Back in February, I learned that SZA and Kendrick Lamar were touring together and that they had a show scheduled for the day after Cadence's birthday -- in Chicago! SZA is Cadence's ultimate favorite artist, so I talked to Danny and we decided to go for it. After seeing them perform together during the halftime show at the super bowl, I knew they'd put on a good show. And the timing and location were too perfect. I asked Cadence if she was up for it, and of course she was.
We flew out of Columbus at 6pm, so we got to Chicago roughly the same time! We walked to Portillo's for dinner. The city was very colorful for pride month. It was so pretty!
We started out Friday and Saturday morning right at Do Rite for breakfast sandwiches and donuts! It's so convenient that there's a location on the first floor of Willis Tower -- which was right near the hotel where we were staying!
We spent Friday morning taking a stroll through the city.
We ended up at Navy Pier.
After I begrudgingly rode the swings with her (something I'll never do again!), we started to make our way back to the hotel . We stopped at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant and grabbed lunch. We befriended the owner, who we found out was also going to the concert, and he changed the restaurant music to SZA radio!
We got ready for the show at the hotel and then took a Lyft to Soldier Field.
We stood in line for merch for what seemed like forever. But that's part of the concert experience, right?!
Waiting for the show to start!
Watching Cadence experience the concert was the best part. She was so happy. It didn't hurt that SZA and Kendrick put on one helluva show.
Each artist took the stage separately, and they alternated.
The pyrotechnics were amazing.
At the end, SZA and Kendrick took the stage together and performed Gloria and Luther. Everyone held up their phones with their flashlights when they performed All The Stars. It looked really neat inside the stadium. The show lasted roughly 3 hours and we stood up the entire time. It was such a good show.
There were people EVERYWHERE as we tried to leave the stadium.
We decided to walk the 2 miles back to the hotel. We had to walk away from the stadium to even try to get an Uber or Lyft, so by the time we started walking we figured we could just walk the entire way back. I later learned that Danny was tracking us the whole time and nervous for our lives. We stopped and got water and ice cream for dinner! The walk back was my favorite part of the whole day 😊
The next day, I realized too late that we should've already checked out of the hotel, so we quickly packed and I snapped a few pics of our room (which was upgraded due to Danny's status).
We had the whole day on Saturday to be in the city since our flight home wasn't until that night. We decided we would rent a quadcycle. Renting the bike almost didn't happen, though. On our way there, Cadence got a text from a softball teammate asking if she was going to be at the game. Surprisingly, neither of us formally told her coach that we would be in Chicago for the weekend. I could've sworn I texted her coach, but I couldn't find any proof. Maybe I had the thought to, and never did? We both felt awful for letting the team down. Thankfully, they won their games that day, with only 8 girls on the field. It rained early Sunday morning, so the 2nd day of the tournament was cancelled!
We had fun riding around the city and got some chuckles out of spectators.
We enjoyed lunch on a restaurant patio -- demonstrators marched by while we were there.
We bought some Garrett popcorn and enjoyed a break at a park near our hotel while we snacked.
We had SUCH a nice time together in Chicago. Between Cadence's birthday, the concert, our favorite city, and mother/daughter time, we couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I have fond memories of that weekend, and I hope Cadence does, too.
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