Oh, Naval Station Great Lakes....We ♥ You!

One of my first tasks as a Army wife was to get an ID card. I had dreaded this....maybe because I thought I would have to do it alone and it just seemed daunting to go to the base myself. Guards, gates, restrictions....not my cup of tea.

My darling sister, Erin, decided she would make the journey with me, and we had lots (um...not really as you will find out) of fun.

On our first trip we got to the base, figured out where the main gate was and then had to wait in the visitors center for a post pass. When we cleared that hurdle they allowed us to walk to the processing center, which was about a 10 min walk. Not too bad. Lots of cute sailors to get my sister excited....
When we got there I was informed that I needed a CERTIFIED copy of my social security card. Evidently, the paperwork I had omitted the CERTIFIED part. Great. So, we had to walk all the way back, get in the car, drive home, get the safety deposit box keys and get my passport out of the vault. And then drive all the way back. It is a 30+ minute drive from our house.

Below are the photos from our second trip. I should have taken pictures of the woman recruit we spied with a bag, on her hands and knees pulling tiny weeds out of the grass without any tools. Ahhh...the military.

Naval Station Great Lakes Main Gate and Visitors Center

This captured the relief of getting past the guards...It is SUCH a process.

Success! It felt so official when I got the I.D. Proud Army wife right there!!

Good ol' building #C-2. It was like deja-vu all over again....

The scenic walkway towards the main gate. 

Well, I forgot to mention on the first walk through the station I dropped my drivers license and some nice sailors picked it up and walked it over to me. That would have been so not a good thing to loose. This happened even before we tried to get the ID the first time!