What does a 1979 Lincoln cent, and time travel have in common? Also, where would you be?
Each year in June my wife and I travel to Mackinac Island in northern Michigan. The lilacs are in full bloom at this time and are celebrated in the annual festival held on the island. We especially look forward to visiting the historic Grand Hotel. It is at that hotel, on its 1/8 mile long porch (world's longest!), in one of the beautiful white rockers that I sit writing this story. I am looking out at Lake Huron which is framed by red geraniums and the magnificent white pillars that span the length of the porch of this legendary hotel.
Now you may wonder what this all has to do with coins and time travel. Well, some of you may remember the movie "Somewhere in Time" starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. It was filmed here at the Grand Hotel and was a movie about a playwright named Richard Collier who becomes smitten by a photograph of a young woman at the Grand Hotel. Through self-hypnosis, he travels back in time to the year 1912 to find love with actress Elise McKenna (portrayed by Seymour). Elise tells him that the first thing she will do for him is buy him a new suit, since the one he has been wearing is about fifteen years out of date. Richard begins to show her how practical the suit is because of its many pockets. He is alarmed when he reaches into one and finds a Lincoln penny with a mint date of 1979. Seeing an item from his real present wrenches him out of his hypnotically-induced time trip, and Richard feels himself rushing backwards with Elise screaming his name in horror as he is pulled inexorably out of 1912.
So, what does a 1979 Lincoln cent, and time travel have in common? Also, where would you be? If your answers were the movie "Somewhere in Time", and the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, you are correct!
