We'd rented a car this weekend to take The Girls off to a pumpkin patch out in the far suburbs ... which we did today, with much standing around in bright sunshine and chilly air and strong winds. We got back downtown at around 6, which is probably the worst time for getting parking (folks start showing up for restaurants). I dropped everybody else off at home (along with the pumpkins and apples and stuff), and stated driving around. And driving around. And driving around.
After about a half an hour of circling around the "usual spots", I started to expand my search, first a mile north, then heading a bit south (doesn't do any good to go too far south or I just end up in River North's parking nightmare instead of Rush Street's parking nightmare). I was starting to expand the search west, heading out on Chicago, just about to turn up Wells, when I saw a spot right on the corner! Fortunately, I was already in that lane with my turn signal on, so I just pulled to the curb instead of making the turn.
Of course, Chicago & Wells is quite a hike from here (10 blocks as I walked it), but I guess it's better than driving around for another hour waiting for some of the early diners to get their cars back from the (damnable) Valet Parkers.