More Sightseeing in Kansas City (the non-museum edition)

We did take a few trips that offered something other than just history to the kids. After all, a trip featuring only museums may get our parenting privileges revoked by those we parent. 

The Royals' ballpark outside of Kansas City. 

Monday night we took in a Kansas City Royals game. They were hosting Toronto (and lost 7-3). I’m coming to like how the ballpark offers something for each of us now. I enjoy keeping score of the game, and usually miss only an inning (or half of one) to retrieve a beer. Sherry watches the scorebook while I’m away. Sam takes score, too. Though he usually goes on a dessert expedition with Sherry and Caroline late in the game. Sherry likes watching the people and the scene. Caroline bides her time with drawing and design until late in the game when chances to appear on the jumbotron come about. Oh, and she did successfully get up there during a mid-inning break.

The Royals ballpark is fine. It’s a throwback to the 1970s. That is, the good design-rich aspect of the 1970s not the municipal-hardship design era that gave us the generic designs of Veterans Stadium, Three Rivers, and Riverfront. When driving by it on the highway, the stadium has something of an oyster shape. The crown-logo-shaped scoreboard remains quaint. Getting in and out of the stadium is easy. All those advantages make me almost forget that I’m watching a game governed by the designated hitter rule.

On Tuesday we worked in a trip to a waterpark. Originally we had seen a waterpark available in Kansas City, Kansas that we looked forward to visiting. But a horrible accident there in a previous summer has prompted its closure. So we found an alternative: a public pool and waterpark in Independence, Missouri. For a pretty reasonable fee ($28) we got a day pass for it. There wasn’t much of a pool for lap swimming: really it was just an extension to a diving well. But there were three good waterslides as well as a lazy river and splash park. Seating was ample and we employed Whites Road Pool saavy to secure good spots in the shade. We enjoyed a rejuvenating 2 ½ hours there.