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Illinois
Wayne's World! Excellent! Aurora is the hometown of Wayne and Garth, just two regular guys running a public access TV show from their basement. What started off as a Saturday Night Live sketch with Mike Myers (Wayne) and Dana Carvey (Garth) became a big-screen hit in Wayne's World (1992), and Aurora was thrown into the pop-culture spotlight. Schwing!
Wayne and Garth's Aurora -- a heavy metal mecca populated by "robo-babes" -- isn't the entire picture. This city gets down to some pretty serious science education. Aurora is home to the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), the country's only three-year, residential public high school for students talented in science and mathematics, and SciTech, a hands-on center for students of all ages.
Local schools have research links to some major-league facilities, including the nearby Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (the most powerful particle accelerator in the world) and several area colleges.
Originally settled by Indians, Aurora has spawned at least one imitator (Aurora, Nebraska, was named for it), and the city plays host to riverboat gambling, biking and other activities.
| Lonely Planet: Bloomington |
Lincoln slept here. Or at least passed through.
This city of 100,000 was a frequent judicial circuit stop for Honest Abe. It was here that he won his famous Illinois Central Railroad case, and here that he delivered his "Lost Speech."
Even in death, Lincoln's path crossed Bloomington's:
His black-draped funeral railcar, built in Bloomington, was historic even before its tragic duty -- it was the first Pullman sleeper car ever built.
Though Pullman car manufacturing is no longer Bloomington's industrial staple, the city has other big businesses that keep it afloat, among them State Farm Insurance, Mistubishi Motors and Eureka, the sweeping success. But perhaps the culture that most infuses Bloomington-Normal is that of the college community. Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University both call Bloomington home.
Year 'round, visitors find something to do in Bloomington, from the theatrics of the summertime Illinois Shakespeare Festival to the Christmastime Gaslight Tours. One of the biggest happenings, the Bloomington Gold Corvette Show in June, is the world's largest 'Vette event. And why not? Bloomington lies smack-dab on the route of old Route 66, the classic American highway that still offers kicks to roadtrippers from Chicago to L.A.
You can call it Champaign-Urbana or you can call it Urbana-Champaign ... oh heck, just call it Champaign.
We'll toast to that.
Of interest to computer users (and that better be everyone), Champaign is home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, developers of MOSAIC, the first graphical Web browser.
In addition to agriculture (89 percent of the land is farmland), this city has art: the Krannert Center for Performing Arts, the Krannert Art Museum and the Stravinksy International Piano Competition. It also boasts one of the highest public library book-per-capita ratios in the world.
The University of Illinois, with more than 36,000 students, dominates the landscape and provides many of the area's entertainment and cultural attractions. Big Ten Conference sports are also certainly among the big draws.
Poet Carl Sandburg described Chicago as "a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities."
This city of superlatives does nothing by halves. Site of the nation's tallest building (Sears Tower), the world's busiest airport (O'Hare), and the world's best basketball player (Michael Jordan), the Windy City shoots for the extra points: best deep dish pizza, largest public library, biggest free outdoor festival.
The Oprah Winfrey Show is based here, offering group therapy to millions of Americans who tune in daily to hear the talk mistress' wisdom. And Siskel & Ebert, America's two favorite movie critics, hail from the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.
The megalopolis sprawled on the shores of Lake Michigan is home to more than 100 ethnic groups. Each has stamped the city with its unique contributions of food, custom, language and ritual. This melting pot city celebrates its ethnicity in over 77 defined neighborhoods and more than 80 neighborhood summer festivals.
Controversial and feisty, Chicago can equally claim some of the country's best museums and some of the most questionable politicos. A study in contrasts of Dickensian proportions, the Second City continually lives up to its reputation as the "Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders" in its ongoing quest to be first.
Decatur is located smack dab in the heart of Illinois, where unions and industry play a major role in the community. This is a city that has seen its share of economic downsizing and recession over the years. The A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co., Caterpillar Tractor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone, which make their home here, have all been involved in union disputes.
But Decatur has also been a place where people have come together. It was here that the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the largest organization of Union veterans, was formed shortly after the Civil War. And today, Energy Services Company is a solid employer of the community, offering over 3700 jobs.
This city likes to think of itself as representing the hard working people of America, where warm smiles, good hearts and open arms are there to those who need a hug. Decatur richly believes that those who pray together, stay together.
| Lonely Planet: Lake County |
Home to several major corporations including Abbott Laboratories, Walgreens Company, Motorola and Kemper National Insurance Companies, it comes as no surprise that Lake County, Illinois, is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country.
Lake County, located north of Chicago, is a place to have fun. Amusement park junkies can hit Six Flags Great America, a 300-acre theme park, to ride favorite coasters Iron Wolf and Batman--the Ride. Batfiends will also love the Chicago Car Exchange, which houses the original Batmobile. And for the more adventurous, The Aquarium in Fox Lake hosts a "minnow jam" every Sunday where patrons can munch on live minnows.
Don't forget that the Chicago Bulls, Bears, Cubs, White Sox and Blackhawks attract sports fans to nearby Chicago, a short stone's throw away.
"Will it play in Peoria?"
The old vaudeville line refers not only to the demanding audiences in this Midwest city, but also to the fact that Peoria is the heart of the heartland. If folks like it here, there's a good chance that plenty of others will like it, too.
Some facts you probably don't know about Peoria: It's the oldest community in Illinois, is equidistant from Chicago and St. Louis, and it derived its name from the aboriginal inhabitants encountered by the first wave of French explorers.
Site of the world headquarters of Caterpillar, Inc., and long considered a blue-collar town, this three-time All America city has lately begun to diversify its economy with infotech industries. But you can still expect to see tractor pulls at the local fairs. Caterpillar is, after all, a major economic force here.
If Money Magazine wants to rank Rockford 300th in its "300 Best Places to Live" for 1996, so be it. Somebody's got to be last, right? (Last of the best, that is.)
To the 350,000 folks who live in Rockford, their city is tops in the land. Chrysler, the Warner Electric/Dana Corporation and the Sundstrand Corporation like Rockford just fine; they all do business here.
Rockford, which is 90 miles northwest of Chicago in north-central Illinois, sits on the Rock River and is a center for both agriculture and manufacturing. It is also a center for arts and culture.
Among the local attractions are the Rockford Art Museum, the Rockford Dance Company, the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, the Starlight Theatre, the Burpee Museum of Natural History and the Discovery Center Museum. The Greenwich Village Art Fair has also been held annually since 1949.
For those more interested in sports than in the arts, Rockford has minor-league baseball with the Cubbies and basketball with the Lightning, as well as an auto-racing track, the Rockford Speedway.
Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it?
| Lonely Planet: Springfield |
Springfield's motto: "The city that Lincoln loved." And it loves him right back. Abraham Lincoln casts a long shadow in this charming Illinois city, which still celebrates its most famous resident.
Visitors can take downtown walking tours (and online virtual tours) of his various haunts, including the old Capitol building, the legal library and his home. And who needs AOL when you can visit ALO, proudly presented to the Web from here as "Abraham Lincoln Online."
Springfield is the capital (also thanks to Lincoln), so local and state government dominate the economy, something Lincoln (known as the founder of the Republican Party) might not approve of.
And of course, there's plenty of good old-fashioned farming nearby, keeping up with Illinois' rich tradition of agriculture.
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