key chain collection

i am a collector at heart. i have many collections, among them is my collection of key chains. the fun of key chains is that each of them has a story. below i have taken this opportunity to remember each of their stories and share them. all the key chain posts can be found here.

gettysburg

growing up i always had a keen interest in the civil war. it may have stemmed from the ken burns documentary that was always playing on pbs whenever they did fundraising. every time it was on my dad and i were glued to the screen. over the years my dad and i always talked about going to gettysburg and checking it out, but we soon forgot about it until pbs reminded us each winter.
finally, one summer while i was in college, we did it- we took a four day trip to go see the wonder that is gettysburg! this key chain was purchased at one of the souvenir shops in town. while there we walked the field, took the sightseeing tour, walked cemetery and seminary ridges, scaled little round top, and took it all that there was to see! we were in heaven!!! when we got back from the trip we immediately rewatched the movie gettysburg (which was filmed at the actual battlefield) and kept saying 'oh, we were there!'. i still look back at that trip and remember it as one of the funnest times ive ever had with my dad!

wakko

this is a key chain of wakko, one of the characters from animaniacs. i used this key chain for many years, until the chain part finally broke off! animaniacs was my absolute favorite show when i was growing up- i would watch it every single day when i got home from school. the guys and i would spend countless hours talking about it and trying to reinact some of the best parts. there are actually a couple bits that i committed to memory and can still recite word for word to this day. 'hoyle! how'd you, with the going...'

film

another key chain from our trip to clearwater, florida. this one is shaped like a roll of film (film, children, is what we used to use before there was such a thing as digital cameras. strange, huh?) you could pull out the 'film' from the roll and it was filled with photos of nifty touristy stuff from around that area, you know, buildings and bridges and stuff.

bang!

oh, this one was totally rad! i dont remember where i got this one, but i remember playing with it a lot! its only about two inches long, but the trigger and hammer actually work. i remember going over to my cousin jeff's house, he had one too, and we would go and get caps to put into the gun. what worked best though, were those red rolls that would have little paper bubbles of gun powder. we would tear them off and put them under the hammer and scare people with them all the time! i think my aunt or my mom took them away from us at one point, but we found them and got them back so as to cause more mayhem another day!

eagle rock

this key chain i got during our family vacation up to the upper peninsula. i must have really dug eagles at the time.

2001

i dont quite remember where i got this key chain from, but it is a graduation key chain that features a cross and the year that i graduated from dordt college. ah 2001, truly a space odyssey...

peachy

another key chain i got on the way down to florida. i guess i was just starting out my collection and figured i'd get a key chain from every state i went through. i think i got this one because i thought the southern accent i would hear from gas station workers and waitresses was hilarious, or strange. i have since become much more open minded and understanding, now i realize its hilarious and strange.

spruce goose

one of the class trips i went on with students while i taught in salt lake city was to the island of catalina in california. it was a great time, we stayed on the island in a learning center campground. we went boating and snorkeling and learned all about different marine biology.
the place where we got on a boat to get to the island is right where the queen mary boat is docked, and the hanger that used to house the infamous spruce goose! the huge wooden plane is gone, but they still have key chains...

license place

i think i got this one to show my michigan pride, and so i didnt forget my name...

country singers

when i was growing up my parents listened to country, i was all about it as well. we even went to a couple country concerts. my uncle, cousin, dad and i even went to go see alan jackson at the palace in auburn hills. it was a great time. thats where i got the key chain. the other key chain is of john barry, who i never saw in concert. im guessing my parents or sister did and got that one for me. i dont really listen to country music anymore, but i will say that john barry's rendition of 'oh holy night' is still the very best version i have ever heard.

old kent

when i got my first car this was the chain that was on the keys. in case you dont know, old kent was a bank chain that used to exist in grand rapids. i know its just a bank, but for some reason i have a sentimental fondness for it. growing up its where my parents would bank. i have many memories of going over to that bank with my mom, she depositing checks, or going through the drive-thru and getting a sucker. and memories of counting coins with my dad on the counter and rolling them up. he and i would then drive over to the bank in his rusted out green truck (which always smelled of leather work gloves), and bringing in fistfulls of rolled change. ahh, im wistful just thinking about it... darn you fifth third for buying them out and relegating my beautiful memories of youth to the past!

world cup

here is another gift from my korean students from when i taught in salt lake city. all of them were really in to soccer, especially because the world cup was in korea and japan that year! one of my students, juno, actually flew back home for a weekend because his dad had tickets to one of the games. he brought back this key chain for me.

penny

good thing i got me this lucky penny from tennessee- its come in handy so many times... or something.

nibble bob

my favorite class in high school had to be speech class. most people hated it, but i totally loved it! one of our speech assignments was to sell a product. i usually went above and beyond with my speeches, and this one was no different. i figured i would create my own products to sell rather then come up with a pitch for an existing line. i had created the character nibble bob a year or two before, so i made a whole line of products based on him! i spent many hours taking pictures from the internet of famous celebrities and altering their clothing to incorporate the face of nibble bob. i also made a couple products to show- i made took one of my baseball caps and painted nibble bob onto it, i made a bandanna with his face on it, i created a video case for a nibble bob movie, and accompanying cd soundtrack. i also created this key chain with nibble bob's likeness on it.
i think we were allotted three to five minutes for our presentation, and mine took about 15... dont worry, i already know i'm a total nerd.

jars of clay

when the band jars of clay first came out i was really in to them (to be honest, i'm still really in to them...). at one point when i was still in high school they came to play at calvin college, and a bunch of friends and i went to see them. we had a great time, and they were awesome! i still remember the opening band as well, the samples, because they were so terrible! one of the things that was so fun about the jars of clay concert was that they had a violin player during the show, and he played an electric violin made of glass with a neon light in it! i've since gone to see them a couple more times, and they just keep getting better and better.

spawn

i cant remember where exactly i got this one from, but it is a key chain of a skull from the 'spawn' comic book. i was really obsessed with that comic for a few years, and would buy anything spawn related that i came across! i actually used this one on my keys for a couple years, that's why its broken and so well worn! i still think it looks really rad...

smithsonian

in my senior year of high school i was in the advance placement government class. i had already taken government class in the fall semester, but in the spring semester i could take the a.p. class and get college credit and skip a political science class- sounds good to me! and another bonus with taking this class: a trip to washington d.c. about 12 kids from my high school went on the program called 'close-up'. it was a great time, we spent five days checking out washington d.c. and going to all the cool places there. one of the places we went was the smithsonian institute. they had a really cool exhibit on flight, and a fun 'star wars' one where they had a ton of the actual costumes from the good trilogy.

clearwater

on one of our trips to florida i picked up these two keychains. i remember hanging out in the touristy area in clearwater. i was probably 11, and my mom and dad were ready to go back to the hotel, but i wanted to wander around a bit longer. i told them i would find my way back by myself and they, for some reason, trusted me on my own. the town had a busing system and i figured i could find my way back, i knew what bus stop i needed to get off on, so i thought i would be fine. after about an hour and a half on the bus, it still hadnt come to the stop i remembered... finally, after two hours on the bus, it pulled up in front of the hotel, and boy were my parents mad! they were so worried about me! i hadnt given it a second thought, i knew i would eventually make it to the right place, and i got a nice long scenic trip out of the deal too!

lighthouse

another key chain from our family trip to the upper peninsula. this one is from a lighthouse we visited in leland, michigan. we didnt actually get to go up in it because it was closed, but it was a really beautiful area and worth the visit anyway.