Post by rockfan on Jul 13, 2009 16:00:42 GMT -5
Here is a recap of my 5 day adventure to Chicago during the CD release weekend 
.
Day 1
After some arm twisting by my friend, Rachel (chitowngirl), I decided to fly to Chicago and thanks to American Airlines, they got me there and back without any problems (unlike USair had done to me in the past
)
After landing, I purchased a CTA card and grabbed a map to get around the city and took the Blue Line into downtown Chicago
to meet Rachel at her office in the Sears Tower
and enjoyed my self-guided tour of the downtown area.
Day 2
We all arrive at the HOB to enjoy a great show
and after the show, we head over to Angels & Kings and I saw a bunch of familiar faces -
Day 3
We head over to the Zebra Lounge to see the trunk show of Marty's Silver Elements line -
and I decide to purchase that nice silver pendant/w chain that Marty is wearing. I needed a souvenier from my trip
Now it's time to board the Party Bus to Marseilles for the Freedom Run Show. Marty surprised us by stopping by -
Many, many thanks to Stephanie and Suzy for getting this organized. They spent alot of time, money and effort to plan this excursion
. When we finally started rolling, the theme from Gilligan's Island was playing and little did we know it would turn into more than a 3 hour tour, lol. Stephanie and Suzy also planned some games to keep us occupied which were alot of fun and some nice prizes .
We make our first pit stop -
and finally reach our destination. There were lots of sights and sounds at the Freedom Rally -
and Jessica's band, High Gloss Black, played before Lovehammers -
and then the Lovehammers hit the stage -
with lots of lights and smoke
and Billy's mini guitar solo and Marty playing drums -
After a long day, we all get back on the bus and have two surprise visitors -
and after drinking a beer with the hammerheads
, Dino bids farewell and we head back to Chicago -
Day 4
Today is the BAM Festival and it's right outside of Rachel's door -
Matt Hoffer's band, Holding Mercury put on a great show -
and later, the Lovehammers put on another great show -
Day 5
It's time to go home
and so I load up my stuff and head to the bus stop to take me to the Blue Line station to O'Hare -
Being a dork
, I get on the bus and put my CTA card into the "money slot" 
and not the card slot. There went about $10 worth of rides left. The very nice bus driver was kind enough to issue me this card -
so I could make the transfer to the train. I'll know better next time.
It was a fun time in Chicago .
.Day 1
After some arm twisting by my friend, Rachel (chitowngirl), I decided to fly to Chicago and thanks to American Airlines, they got me there and back without any problems (unlike USair had done to me in the past
)After landing, I purchased a CTA card and grabbed a map to get around the city and took the Blue Line into downtown Chicago
to meet Rachel at her office in the Sears Tower
and enjoyed my self-guided tour of the downtown area.
Day 2
We all arrive at the HOB to enjoy a great show
and after the show, we head over to Angels & Kings and I saw a bunch of familiar faces -
Day 3
We head over to the Zebra Lounge to see the trunk show of Marty's Silver Elements line -
and I decide to purchase that nice silver pendant/w chain that Marty is wearing. I needed a souvenier from my trip
Now it's time to board the Party Bus to Marseilles for the Freedom Run Show. Marty surprised us by stopping by -
Many, many thanks to Stephanie and Suzy for getting this organized. They spent alot of time, money and effort to plan this excursion
. When we finally started rolling, the theme from Gilligan's Island was playing and little did we know it would turn into more than a 3 hour tour, lol. Stephanie and Suzy also planned some games to keep us occupied which were alot of fun and some nice prizes .We make our first pit stop -
and finally reach our destination. There were lots of sights and sounds at the Freedom Rally -
and Jessica's band, High Gloss Black, played before Lovehammers -
and then the Lovehammers hit the stage -
with lots of lights and smoke
and Billy's mini guitar solo and Marty playing drums -
After a long day, we all get back on the bus and have two surprise visitors -
and after drinking a beer with the hammerheads
, Dino bids farewell and we head back to Chicago -Day 4
Today is the BAM Festival and it's right outside of Rachel's door -
Matt Hoffer's band, Holding Mercury put on a great show -
and later, the Lovehammers put on another great show -
Day 5
It's time to go home
and so I load up my stuff and head to the bus stop to take me to the Blue Line station to O'Hare -Being a dork
, I get on the bus and put my CTA card into the "money slot" and not the card slot. There went about $10 worth of rides left. The very nice bus driver was kind enough to issue me this card -so I could make the transfer to the train. I'll know better next time.
It was a fun time in Chicago
. 
. I still have lots of other pics to post but it's taking awhile to go through them all. I do have some new ones in the Just Love Marty thread as well the main page here at .org and the LH site: 
Tricia, I loved your recap. It felt like we were all looking 
back at a good friend's favorite scrapbook. "Remember the summer of '09 when we all met in Chicago and we ;D 
