Illinois, Land of Lincoln, is a state of contrasts and truly the heart of the interstate highway system connecting all points north, south, east, and west. Chicago, the Windy City, is on the Lake Michigan shore, and has award winning lodging and dining, elegant shopping, Home to the Chicago Bears football team  and the Chicago Cubs baseball team who play at the historic Wrigley Field.

Chicago has many interesting museums, including the Chicago Institute of Art, the  Field Museum, and Museum of Science and Industry. The University of Illinois is located in Urbana-Champaign which is the Illinois’ flagship public university.

 In addition, traveling to Chicago is easy with convenient train and airplane access. Chicago is surrounded by a variety of suburbs east to Indiana, north to Wisconsin along Lake Michigan, and west into the prairies. Oak Brook is one of the suburbs famous for its shopping and drawing visitors from several states to shop in the Oak Brook Mall. The Illinois River flows from Lake Michigan through Chicago to the Mississippi River system. It provided an essential trade route in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Now, boaters find it challenging to sail from Lake Michigan via the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. Galena, home of Ulysses S. Grant, has quaint restaurants and shops, many featuring good quality antiques. Golfing and horseback riding are available with in minutes of Galena.

Much of Illinois is rich prairie land which is flat and fertile, providing excellent farmland. However, southern Illinois boasts a rugged terrain closer to the Ohio River in towns like Carbondale where outdoor adventurers enjoy many sports like backpacking, hiking and camping.

Historians, who like to follow the career of Abraham Lincoln from his early days in Springfield, enjoy traveling through the communities, like Ottawa, where he engaged in his famous debates.