The Beginning
I've wanted go to this festival every since mid March or so and after I found out about it I sent out a facebook invite (kids these days right?) for anyone to join me in getting out of the big city of Minneapolis and going to the...well bigger city of Chicago.After many weeks of no response really from anyone and combining that with the fact that everyone that did get back to me had to work one of the days that we would be gone. So, I left Minneapolis, alone, at 10 am Saturday morning.
I hate Madison
The drive from the cities to Chicago was good, except for one thing. Madison. Everything was going well, I was making good time, I had great tunes to listen to for the drive and then Madison had to screw everything up. Since I was traveling in Illinois, I needed to get quarters for the tollway. I thought that I might as well stop in Madison to hit up a Wells Fargo and a Kwik Trip and then be on my way. Well, after typing Wells Fargo into my GPS, I proceeded to go to the closest one...which turned out to be an ATM. (so my GPS lead me to a ATM and not a bank. Next time I will remember to type bank in, my bad)I finally get to a Wells Fargo bank which leads me five miles away from I90. Next up, Kwik Trip. I didn't know this but apparently all gas stations are Kwik Trips according to the GPS on my phone. It lead me to to 2 different "Kwik Trips" without once it actually being a Kwik Trip (I have a gas card there, that's why I was looking for one). I finally fill up and put it on my own card (damn you GPS, I didn't want to pay for gas) all the while losing a hour in the search. Screw you Madison.
Enter: Windy City
With Wisconsin finally out of the picture, it was on to bigger and better things...Chicago baby! Look at that spread, very nice. Anyway, the only thing that I know about this festival is that it is on Division street in Chicago. Do I know where that is? No, but whatever can't be that hard right? Exit 47a Division Street. See that was easy. I take the exit and turn left onto Division (woops, shoulda taken a right as I found out the next day) and drove all the way until I ran into Lake Michigan. No street fest.
Whatever, I thought, and I went to find some parking. Anywhere. Somewhere? With a city as large as Chicago you would think you could find a parking place somewhere but I guess that isn't the case there. I finally do find a place and I'm thinking that this would be a good place to stay for the weekend (did I mention that I was planning on sleeping in my car? Well, it almost happened). I then discovered that you need an overnight pass to park on the particular street and since I was driving for a hour trying to find a parking spot my hopes were all but gone in finding a spot. That's when my weekend took a turn for the best
Casey Hudek Happened
Now I say that I was planning on staying in my car and that is true, but I also had a backup plan in mind. A friend of mine had just moved down to Chicago and I sent him a text saying that I was in town and was in a need of a place to stay. Since Casey is an amazing person he let me crash at his place for the weekend. He gave me the directions as my phone died. Think about that for a moment. If I would have waited oh, twenty more minutes I would have had no way of reaching him or anyone, no place to park, no sense of direction. To put it lightly I would have been lost in Chicago. Thank God for Casey Hudek.
Casey's Apartment
My bed for the weekend
Casey's Apartment
My bed for the weekendDamnit Lebron
Perhaps the low point of the entire weekend was watching Lebron lose to the Magic, thus denying him even a shot of a championship. (We didn't see the end of the game but I was told later that Lebron walked off the court without shaking any of the Magic player's hands and that a lot of people were upset about this. I couldn't disagree more with those people that think it was poor sportsmanship. You have your season end early when you were suppose to win it and tell me how you feel after that last game) Casey and I took in the game at a local watering hole that happened to be an all black establishment. The place was split about half and half with those that wanted the Cavs to win and those that wanted to shout things at the tv.
After a few beers and disappointment Casey and I headed back to his place but wanted to explore a little bit since this was only his 2nd night in Chicago. We ended up at a hookah bar and although I'm too much into smoking hookah (there is better stuff out there) I thought it would be cool just to relax after a long day of driving. It was at this hookah bar where I learned the great game of chess. I had never played before because I have never known the rules or which thing can move where, whatever. Casey teaches me the gist of the rules and proceeds to pound me in two straight games. He tells me that this was the first time he was better then anyone at chess. I'm glad I can boost your confidence Casey. (it has somewhat sparked a small obsession and now I'm glad I can actually have a choice between checkers and chess rather then saying that I only know how to play checkers). After our 3rd coal we were done with all of the hookah and walked home while enforcing the buddy rule (always a good idea in Chicago) and that was my Saturday in Chicago. I went to bed giddy about what was in store for the next day.
After a few beers and disappointment Casey and I headed back to his place but wanted to explore a little bit since this was only his 2nd night in Chicago. We ended up at a hookah bar and although I'm too much into smoking hookah (there is better stuff out there) I thought it would be cool just to relax after a long day of driving. It was at this hookah bar where I learned the great game of chess. I had never played before because I have never known the rules or which thing can move where, whatever. Casey teaches me the gist of the rules and proceeds to pound me in two straight games. He tells me that this was the first time he was better then anyone at chess. I'm glad I can boost your confidence Casey. (it has somewhat sparked a small obsession and now I'm glad I can actually have a choice between checkers and chess rather then saying that I only know how to play checkers). After our 3rd coal we were done with all of the hookah and walked home while enforcing the buddy rule (always a good idea in Chicago) and that was my Saturday in Chicago. I went to bed giddy about what was in store for the next day.
Mistakes turned good
The next morning we left Casey's place around 1:30 or so (we had to do some minor things around his neighborhood like getting envelopes, you know, minor things) and planned on walking around downtown and getting to Do-Division around 4:30/5. I spent the morning researching which busses to take to get where an thought I had a good idea of what we needed to do. Casey also brought along a map that he was given when he moved in (something that we left the house with originally until we both decided that it can only help to have, and boy did it ever help to have. That map probably saved us five or six times.) We hopped on Bus 6 heading towards downtown. We cruised on Lake Shore drive and we drove along the lake which is a nice thing to look at while you are on a bus. We also passed Soldier's Field ("They did a little too much with it if you ask me" - Casey) and the museum.
We were on the bus for what seemed forever and at a stop Casey asked if we should get off. I had no idea so I started walking off the bus and as I was walking off Casey realized that we still had a ways to go until we hit downtown Chicago. A ways to go was selling it a little low. We were a good six or 7 blocks from the beginning of downtown and so we started walking. Our mistake turned into a good thing when we walked up to Grant Park. I wanted to take a picture of the fountain and Casey told me that this was where Obama's speech after he was elected was. So that was a cool tid bit.
After staring at water shoot up in a pattern for awhile we decided to make our way downtown and make a stop and Millennium Park. What a place this is. "I found my spot" Casey said and I couldn't agree more. I could spend a lot of time there. It had a cool feel to the whole thing. You are in the middle of a huge metropolis yet there is this park and this amazing overhang that makes you feel like you are in a birds nest . Nice place to relax.
The grass was wet and we didn't bring blankets or anything so of course our butts got a little wet and since we had enough of that, it was time to move onto downtown. Out of no where was the giant bean thing that everyone takes their picture in front of. Since I had a camera I was no different.
After a few minutes we were all tooted out of the bean (get it...tooted...) and it was time for my first ever subway ride. This was actually something that I wanted to do since I had never ridden a subway, only eaten there. We boarded the Blue line towards Division. White Rabbits are next. Here are some downtown/ subway pictures...
I came. They rocked. I loved it.
After eating it was almost time for White Rabbits. Casey and I made our way towards the stage and watched them do sound check. Before going down to Chicago I had no idea what any of the members of the band looked like. I had no idea that there were six of them. I also had no idea that a total of five band members played the drums at some point in the show. Words cannot really describe how the show was. They rocked big time and put on an amazing show. The energy that they gave off was definitely felt by the crowd and we responded with cheering. They played everything that I could want to hear and stole my heart. I will for sure be a fan for many years to come. After they were done with their set, I felt such a rush of energy and excitement. I've never felt such a feeling before and it made the entire trip worth while. Going from not knowing where I was going to sleep to seeing my new favorite band live is something that I will never forget. Here are some pictures from the show...
Do-Division Street Fest
Best seat in the house
White Rabbits backstage before the show
The crowd gathers before the show
Maybe these are the best seats in the house
Opening song
Bassist on the drums, with the two other drummers
I think the tryout for this band was like this, "Can you play drums? Then you got the job."
We were on the bus for what seemed forever and at a stop Casey asked if we should get off. I had no idea so I started walking off the bus and as I was walking off Casey realized that we still had a ways to go until we hit downtown Chicago. A ways to go was selling it a little low. We were a good six or 7 blocks from the beginning of downtown and so we started walking. Our mistake turned into a good thing when we walked up to Grant Park. I wanted to take a picture of the fountain and Casey told me that this was where Obama's speech after he was elected was. So that was a cool tid bit.
After staring at water shoot up in a pattern for awhile we decided to make our way downtown and make a stop and Millennium Park. What a place this is. "I found my spot" Casey said and I couldn't agree more. I could spend a lot of time there. It had a cool feel to the whole thing. You are in the middle of a huge metropolis yet there is this park and this amazing overhang that makes you feel like you are in a birds nest . Nice place to relax.
The grass was wet and we didn't bring blankets or anything so of course our butts got a little wet and since we had enough of that, it was time to move onto downtown. Out of no where was the giant bean thing that everyone takes their picture in front of. Since I had a camera I was no different.
After a few minutes we were all tooted out of the bean (get it...tooted...) and it was time for my first ever subway ride. This was actually something that I wanted to do since I had never ridden a subway, only eaten there. We boarded the Blue line towards Division. White Rabbits are next. Here are some downtown/ subway pictures...
I came. They rocked. I loved it.
We got to the street fest a bit early and walked around the 10 block festival a few times looking at various pieces of art and t-shirts while looking for that perfect cuisine. I found mine. They were pork tacos and they could have been the most enjoyable thing I have ever eaten in my life. They had these pink onions on them (I hate onions) but they tasted so sweet and it meshed perfectly with the spice of the sauce. Here is a picture of one of the taco's, I had already scarfed down the other one.
After eating it was almost time for White Rabbits. Casey and I made our way towards the stage and watched them do sound check. Before going down to Chicago I had no idea what any of the members of the band looked like. I had no idea that there were six of them. I also had no idea that a total of five band members played the drums at some point in the show. Words cannot really describe how the show was. They rocked big time and put on an amazing show. The energy that they gave off was definitely felt by the crowd and we responded with cheering. They played everything that I could want to hear and stole my heart. I will for sure be a fan for many years to come. After they were done with their set, I felt such a rush of energy and excitement. I've never felt such a feeling before and it made the entire trip worth while. Going from not knowing where I was going to sleep to seeing my new favorite band live is something that I will never forget. Here are some pictures from the show...
Do-Division Street Fest
Best seat in the house
White Rabbits backstage before the show
The crowd gathers before the show
Maybe these are the best seats in the house
Opening song
Bassist on the drums, with the two other drummers
I think the tryout for this band was like this, "Can you play drums? Then you got the job."
The return
I woke up early this morning for the 7+ hour trip home. It was a rainy day and I felt like this was Chicago's way of saying goodbye. It was a tearful goodbye, like it didn't want me to leave. My heart was stolen this weekend and not by some single lady that had legs and big breasts...there were plenty of those in Chicago but it is Chicago itself that stole my heart. There is only so many years that we can live spontaneously. I urge all of you to do something like this if you have an open weekend. I know I will never forget this weekend. I wanted to turn around on I90 and head back east to my new found love. I will return to you Chicago. Until then be good.
Thanks Casey. Thanks Chicago. Thanks White Rabbits. Mom and Dad please send money.
Thanks Casey. Thanks Chicago. Thanks White Rabbits. Mom and Dad please send money.
No comments:
Post a Comment