A while back (I am not doing a very good job of staying current with my posting) we studied about Illinois. It is an interesting state with a neat variety of countryside.
- The state flower is the violet
- The state bird is the cardinal
- The state tree in the white oak
- The state fish is the bluegill
- The state insect is the monarch butterfly
It is called "The Prairie State" though I can't say that Prairie is what I think of when I think of Illinois. There is a lot of gently rolling country side and areas with big old trees. There is lots of good farmland which makes Illinois one of the US's most important agricultural states. A couple of years ago we spent our 4th of July weekend at a campground in North Western Illinois (we were at a large reunion of friends and family), that was a very pretty area with hills, river, huge trees and blackberry bushes. It was also quite hot and humid which made my hair very curly!
Chicago is the 3rd biggest city in the nation and also where the majority of Illinois population is. The O'Hare airport was the busiest airport in the nation for quite some time but it isn't any longer, it has been declining since 1998.
When I had asked for State information way back in December Jamie had commented and told us this: "I'm from Illinois near Chicago. I would have to say a few special foods are corn on the cob and probably deep dish Chicago style pizza! I don't have any specific recipes but I'm sure you could find some online! Our state is special because of the mix of country and city! Most of the state is farmland but then you have the huge city of Chicago! Something fun to do here is to go to Chicago Cubs games!" We did enjoy Chicago style pizza but didn't get corn on the cob. We are trying to wait until it gets ripe locally but it sure sounds good!!
We also tried "horse shoes" which are a local favorite in Springfield, Ill. (though I didn't have french fries and I was to tired from running a garage sale all day to make some so I used tater tots. Also I botched my cheese sauce recipe and so it tasted rather like burnt butter!)
We are "in" Michigan this week. I would love to hear about that state or just any state. I love to hear information from my readers, we can always look back to it when we study that state and we still love hearing about states that we have already studied!
