31. Overland Park Golf Club
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (913) 897-3809
Description: The biggest hazard here is finding a place to park at 5 p.m. Keep driving, though, because playing here is a pleasure. Around 125,000 rounds of golf are played at OPGC per year, a tribute to its beauty, location, and value. With 42 sand bunkers on 13 holes and two lakes affecting 5 holes, you might as well say each hole is a challenge. The course is sited high on a hill in Overland Park with extraordinary views. As you can imagine, tee times go fast, so it’s best to call several days in advance. This course also offers a popular par-3, nine-hole ladies’ league, and for a community course has a decent pro shop, instructors, and snack bar.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
33. Aids Walk
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (816) 931-0959
Description: The region’s largest AIDS fund-raising event brings together around 3,500 people to raise money and awareness for the men, women, and children living with HIV/AIDS in the Kansas City area. The 2009 event alone raised nearly $500,000 for research and programs. The run is usually in April, and past sites have included Mill Creek Park on the Country Club Plaza.
34. Groundhog Run
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (816) 746-1414
Description: This race takes place in the Hunt Midwest Underground Facility Subtropolis, a huge, underground labyrinth big enough to handle an 18-wheeler. The runners aren’t too hep on the course’s twists and turns, but they dig the 58 degree temperature in the middle of winter. The race is held every February. Get there early; this one attracts 3,000 or so runners, and the space, naturally, is limited.
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
38. Amf College Lanes
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (913) 451-6400
Address: 10201 College Blvd.
Description: A real plus for people staying at the Doubletree Hotel across the street, this center offers 32 lanes, seven billiards tables, and a lounge along with a small arcade. They crank up the music for X-treme Bowling, when black lights make the pins and balls glow, dude. And for groups of four, a Fun Pack is the way to go: $10 each will get you shoe rentals, two hours of bowling, a pitcher of soda, popcorn, and a one-topping pizza.
39. Incred-A-Bowl
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (913) 851-1700
Address: 8500 W. 151st St.
Description: This 65,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art center includes a 40-lane computerized bowling alley, an arcade filled with a hundred of the latest interactive and virtual reality games, and a three-story set of play tubes for the tykes. Teens in particular really go for the Cosmic Bowling every Fri and Sat night, when black lights, fog, glow-in-the-dark balls and pins, and upbeat music take the pain out of a gutter ball. The fun continues until long past midnight. Incred-A-Bowl also has a pro shop, gift store, and snack bar.
40. Lake Olathe
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (913) 971-8521
Address: 625 Lakeshore Dr.
Description: You’re sure to find a place to capture a competition-size catfish, bass, or even trout somewhere in these 170 acres. There’s even an assist from Old Saint Nick; each year the parks and recreation division tosses retired Christmas trees into the area around the fishing piers to create nesting places for fish.
41. Shawnee Mission Park
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (913) 831-3355
Address: 7900 Renner Rd.
Description: Anglers seeking bluegill, carp, and bass show up at this 150-acre lake, one of the most popular in the region. Boat rentals are available, but you’d better reserve yours early; each spring and fall the lake is stocked with rainbow trout. Now that’s good eating.
42. Smithville Lake
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (816) 532-4217
Description: When people around here say they’re “gone fishin’,” chances are this is their destination. Just 20 miles north of downtown Kansas City, Smithville’s 7,200 acres provide plenty of reeling action. The lake is stocked with tiger musky, walleye, bass, crappie, and several species of catfish for an afternoon of fishing and a fine fillet that night. Boats are available for rent at the two full-service marinas, and five multilane boat launch ramps ensure easy accessibility to the water. And you’re in luck: Smithville has 777 campsites, one-third with electrical hookups. Call (816) 532-0803 for reservations.
43. Roller Hockey Rink
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Description: Kids love this regulation, 120-by-65-foot rink at Indian Valley Park. The surface is coated for safety (well, at least it’s safer), and a 5-foot-tall sideboard surrounds the playing area. Player benches are on each side. Rules and safety suggestions are posted, but there are no supervisors on-site. The rink is maintained by the Johnson County Parks and Recreation Division, and there are no fees for use.
44. Skateboard Park
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (913) 893-6354
Description: After the popularity of iceboarding competitions in the Winter Olympics, this sport skyrocketed. This small park was created thanks to a grassroots effort that began with an Overland Park resource officer. $240,000 later, the community got its center in 1997, complete with ramps, jumps, and rails for all skill levels. It’s popular with skateboarders and in-line skaters.
45. Kansas City Ski Club
City: Kansas City, MO
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (913) 383-9006
Description: Go figure. Here we are, miles away from a mountain, and we have one of the largest ski clubs in the country. And it’s active without a flake in sight. With 3,000 members, there’s always a group getting together to play volleyball or golf, socialize at an area bar, or take canoe trips in the summer. Oh, yes, and ski. The 50-year-old club sponsors about 31 ski trips each year with destinations as diverse as Colorado, New Mexico, Canada, and Spain. The membership more than pays for itself in what you’ll save on each trip. Besides that, it’s one of the best ways to meet singles in the area.