List your favorite things about Illinois

[CellarBelle]

Hey Hazelnut - Texas is a great place to be. It takes some getting used to, but once you give it a chance, you'll love it. Lived there for 11 years and don't regret a minute of it! Go with an open mind, and you'll find the people are awesome and the Tex-Mex restaurants are worth the move alone! There's a reason people from Texas are so proud of their state - you'll discover it once you settle in and resign yourself to the hot weather!

Best thing about Illinois - that's easy - the PEOPLE!

[trinity7774]

Lou Malnati's.... that's about it!

[trinity7774]

Originally Posted by CellarBelle

Hey Hazelnut - Texas is a great place to be. It takes some getting used to, but once you give it a chance, you'll love it. Lived there for 11 years and don't regret a minute of it! Go with an open mind, and you'll find the people are awesome and the Tex-Mex restaurants are worth the move alone! There's a reason people from Texas are so proud of their state - you'll discover it once you settle in and resign yourself to the hot weather!

Best thing about Illinois - that's easy - the PEOPLE!

NO NO NO!! I grew up in IL all my life, and have traveled to many states. Chicagoan's (including MYSELF) are really snotty people. Well, not snotty. But we seem to be more stingy or whatever. I always thought New Yorkers were like that. No way... When I go downtown, anyone down there has an attitude problem!! and I live in the burbs. sheesh. hate chicago.

[CellarBelle]

Chicago is not ALL of Illinois. There's more to Illinois than just Chicago. And myself, I've found Chicago folks to be very helpful and nice when I visit. Chicago may have the majority of people in Illinois, but don't forget, the state extends far beyond just Chicago. I have to disagree with Trinity. Illinois has great people from the north to the south!

[Katlakat]

HI everyone! I'm originally from the Boston area and grew up in NH-Moved to dallas area at 18 and stayed 12 years. I followed my parents move for jobs out of NE into Texas where my family mostly lived. I watched the town of Frisco grow from a one grocery store sleepy town-to a multi-million dollar city getting ready for the olympics to be held there someday. I swear that is why they put in all of those sports complexes, hotels, and sky scrapers. The cost of living shot up so dang high, my little neighborhood became the ghetto in the short 5 years we had a house. Everyone was buying the million dollar Dallas Cowboy's style mansions they built there.

We have just moved to Illinois two years ago. Started our own business in a little farming community. I can't believe that my flowers are still blooming fruitfully in July. My flowers were all but dead after May in Texas, and my lawns were brown well before that (water conservation in Frisco suburbs had us taking showers at odd times LOL)

Illinois was a very hard change for us. Everyone is in slow motion here. I think after two years, they are still adding onto Cornbelt Bank. In Frisco, it would have been done by happy in the sun Mexicans in roughly 8 days

There is no work here unfortunately. Southern Illinois is beautiful, rich in culture and heritage. We are near the Mark Twain museums, Lover's Leap, and the River (which ferry's you across it still sitting in your car, amazing!)

After gas prices shot up close to $3.50 here, our business tanked. (People are holding their hard earned cash a little tighter these days) Now we have to look for "real jobs" which is forcing us to look into the burbs again of a city that might have something to offer. If you aren't a farmer, it's difficult to find a decent job.

The small communities are beautiful. I have never lived in a place where generations of families still dwell, most of them never having set one foot outside of their counties. Having lived in a few of the big cities east of here, I was impressed with the close bonds (but plenty of gossip) that thrives here. There is a drive-in movie theater beyond pastures where corn may grow next year. Never in my life have I watched a movie amongst people I've come to know over the last two years; from the bed of my pick up truck, and enjoyed so many stars, and deer wandering behind the movie screen wondering what all these people are laughing at. Truly amazing experience. In harmony is the only thing I can think to say about life in southern Illinois.

They aren't impressed with the quality of the schools here though. I have no children, but it is a hard issue. Can anyone offer perhaps an affordable move closer to some kind of job market? I live a few hours from Urbana-currently in the southern half near the MO border. We've been looking for almost a year and have no leads. Neither my husband nor myself have completed degrees, so we're hanging out on the bottom rung, still doing our business when we can. (It's a family business started in Michigan-we tailor interiors of used cars for car lots. Fix dashes, door panels, leather seat rips, etc.)

Illinois weather has to be hands down the best I've discovered. In Texas, if July temps dropped below 60 degrees in the evening with a sweet breeze, someone would have to call Guiness book of World Records!

[Steve-o]

You should try further north, its a different world compared to the southern portion of the state.

[tombo]

Chicago's pretty blue collar still, not a lot of yuppies like NYC, or overly ambitious people trying to bite off more than they can chew. Everybody works hard, plays hard. That kind of work/live ethic seems like a perfect balance for me. And its got a great music scene. I think these are my favorite things about Chicago.

[M TYPE X]

Hail storm in mid-state today! Meanwhile, the department is on austerity until further notice because the governor and statewide reps can't agree on a budget! Illinois rocks. If you can't handle Illinois, you don't have 'cred.'

[Steve-o]

1. The smell of a summer rain. Best smell on earth.
2. The chief Black Hawk statue in Oregon, looking over the valley.
3. Going to a Blackhawks game.
4. Watching praying mantids hanging off of Lamborghini antennas at Fox Valley Lamborghini. Hey, mantids have good taste!
5. Visiting Lincoln's tomb in Springfield.
6. Watching bald eagles soar over the Mississippi near Galena.
7. Hiking down into the canyons in Starved Rock and Matthiessen.
8. Enjoying the awesome fireworks at the Kane County Cougars stadium.
9. The smell of bus diesel fumes along Michigan Avenue, the honking of horns.
10. A walk in the woods after a good snowfall.