Ah, Kansas City–the heart of the heartland, that straddler of state lines, that temple of most excellent barbecue–how we love thee.
If you’re coming into town and you’re looking for stuff to do (beyond, y’know, getting suited up and freewheeling through the wild blue yonder with us at Skydive Kansas City), fear not–we’ve got a couple of ideas.
1. VISIT THE WWI MEMORIAL MUSEUM
We always bring visitors to check out the Kansas City War Memorial museum.
Let’s get this straight first: It is totally not boring so stop thinking it.
Built back in 1921, there’s so much to see in there that a ticket gets you in for not one, but two days. The exhibits start out with a bang right at the entrance to the museum, where you cross a glass pathway that leads you over a field of 9,000 sculptural poppies, each of which represents 10,000 soldiers who died in the “Great War.” That’s nine million fallen soldiers in all. The poppy field is a very effective means of starting visitors on a path of contemplation that will help them take in the rest of the (poignantly presented and well-organized) exhibits. Helpful volunteer docents roam the halls to offer further explanation.
The best day to go, as you might imagine, is for the Fourth of July, but the museum is enjoyable every day of the year. Make sure to check out the tower-top viewing platform for a stunning view of our great city (and to get as close as you can to the Kansas sky). Which is good for dates. Y’know.
2. PLAY PAINTBALL IN A CAVE.
Prefer to wage war as opposed to contemplating it? There’s a huge subterranean paintball range where you can earn your bruises, welts and irredeemably stained clothing with the best of ’em. The sand-floored arena is well-stocked with barrels, rock columns, and other obstacles, so you can do your best Apocalypse Now impressions with a range of suitable props. The rental counter will get you suited up with what you need to play. Onlookers can watch the action from picnic tables tucked safely behind plexiglass panels. Go on a weekday to avoid the crowds.
Bonus: the fact that it’s underground makes it a great activity to do when the weather is inclement, which is why we, like, even know about it. (If it’s a nice day, we are guaranteed to be far above the ground.)
3. CLIMB SOME ROCKS.
More along those lines–if it’s not a poor-weather activity, we can’t really vet it, because we skydive, skydive, skydive whenever the skies are blue. When they aren’t, we like to pull a lot of plastic. (That’s rock-climberese for “go to the local indoor rock climbing gym.”)
Greater Kansas City is blessed with no less than three rock climbing gyms scattered around the place. The one closest to us is Apex, just over the state line in Overland Park. It has top-out boulders, yoga classes, and a warrior obstacle course right off the set of Ninja Warrior. Monster Mountain, just a couple of minutes down the road from Apex, is designed more along the top-rope-and-lead-climbing-tall-stuff lines. It’s got a couple bouldering caves, and laybacks, and cracks (if you’re better than we are at that stuff because serious crack climbing is totes beyond).
4. SKYDIVE KANSAS CITY.
It’s the best thing to do in Kansas City. We’ve spent years of our lives making it that way. So c’mon out! There’s simply no better place for skydiving Kansas City than with the team here at Skydive KC.