My Home State of Illinois with Fiona McGier

What is there to say about my home state of Illinois?  How about, "We have more politicians in jail than any other state?" or, "We have hills and nice scenery on the very outskirts of the state, but the middle is mostly boring and flat only with less tacky billboards than some other states?" Grin.

It's common to point to Chicago, as if the entire state is great because of this world-class city.  But lately we're giving Detroit a run for their money as the murder capital of the U.S.  So why visit?  Chicago has wonderful museums on the campus built for the 1933 World's Fair, including the Art Institute, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium.  All are worth the cost of admission and will expand one's scientific understanding. There are also smaller museums that celebrate individual cultures, and others that showcase the beauty of nature, as do our two world-class zoos, the free Lincoln Park Zoo in the city, and the suburban Brookfield Zoo.  For those who live to shop, there are the uber-expensive stores along Michigan Avenue just a few blocks north of the Art Institute, and the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg that vies with the Minneapolis Mall of America for being the biggest.  And since Chicago's made up of neighborhoods, there are areas where you'll feel like you're not in the U.S.A. anymore.  Chicago is home to the largest concentration of Polish people outside of Warsaw, with shops and restaurants where if you can't speak Polish, you'll need a translator.  There are also areas with huge concentrations of other nationalities including Spanish-speaking people from all over the Hispanic Diaspora, as well as Chinese neighborhoods, Indian areas and Greektown. And for water-lovers, you can't beat Chicago's lakefront trails, park system and the Lake Michigan beaches.

None of these things brought my father from Glasgow in 1948.  He came to Chicago because he wanted to be able to hear some of his jazz and blues music idols play live.  He said he bought B.B. King beers one night in a Chicago bar, to keep "Lucille" singing.  He'd sit in bars on the city's south side and listen for hours.  Dad is gone now, but I still love old jazz, and we go every year to Chicago's Blues-fest, a multiple-day free extravaganza of outdoor music.  This year the opening act will be Shemekia Copeland, and if you've never heard her sing, you have a real treat coming! http://thelocaltourist.com/blog/local-tourist/2013-chicago-blues-fest-goes-rollin-river .  There are also lots of bars and other venues for live music, including Buddy Guy's Legends, The House of Blues, The Kingston Mines, The Vic, The Congress, and Rosa's Lounge, to name a few, along with the cavernous arenas in the suburbs.

Lest you think that Chicago is the only place for music, I live in a western suburb.  When our four kids were young, we went to all of the local free town fests we could find, to let them go on rides while we listened to local, up-and-coming bands, as well as the formerly-famous who endlessly tour, playing their music from back-in-the-day.  There is also a blues-fest in Aurora, one of the "collar communities" around Chicago, (Aurora, Joliet, Kankakee, Elgin, and Rockford all have downtown areas similar to Chicago's, only on a much smaller scale.)  Aurora's blues-fest is one week after Chicago's, so the same musicians can hit both.  And Naperville's Rib-fest (where the tee-shirts say that PETA means "People for the Eating of Tasty Animals") has a big stage that last year featured Z.Z. Top as their headliner.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that all of Illinois is like Chicago.  The suburbs are urban, where many of the people who work in Chicago live.  But just an hour west, north or south of Chicago you'll find smaller towns with friendly people who almost never head into the city.  Each smaller town has its own charm, and while some have world-class universities, all have people who are proud to be from Illinois.

Because I'm so familiar with the Chicago area, I set my series of books about the Reyes Family Romances in the western suburbs.  And two of my stand-alone romances,

The Reluctant Bride, and Two For Tuesday, are set in the Chicagoland area...which by the way, is a colloquialism unique to this area, since when we travel and are asked where we are from, it's easier to say, the Chicagoland area, than to name our suburb and have to explain how far and in what direction it is from Chicago.

To find out more about my books please visit my website at: www.fionamcgier.com  
(pictures provided by Author/Chicago.com/localtourist.com)