Photo courtesy of the City of Edina. (click to embiggen)

I haven’t been ice skating in about five or six years. The last time I did was at a community center in some small town in northern Lower Michigan and an eight-year-old girl knocked me over. So I was equal parts excited and apprehensive about going ice skating at such a… public place as Centennial Lakes.

It was totally fun.

In case you’ve never actually seen the pond there, it’s actually pretty big. It seemed pretty busy inside the “lodge” (where the rentals, concessions, and fireplace are), but there was plenty of wide open space to skate on so it wasn’t crowded outside at all. And no hulking teenagers who are clearly hockey players flying by people. Only middle school hockey players.

We had no problem grabbing a seat to change into our skates, leaving our boots under a bench, and finding them (still there!) when we were done.

Skate rental is $4. Sled rental is $6/hour. Hours:

4 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 9:30 p.m. Sundays and most school holidays. Please note that although concessions and rentals do not open until 4 p.m. on weekdays, the skating rink does open at noon to accommodate those with their own skates.

While the Depot downtown is fun for atmosphere and scenery, Centennial Lakes is a helluva lot cheaper and has easy parking. And after you’ve worked up an appetite, you hit the World’s Only Pneumatic Air Drive-Thru McDonald’s.

The rink is open mid-December-ish through mid-February-ish. With the exception of yesterday and today, it’s been plenty cold enough to keep the ice frozen, so I wonder if it’ll stay open a bit later this year.