By Diana Lambdin Meyer
Never a city to sit on its laurels, Kansas City and its residents relish the four seasons and the opportunities to get out and do something, the more engaging the better. Nothing is too young, too old or too out of the box for Kansas City to embrace just for the fun of it.
Example: How long has it been since you’ve climbed a tree? Probably since the time the best insult you could offer someone was to “go climb a tree.” Yet, Go Climb A Tree is a company that encourages adults and kids to get back up in the branches. These tree huggers work with a number of pre-approved parks departments around the metro using harnesses and safety gear to provide assistance in get up in the trees. Tree houses not included.
Another place to get up off the ground is the AZKC Adventure ZipLine in Bonner Springs. It’s 143 acres of the best Mother Nature has to offer in hiking and mountain biking trails, climbing walls and three zip courses starting at a 65 foot tower—well, it’s all downhill from there.
Get really competitive with your friends and take out some aggression in a fun setting at Jaeger’s Subsurface Paintball, north of the river. The newest addition is a Wild West fort above ground, but many people love this place for the subterranean fields. There are five of them in limestone caves, enough to accommodate you and the entire army you command.
Kansas City’s Parks Department, truly one of the city’s greatest amenities, maintains four disc golf courses that are busy just about 12 months out of the year. If you’ve never played, c’mon anyway. The Parks Department conducts a training clinic once or twice each month. The biggest and most popular course is in Swope Park, which each June, hosts the country’s largest disc golf tournament with cash prizes in excess of $50,000. Now that’s motivation to give this sport a try.
As the birthplace of the NCAA and one of the best places for college hoops, Kansas Citians are always ready for a pick-up game. There’s no better place than the College Basketball Experience. The hours vary a bit per season, but almost any day of the week, folks just like you walk in off the street and in a few minutes are slamming the Michael Jordan out of these rims. Again, no need to be a great athlete—just someone who likes the feel of the ball as it leaves your hands and slips beautifully through a net, or so it happens in your dreams.
Loose Park, just south of the Country Club Plaza
Great bike paths like the Harry Wiggins Trail or the Berkley Riverfront Park are busy year-round, and great places to bring your four-legged friends for an outing. Kansas City has five off-leash parks for your dogs. Loose Park, just south of the Plaza, certainly is one of the prettiest, but Penn Valley Park near the Liberty Memorial is an iconic Kansas City destination.
And when the snow flies, no need to head indoors or west to the Colorado slopes. Just head north of the river to Weston and the Snow Creek Ski Resort. No, it’s not the Rockies, but it offers a fun day and some great experience before hitting the big mountains. The little mountain has 30 acres of skiable terrain, a 300-foot vertical drop, 12 runs and seven chairlifts. The longest run is about a fifth of a mile, and provides a good time about 85 days each winter.
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