minivan anyone?

It won't be long before we are liquidating many assets, including our vehicles. And, today made me think I am READY to get rid of my vehicle right now. Why? You might ask....Did it break down? Leak oil on your garage floor? Did you get your brand new white sweater all dirty when you rubbed against it's dirty frame? No, none of that. I simply tried to park it in the city of Detroit. I'd like to express a little bit of my frustration with this seemingly simple act.

But, first, I must express the positive. I simply MUST. We had a fabulous trip to the DIA today. The girls and I headed down there with my sis and 3 of her kids. What a great place to visit. If you haven't been there recently, what are you waiting for? We even got free passes from our local library. And, the people working there were above and beyond courteous and helpful! That was so refreshing. It was so fun to watch the kids eagerly scampering from exhibit to exhibit reading the descriptions and making comments. As a home school mom, it is so rewarding to be there watching my kids take in the world or art and make connections to periods of history that we have studied and get excited about it! Very very cool. On that end, it was a perfect day.

Now, back to my desire to get rid of our vehicles. How annoying can parking be? After driving around the block, we located a spot about 1-2 blocks from the DIA. Cool, all we had to do was drop some change in the meter and walk in the blustery cold for a few minutes. However, although I dropped enough change in the meter to last 2 hours, the meter read 45 minutes. Crap. Lost some money on that deal. So, after 45 minutes, I grab my coat from the coat check and head out to the 5 degree cold to move my van to a new meter that works. No problem, I park on Woodward and proceed to figure out where the meter is and drop another dollar in, then it tells me I have reached the max time-one hour. Dang. Oh well. After 50 minutes pass, I run BACK OUT INTO THE COLD....this time I decide not to grab my coat, even if it is 5 degrees. What is that I see? A parking ticket? What the crap? So, I go back to the meter and try to put in MORE CHANGE. It's this digital thing that won't let me press the right button. Probably frozen. ANYWAYS.....I'll make this long story shorter....I call the person on the parking ticket trying to figure out what to do to avoid adding more money to a meter that doesn't work anyways!!!! Then, my hand freezes and I have to literally RUN back to the DIA before I risk my skin integrity and frostbite. Of course, the person on the phone only offers me this: You can fight this ticket in court by sending the ticket with a written explanation, then appearing in Detroit for a hearing. In the meantime, you should move your vehicle to a meter that works or you will get ANOTHER TICKET! OK, the museum is now closing in 35 minutes. The people working there were beyond nice to me. I had to get my coat from coat check again to get my keys and run back out into the cold, then the valet guy insisted I park for free right in front of the building. It is because of the people working at the DIA that I will gladly return.
However, I don't see how I will fight this ticket. By the time I pay for the stamp to send the letter in, pay for gas to drive to Detroit, pay for PARKING while I am in the court building, all the while dragging my kids with me.....I don't know how that can justify "winning' even if I don't end up paying the fee. Because, if I pay a fee within the next 10 days, it is only $10.
But, it's the principle of it, ya know?