“Dear Diary, I Moved Away From Illinois And Here’s What I Miss”

It's no secret that Illinois is losing population at a pretty good clip, and that we lead the Midwest in something called "outbound migration," which is just a fancy way of saying "residents heading for the exits."

But what do former Illinoisans look back on fondly once they've relocated away from the Land of Lincoln?

For me, living briefly out of state in the 80s, it was the central time zone. Seriously. I hated the 11:00pm news, and back then Monday Night Football started at 9pm eastern time, which pretty much sucked. Not a big thing, but I missed CST.

Not Surprisingly, People Who've Left Illinois Miss Things Like Certain Foods, And, If You Can Believe It, Cold And Snow

To do a little research on this post, I made a few phone calls to friends and former coworkers who called Illinois home at one point in their lives, to get their take on what they missed about Illinois.

Snow storms, snow shoveling, snowball fights.

Portillo's, deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dogs.

Illinois' plentiful cornfields.

A front-row seat to the Bears-Packers rivalry.

Illinois' incredible displays of Fall colors.

And finally, one of the best answers to the question about what people miss when they leave Illinois:

Mountains of sweet-corn.