How does Illinois change from North to South? (Rockford, Peoria: living, pine)

[Katiana]

Having grown up in Pennsylvania, I was never amazed by the areas of Illinois that are supposed to be "hilly". The only hills in Central Illinois are the man-made hills in the parks for kids to sled on, and the freeway berms (and a few hillocks over in Kickapoo State Park, right at the Indiana line). Illinois is very flat. Don't get me wrong, there are areas of Ill. that are lovely, such as the Fox River Valley, but it's not "hilly". It's a different kind of beauty.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Having grown up in Pennsylvania, I was never amazed by the areas of Illinois that are supposed to be "hilly". The only hills in Central Illinois are the man-made hills in the parks for kids to sled on, and the freeway berms (and a few hillocks over in Kickapoo State Park, right at the Indiana line). Illinois is very flat. Don't get me wrong, there are areas of Ill. that are lovely, such as the Fox River Valley, but it's not "hilly". It's a different kind of beauty.

Yes, PA has bigger hills, and so does your beloved Colorado. But to say there arent nice hills in IL is ludicrous.

LaRue/Pine Hills area:
http://www.fieldherpforum.com/Pictur...ertSnakeRd.jpg

http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=11203&rendTypeId=4

Dont wanna fall off this "little hill" now would we?
http://www.life.uiuc.edu/suarez/till...s/SOILL002.jpg

http://images.wildernet.com/graphics...ages/shnf.jpeg

http://www.quiltingpathways.com/rive...irie_0145m.jpg

http://www.siu.edu/~ilsaf/P1.jpg

[Katiana]

Well, I didn't say there weren't any hills in Illinois. I just said i wasn't amazed by any of them, trying to be diplomatic (not my strong suit).

I remember once reading a humor article in the Champaign newspaper entitled something like "you know you've lived in Champaign too long when. . .". One of the items was "it doesn't look flat anymore". I agree. Either the author was talking about having a hallucination about seeing a hill (which I could imagine doing), OR seeing a hill in every little bump in the road. There actually are man-made hills in the parks for sledding. It's flat there! It's not ugly, but it's flat.

People would say to me, "you should go down to southern Ill" or "go out to western Ill and you'll see hills". I did those things and was not awed by the gently rolling hills there. I have seen the Mississippi River bluffs. We used to go to southern Indiana to see hills and woods, especially in the fall. I like Illinois. I just don't think it is particularly hilly.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Yes, PA has bigger hills, and so does your beloved Colorado. But to say there arent nice hills in IL is ludicrous.

You have no idea how much pain it causes me to actually come to pn70's defense... but man, lighten up. It's a matter of opinion and perspective... even if you don't agree with it, her opinion is not really "ludicrous." It's just different, formed by different experiences. It shouldn't really be controversial to say that compared to PA, IL is remarkably flat, even if you can find selective images to post that are the exception to the rule.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Drover

You have no idea how much pain it causes me to actually come to pn70's defense... but man, lighten up. It's a matter of opinion and perspective... even if you don't agree with it, her opinion is not really "ludicrous." It's just different, formed by different experiences. It shouldn't really be controversial to say that compared to PA, IL is remarkably flat, even if you can find selective images to post that are the exception to the rule.

LOL! Thank you Drover!

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

but it's not "hilly".

I do respect your opinion, trust me on that. I can disagree with it though, cant I? Thats why I said "ludicrous", because there definitely are hills here, albeit not as big as PA's. Sorry if I offended you, but saying the hills here (the few that we have) are not hilly would be like saying the Rockies arent rocky. I think the hills that we do have are definite hills. Not mountains, but bonafide nice-sized hills. I think Ive shown proof of that. If you want to dispute that, thats fine, but I know hills when I see them, and several areas in IL have very nice sized hills. Most of IL is as flat as Rene Russo, that Ill agree with.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Drover

the exception to the rule.

The exception to the rule shows that there are indeed hills here, does it not? I apologized to her for saying "ludicrous", but it wasnt directed at her total opinion, just the part where she stated that it "wasnt hilly", my bad, I shouldve illustrated that better. Looked like she was basing her opinion on the Fox River Valley, which of course is not big hills like the Pine Hills. If that was indeed the case, that would be like me visiting SE Wisconsin and proclaiming that there are no hills there. Sure theyre there, but you have to find them and know the areas to go. Youd be surprised at the amount of natives here who think the entire state is pancake flat! I direct them to the hilly areas and theyre actually, literally shocked. LOL

IL does indeed have big hills, even if theyre few and far between, thats the point Im making.

[Drover]

Look, we're not dealing with absolutes here. Nobody ever said we were. We're working with generalities. That's usually implied when speaking about whole states or regions unless otherwise stated. So to clarify, generally speaking, Illinois is very flat. Generally speaking, Pennsylvania is not. Get it now?

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Drover

Look, we're not dealing with absolutes here. Nobody ever said we were. We're working with generalities. That's usually implied when speaking about whole states or regions unless otherwise stated. So to clarify, generally speaking, Illinois is very flat. Generally speaking, Pennsylvania is not. Get it now?

I never said IL was hilly, generally speaking.

I see where youre coming from, but dont tell me the Pine Hills arent "hilly". Thats an absolute. Get it? Thats what Im saying, thats all Im saying.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

I never said IL was hilly, generally speaking.

Nobody ever said you did. Do you read what people actually say?

I see where youre coming from, but dont tell me the Pine Hills arent "hilly". Thats an absolute. Get it? Thats what Im saying, thats all Im saying.

And what I'm saying is, EVERYBODY KNOWS THERE ARE SOME HILLS IN ILLINOIS, even if they make a GENERAL statement that Illinois is flat. They don't need you to rush in with emotionally charged retorts like "ludicrous!" while showing them visual proof that, yes, there are SOME hills in Illinois. PEOPLE ALREADY KNOW THAT, and generalized statements assume that everyone else already knows it too. If we had to try to qualify everydamnthing we said, nothing would ever get said.