the Worner Center for a banquet
that was quite well-done. The food was excellent, and the surroundings--our
by now 
familiar
cafeteria dining rooms--were nicely converted into something more elegant.
As is the custom, our class sat together. There were after-dinner remarks,
with many contributors to the Seminar recognized for their efforts. Each
instructor was presented with a certificate, and each was greeting by loud
applause by his students and other fans. The ubiquitous and quite busy
James Taylor presided over the closing proceedings.
There was one more bull session after dinner--a session on minting techniques held by the Gallery Mint. I passed.
Friday is departure day. We get one last breakfast at Worner. The shuttles to the airport run all day from early morning until mid-afternoon when the last student has departed. The vans are again driven by ANA staff and officials. My flight was late in the afternoon, and I had some time to talk with James Taylor, who is stationed at Worner to provide any needed assistance. He is understandably exhausted, but seems happy that everything has gone well.
He has good reason to be quite content.