TUP as someone that lives out in McHenry county I would take Woodstock off the list and replace it with Crystal Lake [2 lakes, Crystal Lake and the larger Vulcan lake with beach access ]. An excellent park system. Metra access and much better dining and diversity of dining [ Thai, Indian, like 7 different japanese resturants, ect , shoping, stores, schools 3 High Schools and a private High school,.. It boarders LITH and Algonquin with access to both from the Randal road corridor. Those 3 attached towns have well over 100,000 citizens. There are also two colleges in Crystal Lake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Lake,_Illinois
Woodstock is a dump IMO. Tuns of section 8.