Digging Up The Daylilies

Yesterday I had to go to Milwaukee in order to have my fingerprints and photograph taken for a new green card. The appointment was at 1pm, and since I'd never driven that far solo before I decided to head out early and have lunch in Milwaukee. I found a 5 hour meter on the campus of Milwaukee School of Engineering which was only a couple of blocks from the Homeland Security building. I walked towards downtown looking for somewhere good for lunch but somewhere that wouldn't take too long, as it was already noon.

I was heading for a German restaurant I'd passed while looking for parking, but then a Tea Room sign appeared out of the drizzle. It was a sign. :) I figured I was dressed appropriately, I was a woman on her own looking for a nice quiet place to have a solo lunch, I could do a whole lot worse than a tea room advertising children's etiquette teas! George Watts & Sons is a china & silver shop downstairs and a tea room upstairs. Very swish and nice; I had a soup & sandwich which were excellent.

The Homeland Security building reminded me strongly of an Indian airport. There were 3 security guards who had their metal detector cranked (my hair pins set it off) but otherwise were just sitting there. Inside were rows and rows of stackable chairs facing a single television tuned to a news channel. I went in, presented my documents, got fingerprinted & photographed, all in 20 minutes. I waited a bit longer for a supervisor to get out off a meeting to stamp my passport. Sadly I didn't qualify for that (passport expires next year, green card hadn't expired because I got it in 1989 and those ones don't expire), so I'll have to risk the wrath of the Cranky Immigration Guy in Puerto Rico. But at least I made the effort. And in a few months I'll have a green card with my married name on it!

After that I walked around downtown Milwaukee for a bit, looking for interesting shopping. When the people started to become a little to interesting (somewhere around Wisconsin and Water) I decided to go to the Mayfair Mall instead. :) I incorrectly remembered a Nordstroms there. I was rather disappointed; most of the shops were too young, trendy & skinny for me or too old, monied, and skinny. I did score an awesome dress from Eddie Bauer and some new foundation & concealer at Sephora. So that was fun!

Then I climbed back in the car and headed home. No problems whatsoever. The most nerve-wracking section ended up being in Madison. The on-ramp to I90 from I94 is a left-hand on-ramp, and one mile down the road is my right-hand exit. Crossing 4 lanes of fast traffic including big trucks isn't my favorite thing to do.

I did it! So now I can do it again sometime for something more fun. Like visiting people or museums.