Archeological excavation

I was supposed to be packing a small suitcase this evening for a trip to Stratford, Ontario for two days. It's been a while since I've been to the Stratford Festival and a three plays looked quite interesting.

When I came back from Italy and England a year ago I put my passport in a particular place. But when I went for it this morning it wasn't there. Now one might think it would be a good idea to check something like this before ordering tickets, but I was sure it was where it was supposed to be.

I began my search around the house. Now, I'm not good at filing things properly away, so there are stacks of stuff. So, yeah, some of what I did was like an archeological excavation. But I figured I could quit when I got to a layer before last summer. I'm sure I didn't stick the passport into the midst of a stack. In all my searching I did find the previous passport, the one that expired 9 years ago. And the drivers license I used in Germany 20 years ago.

About noon I gave up on that and began to look for alternatives. One site offered 24 hour replacement -- for $400. After a bit more of hopeless perusal of Dept. of State websites I happened to think of Michigan's Enhanced Drivers License. Getting one takes 2-4 weeks, but I called the Customs Office in Detroit and they said the temporary would be good enough.

So I dashed off to a Michigan Secretary of State office. Alas, one needs a birth certificate, which I don't have -- or a valid passport. Sigh.

I emailed my B&B and cancelled. I'll call the ticket office in the morning and get the tickets changed. I can attend the same three plays in mid September, though I'll have to spend two nights in town instead of one. That will give me plenty of time to spend a day in Toledo (yeah, I was born in Ohio) to get a copy of my birth certificate. It's probably time for me to have it in hand.


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