My roommate Rebecca and I headed to the train station at 11:30 (I had planned to leave at 11:20, but didn't think 11:30 would make too much of a difference),(my phone decided to freeze when looking up directions) with our train leaving at 12:10 in a neighboring town. The drive would be a half hour. I figured we would at least have 10 minutes of wiggle room when we got to the train station. That was not what happened. We ended up getting to the train station at 12:06. We needed to get a parking pass and make a mad dash for the train. The train waits for no one, as I have found out in the past. It leaves at exactly 12:10. There was someone attempting to print their own parking pass at the machine. I looked around to see if there was another one, but there wasn't. The person at the machine eventually gave up and walked away. I quickly went over, and noticed that the person had actually bought a ticket but must have not have known you were supposed to hit print, as the machine is a little confusing. It was now 12:08 and that person was gone from sight, so in a split decision I printed the ticket and sprinted to my car and then to the train. I yelled to my roommate that you could buy train tickets on the train, and we made it onto the train about 15 seconds before it left. (I knew you could buy tickets on the train after doing it many times before.) (The parking pass was $5 so the person who left the ticket only lost out on $5.) We sat in a seat and I felt like I was going to vomit from running so fast.
We made it to Chicago around 1:30, and decided to go to the Sears Tower. The Sears Tower was only a 10 minute walk away. Since Rebecca had not really seen much of Chicago yet, I thought going to the Sears Tower would be good place to visit. I also love the glass ledges that are suspended above the city. Online it said that going to the Sears Tower would cost $30, although this was too much in my opinion I thought it still would be okay at that price to visit, however I guess if you buy tickets on the day of at the actual Sears Tower it's $48. (It could also be that it was the weekend vs. a week day, but I was not willing to spend that kind of money.) We left while trying to figure out what to do instead. We figured we would walk to where the festival was being held and explore the area around the festival before making our way in. (Since it was a free festival you could leave and come back in as many times as you wanted.) Taste of Randolph featured various restaurants that are on Randolph Street, therefore it has the name Taste of Randolph. Once we found the festival we decided to go in to see where the show would take place. There was an East Stage and a West Stage with Phantom Planet performing later on the West Stage. We entered the festival on the east side I had figured out, and made our way towards the west entrance. (The festival itself was only about 3-4 blocks long so it didn't take too long to get to one side or the other. The crowds of people were what slowed down the walk. The crowd didn't seem too bad, but the festival did become more and more crowded as the day went on. There ended up being a VooDoo Doughnuts near where we had entered. I had been wanting to go to one, so we did. (VooDoo doughnuts is a donut shop chain located in major cities around the United States that has around 50 different varieties of donuts with fun names. I got a donut called "All That Razz" which was a donut with blue raspberry icing with pink and white stripes and edible glitter that had raspberry jelly inside. Rebecca had a maple bacon donut with eyes and a mustache drawn on the donut. The first bite seemed like a lot, but it was actually pretty good. (After getting home from Chicago I saw a post of Alex and Darren from Phantom Planet sharing a donut from VooDoo doughnuts "Lady and the Tramp" style.)
We sat on the sidewalk to rest a little before looking at the different vendors, and dogs at the fesitval. Taste of Randolph was dog-friendly so there were quite a bit of dogs there. Including a Chihuahua that laid down in the middle of the street while his owner was walking him. The owner sat near us on the sidewalk with her chihuahua while he rested before beginning to walk him again. We found the west stage easily, and then made our way through the food vendors section of the festival. For food Rebecca and I got Chicago-style beef sandwiches. There was also a fruit water and lemonade stand nearby where I got a hibiscus infused water. It tasted fruity for being a flower and was red/pink in color. (When at a food festival you can't have normal everyday things.) After making our way through the festival we decided to sit in a Starbucks for a little over an hour before the show started as a way to get out of the sun for a little bit. (Rebecca did order a drink, so we weren't loitering.)
We then made our way back towards the stage. I noticed that if you started towards the back of the crowd, you wouldn't be able to move up very easily. However, if you came in from the side you could easily get closer to the stage, without pushing through people, which I don't believe in. :P Rebecca doesn't like crowds so she stayed off towards the side as I made my way in. I somehow managed to be in the thirdish row but then noticed an open space by the barricade. Not a super small space, but a space to move around in even. A few songs in I asked the person in front of me if it would be okay if I stood there, pointing to the open space. She motioned for me to do so, so I did. Also front and center were two elderly men in their 80s sitting on lawn chairs. One remained sitting the whole show while the other would occasionally get up and dance, sometimes even with the girls in their 20s. It was very wholesome. The stage with the Chicago skyline in the back with trains passing by in the distance was definitely an amazing venue to have a concert, especially with the nice weather. The lead singer, Alex even paused to point out one of the trains passing by during the set, saying "epic!". The band joked about how they had been asked to play a 75 minute set, which they hadn't been expecting at all. (I read a behind the scenes story that the guitarist, Darren had swallowed a pebble that must have been on the top of his sparkling water can, towards the beginning of their set. He was able to get it out quickly but got worried he might have to get rushed to the emergency room. I hadn't even noticed this had happened. He acted like having a pebble/debris on a can is a totally normal thing, and that you should always make sure to wipe off the top of your can before taking a drink. I feel like bees flying into drinks would be a lot more common then that.) To stall Alex gave some details about their song "The Galleria" even though that's probably their most straightforward song. As I always say: seeing a show live, and being able to feel and see the music, and being in the same place as the musicians is so magical. Going to see live music is definitely a top favorite thing of mine, and the sound was so crisp, and energetic like the last time I had seen them. This time I didn't stay after to meet them, and as it turned out they left later that day on a flight back to California anyway. (I think if I had been apart of their Patreon before the show, they might have stayed after to greet me because then they would have known I would have been there. They see all the messages that fans send in the group chats in their Patreon and treat you like their friends which is still so wild to me.)
After the show Rebecca and I tried to decide if we should head to the train station or explore more of Chicago. I was more leaning towards exploring Chicago more since the whole Sears Tower incident had been so sad. We ultimately decided to explore more of Chicago since the weather was so nice and I wanted Rebecca to see more of Chicago. We headed back towards the train station where there was a dock for a water taxi. Riding the water taxi had been one of my favorite things in the past about visiting Chicago in the summer. I realized again why I had liked it so much. Seeing the Chicago architecture from the Chicago River is picturesque and just a fun way to get around. The water taxi would be done running around 8pm, and by the time we got there it was around 7:30. We bought one-way tickets to Michigan Avenue. (Michigan Avenue is the main shopping street in Chicago, known as the "Magnificent Mile" for those not familiar with Chicago.) The water taxi dropped us off right next to Trump Tower. I had heard in the past of someone being able to go up in Trump Tower to get a good view of the city, so I decided we should try and go in. As we were heading to a front entrance a tour boat was going by on the river and was saying that you can get a good view of the city skyline from the 16th floor of the Trump Tower, so that is what we did. On the 16th floor there is a terrace bar that overlooks the city on the west side, and a a few buildings and Lake Michigan from the other side. The sun was beginning to set when we got up there, so it really was a picture perfect moment. It really made up for not getting to go to the top of the Sears Tower. Although it was not as high up as the Sears Tower. Seeing scenery like that for free was definitely the right choice, and I'm so glad we had that moment. I will definitely have to do it again, maybe next time with a reservation to the bar/restaurant to thoroughly enjoy it.
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