Illinois Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

One of the things you're supposed to do when you go to Chicago is take the Architectural Boat Tour.  Chicago is famous for its architecture, and to really enjoy it to the fullest is to take a guided tour and hear about it from someone who knows what they're talking about.  Seb and I reserved a spot on the 2pm boat leaving from the River Walk...it was a spectacular tour.  I learned so many things.  Some of the buildings we saw I knew nothing about except that they were pr...

I woke up to another call from Dan (operations manager) on Tuesday morning, but asked him to call me back because my voice was so horse.  Rich called instead and I talked him through the process of doing my job for a rush order that had to go our before I would be home.  The call took about an hour and a half.  No time for the show, George and I packed up and went to Midway Airport early to check in.  We ate lunch at Illinois Bar & Grill before our out of the way fligh...

Going coast to coast by train with New York City as a starting point and San Francisco as my final destination. Photo update will come at the end of august.

Today we popped down to Chicago City itself and was imediately impressed with the size and scale of the place, but more than that, how clean and relaxed it was as a city. I was expecting it to be much busier. We met up with Craig Alton for the Untouchable Gangster Tour where we discovered about the life of the imfamous Chicago gangsters. It was great fun. After that we had a fabulous tour of the Goose Island Brewery and spoke to John Hall who founded and started the thing. A great day!

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My first stop was to visit my friend, Paul, in lovely DeKalb, Illinois. I had thought that DeKalb would be, well, super lame and that the highlight would certainly be the brats we would grill out. The brats still may have been the best part, but DeKalb was able to hold its own. It is home to Northern Illinois University (with 25,000 students) which was very cute and surrounded by park. There is also a charming old fashioned downtown main street area. That was where Paul showed me the "Egyptia...

These are photo from some of my favorite places. Hope you all enjoy. Finally got the photos to upload...don't know what the trouble was. These are quick trips I have take in my line of work. Some spectacular, some somber. Enjoy.

We arrive at last after an 8 hour flight to Chicago airport at noon. We are welcomed by local friends to The Richard Vobes Radio Show.

some sights of USA

i don't know why but i normally don't take pictures from the plane of cities i visit in the states.  i do look out the window (if i have the window seat), but i generally don't take pictures. but, i made an exception for chicago.  for some bizarre reason, i always go to chicago when it is freezing, but i have never been when it was "minus freezing" as it was back in feb 2007 -- just right before superbowl sunday (and "da bears" were in the big game).  i think it ended up ...

8 States 4 days. I got to see snow fall for the first time. Took a picture with a traveling bear on its way to Mexico.

While in the Chicago area on business, I visited my home town of Itasca, IL.  I had lived there the first 21 years of my life under the flight path for Runway 9R at O'Hare Airport and now I am travelling the rest of the world.  Itasca is a small suburb of Chicago and we used to have a farm with Black Angus cows behind our house which is now Goodenough Park.  Itasca is probably most famous for the actual location of the Willy Wonka Candy Factory 1445 Norwood AveItasca, IL ...

I start off with not sure what to do. I sat in the Thompson Center, and tried to decide what to do. When I made my decision, I rode the train, then bus to Hyde Park. I walked around the University of Chicago campus, which does look a bit historical and peaceful. And kind of nice, even in the South Side. It was hot, and I decided not to follow the walking tour from a guidebook anymore.I headed back to downtown, then to the museum area, where the Adler Planetarium was. I can remember coming to ...

Flying into Los Angeles then getting the Amtrak Southwest Chief to Chicago, then the Amtrak Lake Shore Ltd to New York City.

Chicago, IL - Badlands, Mt. Rushmore SD - Yellowstone,Grand Teatons, Jackson WY - Idaho - Oregon - Redwood National Park, Big Sur, San Francisco, Carlsbad, LaJolla CA - Grand Canyon, AZ - Hilton Head & Daufuskie Island, SC