Lees Summit, MO Outdoor Activities

MVPs, Gold Gloves, and a World Series title pepper more than 40 years of Kansas City Royals history, replete with powerful pitches and bat-cracking home runs. The recently renovated Kauffman Stadium treats visitors to a giant high-definition video board, which wears a 40-foot crown and waves a scepter made of massive glow sticks. During breaks in the action, fans can visit concessions stands, play mini golf in the kids’ area, or count each of the stadium’s 37,903 seats. Open until the top of the eighth inning, a 7,000-square-foot Hall of Fame guides guests through a maze of memorabilia, including photos of Royals past and future.

Prompted by the nod of the lifeguard’s head, the intrepid swimmer takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and bravely flings his body into the dark confines of the Barracuda Blast. The slide’s gushing flume speeds its intrepid passenger down covered loops and twists until it spits him out unceremoniously into the warm waters of the pool below.

Boasting a host of aquatic activities, along with nearly 1,000 feet of water slides including the fearsome Barracuda, CoCo Key unleashes the inner merpeople of guests of all ages. Stationed along the pool and at each attraction, licensed lifeguards keep their eagle eyes peeled to ensure the safety of their guests as they play water basketball or engage in leisurely floats down Adventure River. Nearby, a zero-depth-entry kiddie pool serves as a merrymaking haven for children or recently unbottled miniature ships less than 48 inches tall, and a sun-drenched outdoor tanning deck enables visitors to bask in skin-browning rays. To prevent growling stomachs from interrupting watery romps, crews of chefs bustle about CoCo Key’s dining facilities, whipping up culinary sustenance for hungry swimmers.

Though the city's name would seem to suggest otherwise, Independence residents must still—by law—interact with each other occasionally. Luckily, Independence Events Center serves to bring the community together, hosting everything from national concert tours to youth hockey leagues within its walls. Such stars as Kelly Clarkson have graced the stage within the 5,800-seat arena, also home to local sports teams such as the Central Hockey League's Missouri Mavericks and the Major Indoor Soccer League's Missouri Comets. Additionally, a community rink lets residents and nonresidents alike hit the ice for programs ranging from open-skating sessions and lessons to private rentals for Civil War reenactments.

Under the oppressive heat of the Missouri sun, rafts and their passengers float atop the languid current of Coyote Creek as it traces a 900-foot perimeter around Adventure Oasis Water Park's flooded playscape. The sprawling park offers a respite from the summer swelter with water activities and attractions for guests of all ages, highlighted by three towering slides, including the Sidewinder—a 308-foot raft slide—and the Scorpion, a tube slide that emulates passage through a cosmic wormhole or gigantic piece of penne pasta with a 197-foot plunge. The chutes bottom out in a placid pool, where guests can catch their breath or scale Cactus Climb, a climbing wall that hangs over the water. As grownups relax in a deck dotted with striped parasols, younger guests can run amok at Halfpint Paradise, a smaller playground stationed in a shallow pool.

A 25-yard lap pool with multiple lanes awaits more serious swimmers at Roadrunner Pass, which also boasts a diving board for those looking to perfect their swan-dive form or execute the world's first pool cannonball that actually explodes. In addition to free-range fun, Adventure Oasis's friendly waters host swim lessons and aquatic exercise programs.

The newly renovated Arrowhead Stadium might initially impress visitors with its upgraded sound and scoreboard systems, expanded concourses, and 360-degree video-ribbon board. But during the Chiefs 5K Run, its most salient feature is the 50-yard line, which doubles as the race’s finish line. Sponsored by the Kansas City Chiefs, the race’s after-party also brims with football-inspired touches. The team mascot, KC Wolf, makes a guest appearance, and locker-room tours put fans in the spot where many a pre-game pep talk has taken place, along with the private changing room where the football puts on its laces.

Since 2009, the Kansas City Dirty Duo race has helped parlay mud into money for charity. Stretched across mostly flat terrain inside Kansas Speedway, the race sends teams of two biking and running around a course nearly six miles in length. Mystery obstacles add an extra challenge to each mile, and right before the finish line, there’s a massive 40-foot mud pit where teams can to play gloopy games of Marco Polo before completing the race. Kids as young as five years old can get in on the dirty dashing, too, by joining the one-mile Dirty Duo Jr. race. Once everyone has crossed their respective finish lines, the festivities continue with a post-race celebration featuring music, food, and cold refreshments.