Military ID

I got so lost trying to drive to Salem to get my military ID.  I wrote down directions there and back and looked at the google map before I left so that I would be able to eliminate getting lost.  I'm directionally challenged and very aware of that imperfection.  I decided to take one way there and another back so that I could stop by a friends place on the way there, but it was a little fast the other way, so I'd take that route home.  I have no idea what I did wrong, but I followed those directions and got so lost.  At one point, the street I was looking for just didn't exist.  I thought that I might have just missed it, so I went back a ways and started over.  It wasn't there, so I must have not gone far enough.  That was it, I just didn't go far enough.  No.  No it wasn't it.  I don't think there is a street in Salem or the surrounding area that I didn't travel though.  I tried to call some friends in the hopes that they would be near a computer and be able to tell me where I was and how to get to where I was going, but I called all the people that didn't answer their phones or didn't have internet access.

I thought about just going home and trying again later --- then I had a thought.  I'd try to find it from the reverse, going home directions.  And, somehow that worked!  I dunno how it did, because I was so lost, but I did it.  I'm so glad I randomly decided to take one way there and another back!  When I found it though, my heart sunk a little as I saw how scary this place looked.  And now that I'm looking at these photos it doesn't look nearly as bad as my mind thought it was.  But in my head, I'd been driving all over the place lost and confused and then I saw this large building surrounded by a massive spiked fence and it did not look welcoming.

And then there was a guard that stopped me and asked for identification and why I was there.  I felt so small and like I must be in the wrong place.  Is this really where they send people to pick up a card that says they are married to someone in the military? He was very nice though and told me exactly where to drive, park and even what room number I would need to get my ID.

Then I drove past big Army truck things that seem really out of place for normal life.  This whole military thing is obviously going to take some getting used to for me.

So I park in front of this big building being guarded by intense fences and a security guard.

And I walk into this large, sterile hallway.  There are doors lining the walls that all say things that I don't understand.  I'm thinking immediately to myself that I'm really glad that that security guard told me exactly where to go because there was no one in that large hallway to ask and I would totally be the awkward person that would walk into a room that I wasn't cleared to enter and get escorted out of the building.

It took only minutes in the the Deer's Office to fill out the paper work, take a horrible photo and then walk out with a card in hand.

And then as I was walking back out in that large empty hallway, I noticed something funny.

Did you see it?

Hehe, okay, I promise I wont.  I didn't know that fountain spiting was an issue.  I thought that was hilarious.  When I see a water fountain, I think, "Oh, a place to get a drink!" not, "Oh a place to spit!"  But I guess I could be a little strange.  I was home schooled after all.

I can now enter government facilities and get military discounts.  But I don't know where to get discounts so that part doesn't really help right yet.  I can however get onto base to see Nathan's graduation next month!  And that is exciting!