Did you know that Denver has a free ice skating rink?  If not, continue reading and consider yourself informed.

At Sky Line Park, off of 16th Street Mall, Southwest Airlines sponsors an ice skating rink for the community and it’s FREE!  If you don’t have your own ice skates  they offer rentals for $2.   All in all, $2 to ice skate is a pretty fantastic deal.  You can check out the Downtown Denver Partners website for more specific information about the rink.  It opens the day after Thanksgiving and runs through mid-February.

I was so excited last year when I found out about this.  It had been years since I had been ice skating and I was itching to get back on the ice.  I had looked into other rinks in the metro area, including the University of Denver indoor rink and the Belmar rink, but they both cost more money than I was willing to spend.  I figured the potential of an emergency room visit was very real, so I didn’t want to pay a high admission on top of the ER expense.

I went to the Skyline rink a couple of times last year and had a blast.  Sure, my feet started hurting after, like, 5 minutes and we only skated for about a 1/2 hour.  But I felt like a little girl again and that was worth the pain and the $2 for the skate rental.

I have such fond memories of ice skating as a child.  I grew up in a really small town that had an outdoor rink.  An older gentleman, who lived across the street, would take care of it every year.  He would even put a bunch of old skates out on his porch that one could borrow.   My friend and I would go ice skating any chance we got.  It could be ridiculously cold and we’d still be out there.  When it got too cold, it just meant we needed to add more layers.  Then, like with most childhood activities, one year we decided it wasn’t cool anymore and we quit going.

I absolutely plan to get my skate on this winter.  I’m even going to make The Mister go with me at least once.  He’s never been ice skating, so I’ve got to show him what’s up.  I’m just hoping it doesn’t end with an ER visit!