My Kind of Town

No, not Chicago.

Although I love that toddlin’ town, with it’s broad shoulders and tower, formerly known as Sears, I am talking about my adopted home town, St Louis, MO.  It’s right on the banks of the mighty Mississippi and bordered by the great Missouri River and the Meramec River.  Kind of an island, if you will, even though I am the only one that sees it that way.  It’s a great monolith of small cities–over 80 total–making up St Louis County.

The actual City of St Louis is an entity unto itself, not a part of any county, and has quite a few unique properties.  It is governed in many ways by the state of Missouri and not by local government.  Its police, schools, and fire departments are all state controlled, a practice started during the Civil War because St Louis was sitting on a demarcation line between north and south. But, that’s a piece of history for another discussion.

When we moved to St Louis, we treated the area as if we were tourists. 20 year later, we still act like tourists. There are so many fun things to do, so many festivals, museums, parks, sports, bike trails, and free activities that every weekend is packed full of entertainment. There are historic sights and great monuments, like The Arch, to see and discover. The bike trail system connects to the Katy Trail, a former rail line turned bike path, that you can get on and ride almost all the way across the state. It also connects to trails on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River allowing a person to bike along the Great River Road.

Forrest Park is the icing on the St Louis cake. It’s a city park larger than Central Park in New York City. The major museums are located in the park, including history, art, and science center, as well as the world famous St Louis Zoo. All are free to anyone wanting to walk through the doors. But the park offers more in the way of lakes to fish in (catch and release) as well as miles of pedestrian and bike trails. There are baseball, soccer, and rugby fields along with tennis and handball courts. An outdoor ice skating rink is operated from November through February each year and then there is Art Hill, crowded with sledders when even an inch of snow falls.

What the rest of the country may refer to as ‘fly over’ territory, I call the rare jewel in the heartland of America. I’ll probably always act like a tourist and continue to enjoy the rich diversity of the area.

Yes, sappy as it may sound, simply put, St Louis is my kind of town.