The Windy City

During the last weekend of August, 2014, my friend Taylor and I went on an adventure. 

We were headed to the city for the One Direction- Where We Are Tour in Chicago, IL. One Direction was putting on two shows; we had tickets for the Saturday night show

To make the time off of work worth our while, we both took Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off of work for our little adventure. 

We were staying in a hotel in the suburb of Waukegan. We planned on taking the train in and out of the city each day.  

When we arrived in Waukegan on Friday, I was in contact with my friend Alicia who lives in the city. Alicia and her friend Alyssa were gallivanting around the city in  search of the boys from One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer. Taylor and  I thought that  we would join them, and maybe hit up a few bars because neither one of us have ever been out in the city. 

You'd think that we would have had a spectacular night, wouldn't you? Well, it started out okay. We got ready at our hotel, checked the train schedule, saw that there was a train leaving for the city within the hour and headed to the station. When we checked the schedule it said that there was a 2a.m. and a 4a.m. train. So, we headed into the city. On our way, Alicia said that they were going to call it a night, which would be fine, because Taylor and I would be able to do other things. Once in the city though, we realized that the train station was closing as we were getting off of our train. We looked online again and we realized that the soonest train from the city to our suburb was at 6am. 

We made the best of our situation, we walked around and explored downtown Chicago, and enjoyed the city. We ate subway and hung out in a 24 hour Walgreen's to kill some time, seeing as we had 5 hours till we could go to the train station. Around 3 am we sat down outside the train station, read a magazine, and played cards.

We made it through the night without getting killed and made it to our hotel safe and sound. On Saturday we were a little more careful with our traveling. We headed into the city around 2 pm. We walked around the city, down Michigan Ave, watched some chess,
ate a hot dog from a street vendor, and explored Millennium Park. 

When it was almost time for the concert, we headed to Solider Field. The walk seemed to take forever, but I think that was our excitement of wanting to be there right that second. As we got closer and closer to the stadium, we began to be surrounded by fellow "Directioner."  Once in the stadium we bought our merch, grabbed some fries and some beer and found our seats.  Our seats weren't the best, but they were pretty good. 

The energy was high. Everyone at the concert was great and everyone was excited for the boys to perform. Even the dad next to us knew all the words to the songs. 

You knew it was time for the show when everyone started screaming. 5SOS was the opening act for One Direction. They were fantastic. If it was possible to pump the audience up any more, they definitely did. 

When 5SOS was done, there was a short intermission. There were a few Little Mix songs played, which made me super happy. We had enough time to go to the bathroom, watch a conga line, and take some pictures. Then it was FINALLY time for One Direction to perform.

They opened up with Midnight Memories, played every song you would have wanted to hear, had spectacular special effects, and put on the very best show I've ever seen. They were absolutely brilliant.

Sunday, we reserved for more intense sight seeing. We met up with my sister and my niece in Millennium park to start the day. My sister was to act as our tour guide.

Our first and most important stop was to Gloria Jean's coffee shop. I have been a huge fan of Gloria Jeans and a dedicated patron since I was 14 and seeing as the shop in my city has closed down, if was only fitting. 

Next door to Gloria Jeans is a Comic Book store. Taylor and I were elated. My inner geek probably shown through way too much and I left with a Sherlock poster, a Guardians of the Galaxy button, a Spider-Man button, a Captain America button, an Avengers Comic book, and a Spider-Man Comic book.

After our adventure in the comic book store, we headed toward the Sears (now called Willis) Tower. Once we got there we discovered that the elevator was broken so they were only allowing people in that had purchased tickets previously. 

As this was our main focus of the day, we were a little disappointed and started debating what to swap in its place. We debated going to Navy Pier but we decided to get a cab to the John Hancock Center instead.

We were able to go up to the top of the Hancock center. The view was absolutely stunning. We probably spend a good hour up there taking pictures and taking in the scenery.

Since it was getting close to the time Taylor and I would have to leave to come back home we made a quick stop at Giordano's pizza and had my sister give us a ride back to our hotel. 

Over all the trip was amazing. I wish we could have spend more time there. I fell in love with the liveliness of the city and all its beauty. 

If you are interested here is a video I made on our trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff-Ld39qPmE&list=UU0pHAG4I4oEOWs45c1o0ALg&index=5

And here is one on the concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYYEfG7enOw&list=UU0pHAG4I4oEOWs45c1o0ALg&index=2

PLUS for all you Directioners that couldn't make the concert, here's One Directions finale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfa_M4Cu2c8&index=4&list=UU0pHAG4I4oEOWs45c1o0ALg