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Saint Louis born and raised! I'll give you everything I've got. Sorry if I repeat what has already been said.

I grew up in the Saint Louis metropolitan area myself. (As a matter of fact, lived in Ferguson until I was 18!) As a young child, my fondest memories were visiting the [Zoo] (http://www.stlzoo.org/), [Science Center] (http://www.slsc.org/), [Art Museum] (http://www.slam.org/), [Lone Elk Park] (http://www.stlouisco.com/ParksandRecreation/ParkPages/LoneElk), all of which boast free admission. Saint Louis also has fairs, celebrations and events of some sort or other almost constantly (see [here] (http://explorestlouis.com/visit-explore/events/events-calendar/) for St Louis general events calendar.) The [Missouri Botanical Garden] (http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/) hosts a showcase every year about sustainable living, which might be relevant to you and your family. There are also 10+ local farmers' markets, including the famous and longstanding [Soulard Farmer's Market] (http://www.soulardmarket.com/). As yet, the Farmer's Markets are relatively small compared to what I've seen in other cities. But they are growing every year.

A classmate at WU who has lived in several large metropolis areas around the US reported that Saint Louis is by far the best place for him and his family of wife and 2 small children. He cited the numerous green spaces, free museums and parks, kid-friendly events, and low cost of living as the main reasons.

I'll tell you the same thing I tell friends that visit and new transplants: Saint Louis has a lot to offer, but it is not going to hit you over the head with it the way a large city like LA or NYC will. You have to go out and explore. Case in point, just yesterday I was walking through my own neighborhood and stumbled across a 2 acre quaint Seminary campus that I had no idea existed but was filled with beautiful architecture and green space.

Some great places to go hiking are [Castlewood] (http://mostateparks.com/park/castlewood-state-park) [Babler] (http://mostateparks.com/park/dr-edmund-babler-memorial-state-park), and [Shaw Nature Reserve] (http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/visit/family-of-attractions/shaw-nature-reserve.aspx), to start. These and many other hiking spots can be found within a 60 minute drive from metropolitan St. Louis. For a more extensive hiking/outdoor destinations I recommend the book [60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of St. Louis] (http://www.amazon.com/Hikes-Within-Miles-Including-Farmington/dp/0897328833).

As far as the organic living goes, there is room for development in that arena. We are not Portland or Oakland, so to imagine something like that would be setting your expectations too high. However, we have 2 Whole Foods with another one on the way, which indicates to me that there is interest in patronizing 'holistic' and sustainable agriculture. I learned from a cashier at the Brentwood Whole Foods that the traffic at the Brentwood location has blown the minds of Whole Foods executives because originally the Whole Foods execs insisted the "demographics of the city are wrong, the store will fail in Saint Louis." It is now one of the best performing stores in the midwest. That says something about where this city is going, I think (I hope).

If you want to be active with other children in the community, I would tentatively suggest looking into Clayton. Very good schools, many families with young children, very safe area. Just last night I attended the Shaw Park Food Truck Sunday (in Clayton), and almost every family in attendance had a child between the ages of 1 and 12. The city is one of the most walkable in Saint Louis, has biking trails/bike friendly streets, and is very close to Forest Park and other downtown area attractions.

Good luck in your quest! I hope you find your dream town, wherever it might be.

Chubb Trail is good for hiking or biking. Nowhere close to the amount of traffic you see at Castlewood. In fact, I was there last Saturday - with pitch perfect weather and only three other people in about 2 hours of hiking.

Here's a good map of the area (and yes it is for trail riders):

https://gorctrails.com/sites/default/files/media/Media%20Root/chubb_0.pdf

I like to park where Allen Rd ends at the train tracks, this gives you easy access to either the southern part of the trail (hilly, rocky trail) and the northern part of the trail, which follows along the Meramec river. The northern part can be muddy and overgrown with poison ivy, but it wasn't too bad last weekend.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in hiking near the St. Louis area:

https://www.amazon.com/Hikes-Within-Miles-Including-Farmington/dp/0897328833

Great information and gives you a list to explore when you get tired of hitting the same locations. I've probably done about 75% of the hikes in the book and like to note the ones I've completed and who went with me.

Shaw Nature Reserve (near Six Flags) has many great hiking trails, but is a bit farther out and usually has a bigger draw than Chubb, with lots of public events planned. Still a nice option if you like to see lots of native, wild flora.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll try to answer as best I can.

Baking. Take a class or two at Companion, grab Flour Water Salt Yeast and start practicing. Then start perfecting things you can make using lots of bread, like bread pudding, sandwiches, french toast casserole. Gift bread to friends.

If you are looking to get out of the house and avoid the cold darkness, try the art museum on Friday nights. Choose to do a slow walk of just a specific area. Here's some info about Slow Art which gives you a chance to see art in a new way. I'd suggest taking time to view 5 or so pieces and bring a journal with you. Go downstairs to the cafe or nearby after and write a little blurb about your experience with viewing. Write down any research you want to do, about styles or the artist or art history. Come back the next Friday and view the piece again, just for a minute or so. Then move on to this week's 5 pieces. Obviously this may be more difficult if you're in the county but you can choose the interval.

Look to your local library. They often have classes or speakers or other free programs. I know St. Louis Public Library even has a concert series.

Try Everyday Watercolor to learn to paint, or hand lettering or something else creative. You will spend some nights at home painting and then you can treat yourself to a visit to St. Louis Art Supply now and then to buy supplies and maybe read and chill in their new cafe/lounge space.

And good luck to you and your sobriety!

There are at least 2 dozen Micro Breweries you could consider worth a visit. Nearly all offer food which sets us apart from other Micro Brewery cities like Portland or Austin.

Running in the city can be excellent. The street grid and historic neighborhoods/parks provided endless things to checkout as you run. We love it.

The southern part of the state is quite pretty (Ozark Foothills/Mountains). Lots of state parks for hiking. Check out this book: 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: St. Louis: Including Sullivan, Potosi, and Farmington https://www.amazon.com/dp/0897328833/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_KJhBDbBEPHJC5

What part of Canada are you coming from? The Wife and I moved here from Alberta 12yrs ago. Day to day life is mostly the same, the social/political situation is the biggest difference. It's generally a great country to be a top income earner.

Missouri is VERY conservative. Look up abortion for an idea of how things are here. The government is secular in theory but not in practice. Very unfortunate. That said, the cities are much less so.

Violence is much more common in American life. The idea is that you should inact your 2nd amendment rights and protect yourself that way. Personal choice is emphasized. Rather than the Crown providing solutions, you find them for yourself. Healthcare is a great example. Hearing gunfire in urban areas is perhaps the saddest example of this approach. It will feel odd at first but eventually you'll adapt. American's just do things differently. You'll love it or hate it.

All in all we have LOVED IT.

I am reading a book called "The Gateway Arch: A Biography" right now. According to the author, the motivation was complicated. Claiming to want to address urban blight, increasing property values in adjacent areas by having a public space, wanting to draw tourists to the area, etc. It's a good book and I recommend checking your library for it if you can. (If you live in STL County, you can have it when I return it! :) )

All good suggestions in this thread. I've been giving this book as a gift a lot lately and it's nice to have when deciding where to drive the next day:

I bought two orders of these. They're authentic, arrived perfect and not broken like anyone elses were. And Prime ftw!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NB09NHK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

60 Hikes within 60 Miles of St. Louis is great for exploring parks and beautiful daytime views around STL, especially since it won't get super cold for a month or more.

https://www.amazon.com/Hikes-Within-Miles-Including-Farmington/dp/0897328833

For what it's worth, I was a bio major in undergrad, am currently in med school, and science was always my weakest section on the ACT. So she shouldn't feel bad about it :) From what I remember, most if it was interpreting graphs and data. I'd encourage her to just do as many practice science sections as possible, and work her way up to doing them timed. You can get a book like this that has a bunch of questions, and explanations for each answer.

They can't leave quick enough. I'm not a fan of publicly supporting stadiums and their owner's personal wealth.

worth a read.
http://www.amazon.com/Public-Dollars-Private-Stadiums-Building/dp/0813533430/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

http://www.amazon.com/Field-Schemes-Stadium-Swindle-Expanded/dp/0803260164/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1

If you're interested in a more extensive body of research, Mapping Decline is fantastic.

There is a book on Amazon does does a good job explaning why the region is so fractured.
Book name is Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City
http://www.amazon.com/Mapping-Decline-American-Politics-Culture/dp/0812220943
I would recommend to read it.

These maps might best explain and his book will give you a detailed history of why. Arguably it's because white flight occurred in North City/North County. It was a way of enforcing restrictive housing covenants and deeds, and it was a way of 'protecting the character of the neighborhood from blight.'

Also these folks have a timeline which will give you the year of incorporation for every municipality. Most were created during the Great Depression and Post WWII white flight.

Federal and state policies influenced the sprawl outward and real estate companies used redlining to demarcate 'preferable' areas. Both factors heavily influenced the proliferation of incorporation in the St. Louis area.

Wouldn't it be funny if your simple act of sharing a local treat changed the course of Korean food culture? I wonder if this would ship to South Korea?

Post has a good story on it
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_3920399e-0ec0-11e0-b6d8-0017a4a78c22.html
looks like they'll need to add another chapter

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Influence-Unauthorized-Anheuser-Busch-Dynasty/dp/0380718472

I question your perception of reality, though if you know of a respectable economic study that supports this sort of investment, I am open to learning something new.

Also covered extensively in a great book called Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City

Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City (Politics and Culture in Modern America) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812220943/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_lfjWCbSFFHR72

As a former grad student in Near Eastern Studies, I'd suggest you don't go into reading the Qur'an cold turkey, if you're just doing it to be more well rounded (and not for religious purposes).

This (http://www.amazon.com/Koran-Very-Short-Introduction/dp/0192853449/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407422812&sr=1-12&keywords=introduction+to+the+qur%27an) might be a worthwhile endeavor, and understanding it's compositional process sheds light on the content of the suras.

> The city has been tremendously resilient and that has a lot to do with how it was built. The question may be what unpredictable change is coming that the county can't predict and is it built in a resilient way that will let it be able to survive that sort of change?

You might enjoy the book The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb.

Here's a really good book on the topic:

https://www.amazon.com/Mapping-Decline-American-Politics-Culture/dp/0812220943/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522031569&sr=8-1&keywords=mapping+decline

My personal favorite St. Louis history book, in addition to Mapping Decline, is Lion of the Valley: St. Louis, Missouri, 1764-1980

Mapping Decline is good also and a much lighter read. (But still very informative)
Worldcat Link

Sounds like you have not read The Art of Biblical Narrative.

Holy cow, can't believe no one has mentioned this book yet: http://www.amazon.com/Hikes-Within-Miles-Including-Farmington/dp/0897328833

Also, this guy posts videos and blogs about just about every trail within a day's drive of STL.

that's somewhat hyperbole. St Louis has one of the highest rates of manufacturing job loss in the last 50 years and the highest drop in population.

Excellent sources on the topic:

http://www.businessinsider.com/american-cities-in-decline-2013-6
http://mappingdecline.lib.uiowa.edu/map/
http://www.amazon.com/Mapping-Decline-American-Politics-Culture/dp/0812220943#

I'd consider this book a must-read

This one is stocked in the US. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NB09NHK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Not applicable if you're looking for something light and airy, but I'll toss it out there anyway just in case:

http://www.amazon.com/Lion-Valley-Louis-Missouri-1764-1980/dp/1883982251

That's the line that was pushed by the real estate developers who wanted them demolished in order to decrease supply and thereby raise rents Downtown. The book to read about this is The Gateway Arch: A Biography.

A source

"Jewish whiteness became American whiteness after WWII."

Read Ghettoside. The historical policing, or lack thereof, in African-american communities is the thesis of the book.

So it's the Internet, where everyone's an expert on everything, but I'm actually an expert here, like for real. It's my job.

Of course I can't just tell you you're wrong and expect you to believe me, so here are multiple serious pieces that show (empirically) that you are incorrect:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Imperial-Presidency-Arthur-Schlesinger/dp/0618420010

http://www.jstor.org/stable/27552187?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

http://users.polisci.wisc.edu/kmayer/Professional/Executive%20Orders%20and%20Presidential%20Power.pdf

https://pages.wustl.edu/files/pages/imce/rogowski/post-office-distribution.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812220943/ref=mp_s_a_14?qid=1301814841&sr=8-14

This is a good read about Saint Louis segregation. The author spoke here a month or so back. Growing up in Arkansas, I'm familiar with segregation, but I wasn't aware that cities were still choking off communities by not incorporating. More than a few in St. Louis were surrounded by industrial parks and until the residents just gave up. Even a local grocery seems out of reach for a lot of these areas.

There was a book recently (last year?) from a reporter who spent a lot of time with the Baltimore homicide department. Her conclusion was that poor areas are simultaneously over-policed for minor crimes (small drug possession, jaywalking, etc), while homicides go entirely unsolved. This problem is self-reinforcing, because people trust the police less and less, so they stop helping solve homicides, because the police won't stop them from getting murdered for doing so.

Edit to add: the book was called Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy.

https://www.amazon.com/Ghettoside-True-Story-Murder-America/dp/0385529996

[This is a great read also.] (http://www.amazon.com/Rip-Heaven-Memoir-Murder-Aftermath/dp/0451210530)

Edit (TL;DR); On the night of April 4, 1991, during a spring-break family vacation to St. Louis, Cummins's 19-year-old brother, Tom, and his two female cousins were attacked while walking on the abandoned Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. During the attack, the girls were raped; afterward, all three were pushed off the bridge by the four assailants. Tom survived; the girls did not. Cummins presents a mesmerizing, highly balanced memoir of the events, writing in the third person to give readers "an intimate knowledge of each facet of the story." She introduces her own family, referring to herself by her childhood nickname, and then does the same for each of the assailants, thoughtfully painting an in-depth portrait of each character without ever passing judgment. Moreover, she takes what could be cold, dry factual information from "court documents, police records, electronic media" and her own interviews and deftly weaves them into a compelling, novel-like account. She explores the family's initial horror over the police holding Tom as a suspect for this crime that made national headlines. (One of the attackers wound up with a 30-year plea; the others are currently on death row.) For someone so closely related to a crime victim to strike such a fine balance in chronicling it is a highly admirable feat. Cummins's noble account will ultimately draw readers into all sides of the story. 8 pages of photos not seen by PW.
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