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I live in Metamora Illinois, a "suburb" of sorts of Peoria, Illinois one of the four largest cities in Illinois. My town is much like what Teri has described minus the ocean and lake ( we do have the Illinois River but we don't do much around it). My neighborhood is really an offshoot of the actual small town, many older homes but also many newer homes and lots of new developments with lots of kids. We are building a new school to accomodate the growth in our area. Many people here are well educated and many work for Caterpillar (big yellow earth moving machinery), whose headquarters is in Peoria. Otherwise, many people have lived here for generations and many have farmland and such. In Metamora proper, it seems like everyone has lived there forever. It is such a cute town with the whole town square, burger and shake shop, mini library and post office, etc. Our area is newer and our schools are some of the best in the area, which explains all the young famililes here. Our area is largely Republican, most families are intact (not divorced) and a good percentage of the women around here are stay at home moms despite being educated (several of my friends have master's degrees and most have bachelors).
Peoria is neat because it is small compared to Chicago and cities like that, but it still has a big city feel. (I was raised in Chicago so I like that I get the best of both worlds.) I can walk downtown and feel like I am in big city then 10 minutes to home and I am defnitely in the country. Peoria has been working for the last several years to develop the Riverfront area and it is really shaping up nicely. It also is home to Bradley University, a private midsized campus so there is a college town feel during the school year.
Creed visited here in 1997(I think) - sadly I didn't know who they were at the time or that they were here - but they played a local building that used to be a very ornate movie theater that has been converted into a multipurpose venue - mostly bands and such. If I had seen Creed there it would have the best show ever, because I love the Madison Theatre, it is so intimate. When I listen to that bootleg I get really sad - if only I had known..
Illinois is OK as far as climate - we have a lot of tornados around here in fall and spring - I don't like that at all - and although snow can be pretty I am not crazy about it for months at a time. When I was in Chicago we had lake effect snow and it was alot lot more than I have ever had since living here in Peoria area. I am ready to go south now, though, I am done with winter. We have beautiful autumns with all the foilage along the river. Summer gets a little too hot in the middle. All in all this is a great place to live and raise a family, but I do aspire to live somewhere else at some point in my life. (Orlando, Miami, Hawaii???? )
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