My home is approximately 35 miles west/southwest of Chicago (east of Chicago is Lake Michigan, go east, get wet) in a nice little village of about 70,000 people. It's a beautiful, quiet place with green rolling hills of mostly private homes, a nice mall, great golf course (ranked 11th in the nation) and we have an airport.
But the site below is of Chicago, take a moment and flip through the pics of the city by people who visit the city, has almost everything, especially great food, museums, great fishing and entertainment. Not exotic but a big city with a midwest attitude and mostly friendly people:
Chicago Photos - Featured Images of Chicago, IL - TripAdvisor
Stringer