Ah, thanks, Cliff. Excellent discussion starter, and subject titled correctely to boot. I was once a kid, and have raised a rocket kid as well. For me as a kid, I lived in that "1000" foot range you describe for a while, but I yearned to really send one up there. I did so in my second year with a Streak on a C6-7 and then a Farside X.
My son got to fly his first rocket shortly after his 12th birthday. He too was attached to that first Super Shot and Twister, but when we looked through our first catalog that summer he chose the Comanche III because it had the highest expected altitude. Then at the launch we saw and heard some APCP getting burned and we were really excited.
Would I have stuck with the hobby for those next 3 years if I hadn't been able to pursue K size motors? Probably not. Have I since found joy in building and flying an Edmonds Deltie? Yes, but because of financial concerns more than anything. Does my son still enjoy doing rockets? Yes, only when we do the big ones.
Here's another way to look at it;
Are there any high power rocket enthusiasts that started there, and don't have roots in Estes rockets? I'd say "no", there aren't many, if any at all. So a more rounded candidate would be one who had experienced high power too, in my opinion.
steve