The Chinese Shar-Pei Information Forums and Discussion Group

Lauren, my daughter, has just come back from 2 weeks in the States and is off there again beginning of June, to work in a summer camp for 3 months. She is going to Big Rock,IL.

Can anyone give an insight into weather temps, things to do etc?? She also plans to Greyhound bus back to NY before her flight home, she would have about 2 weeks to do this, anything intersting on that route??

I'm sending you back to the top...I can't even get around in Texas..lol

Big Rock is really out their but is close enough to a big city called Aurora. If she likes shopping their is an excellent outlet mall their with 100's of name brand stores. Your next option is to head to to Schaumburg where their is lots to do like shopping some nightlife and then your an hour from Downtown Chicago which has millions of things to do including our well known museums and oceanarium. Temp usually starts getting humid around that time and you can see 70's to 90's with humidity. That's the only bad thing about Illinois and the lake effects:It could be nice one minute and horrible the next

As far as the road trip to New York, can't really help you there

I know the bus trip is going to be very long like 10-12 hours...(the butt is really painful).. check the website of NY tourist information. it has the bus schedule...Has she been in NY???

make sure come before the fare goes up( really really high)....

She's been to NY two or three times before and still only nineteen, humph

Which fare are you meaning, flight or bus? Flight is already booked. I think she was planning on stopping off a lot on her wy back

the subway fare and bus, too.. (toll for the bridge is going up too)...
I guess she knows where is everything are?? you know like shopping and more shopping and foods!!

if she's going to NYC she could see a good show, stroll around central park in the daytime, and many restaurants to enjoy plus shopping museums, etc...........sherry

She has done quite a bit of NYC, she was thinking more of places/things to do as stop offs en route

its lauren, i have hijacked mums account, come on guys give some things to do on a road trip!!! chicago to nyc, or chigaco to raleigh and fly back to ny, which way would be more interesting?

hi lauren, well i've never been to illinois, indiana and only 3x to ohio. so i cant offer much for interesting sites, i live in PA, just outside of philadelphia, we have some great places to see here in phila area. the liberty bell, the aquarium, that's actually just over the bridge in NJ. the art museum where rocky ran up the steps, if you remember that movie ROCKY. great restaurants, the kimmel center, betsey ross house, south street, where you can find many unique places, tours of eastern state penetentiary, which is suppose to be haunted. penns landing, etc..................in new york besides the city, there are the adirondacks. i've only been to NC once, so i'm not sure about many places to visit there. but while i was in virginia i loved the skyline drive. i hope some more people jump in with ideas sherry

As a new yorker who for some odd reason transplanted herself to milwaukee wi (right next to illinois) I have done the drive to ny many times and take my word for it, there is NOTHING between the two. 14- 16 hours of flat boredom and truck stops. She is better off getting to ny as quickly as possible and maximizing her time there.

Hi Lauren,

Ive traveled the New England states quite a bit, and it just depends on what you want to see, as to the direction you want to take. If its history you seek (what little we have) is mostly there in those states. Pennsylvania, Virginia, DC, Maryland, Mass, those have A LOT of American colonial history to them. Fantastic places to see where we gained our freedom...um, ach...from y'all. (for lack of a better description! LOL) you may wish to see your hometown's sister city, Norfolk Virginia...beautiful place, and LOADS to see and do there. http://www.norfolkcvb.com/

Also, Virginia has Yorktown (where we won our freedom), Jamestown (oldest English settlement in the new world) and Williamsburg (a perfectly preserved colonial town). Our very own Van (Mosbypop) lives close by there. (Hi van!!) This area, known as the historic triangle is my very favorite historical US area to visit...is SOO fantastic! http://www.historictriangle.com/

This area is within a couple hours drive of Wash DC. Well, no much explanation really necessary for that one! LOL http://www.washington.org/

Lauren, all I can input here is, you should make sure you have an ipod, a hand held game, books, something to keep you interested for that long trip. Have fun when you get there and we hope to hear all about it when you get back!