Best place to go in Illinois other than Chicago

[JVS]

If you're tired of your Ford Escort being broken into 4 times a day, where should you seek refuge in the Land of Lincoln

[RetroLounge]

1. Niles!

Hey, I grew up there, you got an issue with that? :rofl:



RL

[LSK]

6. Des Plaines!!!

Sucks!!!

I grew up there, I should know!

[borlis]

29. When in Niles a stop at Booby's is essential.

Home of the absolute best skirt steak sandwich. Niles is the home of the "Leaning Tower YMCA." Nice picture RL. I grew up there too!

[RetroLounge]

30. I grew up on Milwaukee Avenue

about 3 or 4 blocks north from Boobies!

Also Rosati's pizza across the street from boobies was good, as was riggios on oakton.

Where did you live?

:hi:

[borlis]

44. Near Milwaukee and Harlem

No Surrender is my big sister. I think now you will understand who I am! :hi:
And yes, I love Riggio's pizza! We actually had my FIL's 70th surprise party there last year. Mr Borlis went to school with you.

[RetroLounge]

46. A hah!

Of course! How are you?

:hi:

RL

[borlis]

47. Hanging in there.....raising 3 boys can be quite a chore!

And how are you doing? Congrats on the bookstore! Hope it's successful for you! :hi:

[RetroLounge]

50. I'm doing okay, raising one of each.

thank for the congrats...

:hi:

RL

[City Lights]

62. Ahem...I'm you're "big" sister?

Nuh-uh. I'm your older sister. }(

[borlis]

72. OOPS

So sorry if I offended you. ;-)

[City Lights]

61. Niles sucks!

:P

I heard their mayor is a crook...

[RetroLounge]

65. That is true...

But how bad is their law enforcement if it took then 45 years to catch him?

:rofl:

RL

[borlis]

71. I wonder what all the cops do now that Amy Joy closed

:shrug:

[RetroLounge]

73. Amy Joy closed???

:cry:

Next you'll tell me then enclosed Golf Mill and tore down the Mill Run Theatre...

RL

[LSK]

2. this flamefest is still going on?

:shrug:

There is nothing else to do in Illinois as for outdoors stuff it totally sucks. What is the point of Illinois besides Chicago and corn?

[JVS]

3. Go take a jump into lake Decatur!

[LSK]

4. is that close to Iowa?

:hide:

[JVS]

5. No

[Radical Activist]

37. well..NOW its a flamefest

I'm sorry you are so ignorant of all the wonderful things downstate Illinois has to offer including beautiful outdoor areas, great music, and lots of character you don't find in Chicago. You have to get off the interstate to enjoy it.

[JVS]

48. Fuck yeah! Preach it RA!

[Critters2]

74. You need to go hiking at Starved Rock

If that's not too far from Chicago for ya.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. Elk Grove ! We shoot Escort molesters on sight here.

Then we dump their bodies in a cornfield.
There is nothing worse than a low-down, no-good, sumbitch Escort breaker... inner.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[xchrom]

9. lol -- who said PEORIA?

i mean even the name sucks.

i'm from there -- i mean i have some fond memories -- but man -- that place is:puke:

[patsimae]

19. But what about Bradley University

Pretty well known and decent reputation...was thinking about checking it out for my kids...any thoughts?

[xchrom]

27. it's ok -- nothing wrong with it.

it's a little on the conservative side.

peoria is -- well lets just say the best part of peoria is around bradley.

even i'm from there -- i don't want to dis anybodys positive attitude about the place.

it was pretty much a dull nightmare for me.

i was back a few years ago -- and it didn't seem much changed.

[Radical Activist]

39. I did love this coffee shop/restaurant

I went to in Peoria about a year ago. I forget the name but it was a really hip progressive looking place with lots of vegetarian stuff on the menu. I was a little surprised to find it there. Its the kind of place you would expect the Dennis Kucinich meetup to be held at.

[dannofoot]

53. As a Bradley grad...

...I'd definitely advise you to check out BU. It's one of the highest-rated colleges in the Midwest, and has also recently unveiled an enormous expansion plan. And while it has a reputation as an excellent school for engineering, the Slane College of Communications there is outstanding.

[izzybeans]

21. I remember it smelling like a dense fog of puppy chow pretty much

constantly when I visited.

[seemunkee]

28. agreed

I'm from Peoria Heights and the only reason I would go back is to visit the cemetary. And go to Lou's drive in for chili dog and root beer.

[xchrom]

52. lol -- i love the steak and shake there on main up towards

bradley.

[im10ashus]

10. None of the choices.

I grew up in the Midwest. Lived in Chicago for 12 years. I think, next to Chicago, the Shawnee National Forest if the best place in Illinois.

:-)

I've sat on this very rock.



The Cherokee Trail of Tears runs through there too. When you are on the ground of the forest, you are WAY down in the cavernous regions and it is breathtaking.

[Nailzberg]

23. Shawnee is awesome

[bif]

11. Sorry, the whole rest of the state sucks.

[JVS]

24. I hope for your sake that some of our East Saint Louis Duers don't...

notice that you said that!

[Skittles]

12. Rantoul!

birthplace of Skittles! :D

[ikojo]

13. Skittles...where in the US did you first

kick someone's ass?


I was born in Springfield IL...There are two things of interest..the Dana house which is a Frank LLoyd Wright house and the Lincoln Presidential Libray. I've not been there yet but it's gotten very good reviews.

Other than that...avoid Springpit at all costs.

[Skittles]

16. I was born on an Air Force base and we moved a lot

here is my first documented ass-kicking - I had smacked my brother for calling me fat - I was 14 months old - can't quite make out the writing on the bottom of the picture - Iowa maybe?

[ProfessorGAC]

36. Chanute!!!

In college we went there during the shutdown period and hit golf balls down the runway to see how far they would go bouncing on asphalt! What a coincidence!
The Professor

[Skittles]

68. yes

anyone I have ever known who was at Chanute never forgot it - just a little village of its own in a small village in Illinois - I was very sad when it all ended.

[ikojo]

67. You look unhappy but satisfied

that you had done what needed to be done.

I have two older sisters who used to fight all the time when they were kids. Well, once when they were teenagers they got into a knock down drag out full on fight. My mom just let them have at it and said, "they'll not fight again after this" and she was right. They now work at the same company!

[ikojo]

14. Skittles...where in the US did you first

kick someone's ass?


I was born in Springfield IL...There are two things of interest..the Dana house which is a Frank LLoyd Wright house and the Lincoln Presidential Libray. I've not been there yet but it's gotten very good reviews.

Other than that...avoid Springpit at all costs.

[GOPisEvil]

15. If you can't shoot 'im, Chanute 'im.

Lived on Circle Dr. on Chanute AFB did I. Long time ago. Had some good times there.

[Skittles]

17. ahhhh Chanute

too bad it no longer exists - I did find this pic of the hospital I was born in:

[JVS]

26. Could we count that as part of "Greater Chambana"

[mark414]

18. wisconsin in the summertime

it might as well be illinois what with the mass FIB migration and all...

[Radical Activist]

42. In the Shawnee Forest in Southern Illinois

no one gets called a FIB. That's one reason I always go there instead of Wisconsin, but then again, I'm already 3 hours closer than the Chicago folks.

[izzybeans]

20. In high school it was to get beer on Sundays.

But other than that I can't think of a reason.

I haven't been to Illinois for anything other than Chicago since.

[never cry wolf]

22. No other option? What about normalcy?

Or Bloomington/Normalcy....

Not from there personally but my mom and grandparents were. My dad grew up in the City and was restless in the 30s, knew he wanted something except the Escort was still decades away. So, he married a Normal woman and moved to Mt. Prospect to raise his family....

on edit: Starved Rock is an excellent state park and sometime take the Mississippi road up and down that lazy old awesome river...

[JVS]

25. Couldn't put bloomington because I needed the space for Shelbyville

[displacedtexan]

57. My daughter was born in Normal.

At Bro-Menn Hospital.

That way, we can call her a "Normal child."

Honestly. It was either there or St. Francis Hospital in Bloomington,
and I was protesting the Catholic doctors who refused (probably still do)
to offer rape victims the morning-after pill.

[XNASA]

31. Olney. Home of the White Squirrels.

[Radical Activist]

35. I love the white squirrels.

Ever help do the count?

[XNASA]

38. No. Just passed through once. nt

[Radical Activist]

32. First, go to the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois

then go to the Lincoln sites in Springfield. Those are your top two spots in downstate.

[LynneSin]

33. The Airport

That way you can fly out to another city

:rofl:

[JVS]

49. Be careful, you might end up in Wilmington or other parts of Delaware

That would suck

[ProfessorGAC]

34. I Voted Kankakee!

But, that's because i do my shopping at the big food store, the drug store, the Lowe's, Target, and the mall because it's 25 minutes from my house!

Some of the towns you have listed are TOO far from anything. Now, Peoria does have world-class medical centers, so it's a pretty big and fun enough city.

The college towns wouldn't be too bad, i suppose.

But, i'm just one of those "little south of I80" folks. It's ok down here, because it's not THAT down here. Although people who live in Chicago and the near burbs think anything south of I-80 is in South America.
The Professor

[Radical Activist]

40. Of course,

being too far away from anything is the point for some people. I would enjoy living in the city center but you'd have to shoot me full of drugs to get me to live in the Chicago suburbs without going insane.

[ProfessorGAC]

43. Me Too!

I don't live in the 'burbs either. I'm a good 60 miles from city center, and at least 25 miles from the nearest thing anyone would call a suburb.

I'm 20 miles south of a large city on its own. Big enough to be its own population center (about 125,000), but still removed from chicago by 40 miles or so. Some sociologist refer to places like that as exurbs, and places like the town i live in as penturbs.

There are sociologists predicting that the next great migration of american society will be toward small-ish, self-contained cities of 5k to 20k people, but within reasonable driving distance of major metros.

We have a conservation area and a national prarie lands just to our north, so the open lands to our north will be there a lot longer than we'll be alive. And we like it that way.

The Professor

[1gobluedem]

56. Plus Dairy Queen got its start there in 1938

That should count for something.

[scarlet_owl]

41. I live in Urbana. It's a pretty nice place.

[Radical Activist]

45. A nice stop on the highway is the Mother Jones Monument

and Coal Miner's cemetery in Mt. Olive. They have a yearly celebration in the summer that is worth visiting.

[Benfea]

51. There is no other place in Illinois -NT

[Radical Activist]

54. Why is Peoria winning?

Is it just people who live there? I have nothing against the town, but seriously...its not in my top five or ten places in downstate I'd want to visit.

[dannofoot]

55. Peoria has...

...the aforementioned excellent Bradley University. It also has fine ballet and opera companies, the excellent Peoria Symphony Orchestra (15th oldest in the nation), and will soon have a massive new museum on its riverfront. We get concerts from the top artists in the world...and we're only 2.5 hours from Chicago by car

It also has lots of parks, great fishing, history, etc. Good place to raise the little Dannofoots, too.

And that coffeshop you mentioned...it's called One World Cafe, and yes, their food is terrific.

[Radical Activist]

59. That's it!

One World Cafe. I couldn't remember, thanks.

What is the new Museum going to be about?

[JVS]

70. Champaign has "One World Pizza" where after midnight the 16"...

1 topping pizza drops to $7

[Blue-Jay]

64. Peoria has Big Al's. That's worth a vote!

:D

[terrya]

58. Decatur - my family is there.

And they're very good people.

[Radical Activist]

60. Decatur is full of people with tails and it smells.

Ok I don't really think that about people from Decatur. ;)
Being a Springfield resident, I am bound by law to bash Decatur as part of the ongoing town rivalry, of which Springfield is the clear winner. :)

[terrya]

63. Well...you're right about the smell

I sure won't deny that. Just driving over the Staley Viaduct sometimes...PEEWWWWWW. :-(

Springfield is ok. All of that Lincoln stuff. :-)

[JVS]

69. Decatur does smell, that's the truth.

The only part of Champaign that smells a bit like Decatur is the area directly surrounding the Kraft factory. On the other hand Decatur has Kroger's and real slums, so it's got that working for them.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

66. Springfield or Galena

Springfield: Abraham Lincoln's home and tomb

Galena: Lovely old town where Ulysses S. Grant retired

I'm not too crazy about the rest of the state. Sorry.

[Mutley]

75. Shermer

:P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shermer,_Illinois

[Avalux]

76. Locking.

Continuation of a flame war.