Arts & Entertainment

Beach

Don't let a little thing like being landlocked keep you from the sun.

By Megan Metzger 

Being a landlocked Midwesterner in a humid city like ours can be more of a bitch than bitchin'. You could keep your undies in the freezer to beat the heat, as Marilyn Monroe did in The Seven Year Itch. Better yet, check out this list of cool places guaranteed to get you wet.

Do the Swim

Bluejacket Pool

10101 Bond, Overland Park

913-327-5671

Noon-8 p.m. daily

Brush Creek Community Center

3801 Brush Creek Boulevard

816-513-0738

12:30-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-6 p.m. Sunday

Budd Park

5600 Budd Park Esplanade

816-784-2600

12:30-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-6 p.m. Sunday

Gillham Pool

41st Street and Gillham

12:30-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday

Gregg Klice Community Center

1600 John Buck O'Neil Way

816-784-1163

12:30-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday

Grove Park

Truman Road and Benton Boulevard

816-784-2500

12:30-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-6 p.m. Sunday

Line Creek Community Center

5940 Waukomis Drive

816-513-0760

12:30-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-6 p.m. Sunday

Marty Pool

7405 Conser, Overland Park

913-327-5672

Noon-8 p.m. daily

Roe Pool

10400 Roe, Leawood

913-327-5673

Noon-8 p.m. daily

Roeland Park Aquatic Center

4830 Rosewood Drive, Roeland Park

Noon-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday,

noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Stonegate Pool

9701 Antioch, Overland Park

913-327-5674

Noon-8 p.m. daily

Swope Park Pool

Swope Park, 67th Street and Lewis Road 816-513-8915

12:30-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday

10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday

Tomahawk Ridge Aquatic Center

11950 Lowell, Overland Park

913-327-5675

Noon-8 p.m. daily

Tony Aguirre Community Center

2050 West Pennway, 816-784-1300

Noon-8 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday

West Terrace Park

16th Street and Jarboe

1-6 p.m. daily

Young's Pool

8421 West 77th Street, Overland Park

913-327-5676

Noon-8 p.m. daily

Slide, Sally, Slide

Great Wolf Lodge

10401 Cabela Drive, Kansas City, Kansas, 800-608-9653

www.greatwolf.com

The stupid-huge indoor water park at Cabela's Great Wolf Lodge boasts 38,000 square feet of soaking-wet thrills, including Totem Tower, a three-story body slide; Alberta Falls, a 626-foot-long tube that twists and turns all over the park; and Fort Mackenzie, a five-story treehouse that would make the Swiss Family Robinson pant with jealousy. Thunder Bay is a giant outdoor pool with spray geysers and water basketball for the kids and poolside beverage service for grown-ups. The Bay's Oasis Bar and Grill books live music on Saturdays. Call for rates.

Oceans of Fun

4515 Northeast Worlds of Fun Drive

816-303-5065

www.worldsoffun.com

Kansas City's largest water park offers 60 acres filled with twisting slides and other attractions. Rent an inner tube at Toobie or Not Toobie and zip around Aruba Tuba, a slide with a 43-foot drop. Test your canoe and kayak skills at Buccaneer Bay, or check out Paradise Falls, where little squirts get doused in 1,000 gallons of water every five minutes. Adults can find a boozy oasis at Castaway Cove, the swim-up bar that serves frozen piña coladas and other tropical delights. Regular admission is $26.95, but check the Web site for group rates and discounts.

Springs Aquatic Center at Tiffany Hills Park

9400 North Congress

816-880-0279

www.kcmo.org/parks

This modern aquatic center boasts slides, splash playgrounds, an Olympic-size competitive pool and a lazy river with a vortex — which sounds scary but is actually pretty relaxing. Center staffers teach fun fitness classes such as water aerobics and lap swim, and there's competitive swimming for children. Daily admission costs $5 to $8, with discounted twilight rates after 5 p.m. The park also offers bargains on group admission, birthday parties and season passes.

Super Splash USA

53rd Place and Raytown Road, Raytown 816-356-5300

www.supersplashusa.com

Super Splash bills itself as "the finest little water park in America." This quaint Raytown wet spot is filled with activities for everybody. Ornery pipsqueaks will love water-balloon battle station Water Wars. Old-school video gamers will dig the Okefenokee Romp, where challengers test their navigational skills by leaping across lily pads and floating logs — it's like "Frogger" for people. Adventurers will be drawn to Super Splash's latest attraction, Rocky Mountain Avalanche, where thrill seekers jump on a three-person raft and hot-dog it down 35 feet of superfast slide action. The park offers cheap family, single day and season passes; birthday-party rates for kids ages 2 to 12; and group discounts on weekdays.

Go Fish

Relax, toss back a few and get in some heavy-duty bonding time with the old man as you cast your rod into these local fishing-friendly lakes. We hate to get heavy on you, but whether it's a local fishin' hole or a lake marina, you need to get a permit before you bait that hook. In Missouri you can purchase permits online at wildlifelicense.com/mo, by phone at 800-392-4115 or at a local permit vendor. In Kansas, call 800-918-2877 or see kdwp.state.ks.us.

Antioch Park

65th Street and Antioch, Merriam

Bales Lake

In Blue Valley Park, East 24th Street and Topping Avenue

Bonner Lake

126th Street and State Avenue, Bonner Springs

Chaumiere Lake

In Chaumiere Woods Park, Northeast 43rd Street and North Indiana Avenue

Englewood Lake

In Englewood Park, Englewood Road and North Troost Avenue

Heritage Park

16050 Pflumm, Olathe

Kill Creek Park

11670 Homestead Lane, Olathe

Klapmeyer Lake

In Klapmeyer Park, West 126th Street and State Line Road

Lake of the Woods

In Swope Park, Gregory Boulevard and Oldham Road

Lakewood Greenway Lakes

In Lakewood Greenway, Northeast 46th Street and North Norton Avenue

North Terrace Lake

In Kessler Park, Chestnut Trafficway and Cliff Drive

Penn Valley Lake

In Penn Valley Park, West 27th Street and Broadway

Pierson Lake

55th Street and Douglas, Kansas City, Kansas

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