A Day in Chicago

Aside from all the other reasons to come home, today arrives my long awaited appointment with the Chicago Passport Office to once again attempt to get my passport renewed before day 365.

I actually tried this once before in Seattle but had no luck…this time I brought help.

We started off the day by stopping to get a passport photo taken…easier said than done. The first two pharmacies that claimed to offer such services just happened to have broken their machines that very day…I wonder how long they’ve been saying that. But the third time is a charm and with little to no time to waste we jetted across the city to the Kluczynski Federal Building to hopefully make my 1pm appointment on time. Parking even with the luxury of money (Jen’s) can be difficult downtown and this time proved to be no different. We lucked out, in the nick of time of course, and walked just a few blocks to the office.

After making it through security and 2nd security, we were informed that the office was simply too crowded to allow Jen to wait with me. I explained that she was going to be paying for my passport and thus she needed to stay but the obvious solution was that she’d have to return in an hour or so if she was going to help me pay for the passport. In addition the security guard removed batteries from all phones and cameras before allowing anyone to enter the office. Seems a little extreme to me…I couldn’t even call Jen when I was getting close.

About an hour later Jen returned to find I was now in the middle of the line and informed me that she’d re-fed the parking meter and was enjoying the lovely weather and was glad to not be trapped like the rest of us. I had just realized that I needed a printed copy of one of my documents and she offered to go on a mission to make that happen.

After another hour and many many opportunities to ponder the nature of an appointment…I got to the front of the line and got a number to wait by another set of windows for an undisclosed amount of time. Shortly after that, Jen returned with my documents and now the office was empty enough that she was allowed to stay.

When my “appointment” finally came due nearly 3 hours later, things went surprisingly smooth and I was told I could pick up my passport in two days! Jen paid the fees with a combination of her money as well as funds contributed via Paypal by Amelia in Tampa and Laura in Washington DC. Thank you all so much!

Jen and I went back to feed the meter once more and then decided to grab lunch at The Grillroom, which just so happened to be located just a few blocks away.

After being held for hours with no contact with the outside world, I was quite hungry and thus forgot to take this picture before the salad was almost gone; so this not so slick attempt to disguise my indiscretion isn’t nearly as pretty as the real thing.

After lunch a had to stop for a picture with one of my favorite sculptures.

Then we drove around a bit trying to decide what to do. While trying to book a Segway tour (to no avail…maybe next time I’m in town) we stumbled across another iconic landmark…

and across the street there was a small scale model of the city which I had never seen before…

Though the day didn’t turn out quite as planned…I was pleased with the progress made on the Passport front. Maybe later in the week while visiting Detroit I can make a stop in Windsor, Ontario.

Edit from the future:

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