2009-01 Ice Skating at Centennial Lakes

We headed off on Saturday afternoon to go ice skating at Centennial Lakes Park. The ice skating rink is actually a pond that winds through a business, shopping and residential area. There are bridges that go across the pond at various areas and the pond is probably close to a half mile long with two large areas on each end. It feels like you are skating on a river or canal that goes through the city as you go from one end to the other.

There were a lot of people enjoying the day out on the ice. The city of Edina rents skates so that anyone can go and skate. The skating itself is free. The city keeps the ice plowed, but since it is a lake, there can be rough spots and cracks. They have a large pavilion with plenty of room for putting on your skates along with a concession stand for snacks and drinks.

After we skated, we headed back in to the pavilion and warmed up by one of the fireplaces before changing back into our shoes and heading home

2009-01 Skiing at Buck Hill

Hailey and Ray went skiing at Buck Hill with two of Hailey's friends (Emily and Claire) along with their dad's and Claire's brother, Ben. We left to get there when the hill opened, and there were already long lines to get tickets and rental gear. Hailey has her own snowboard, but everyone else had to rent equipment, and all chose to ski rather than snowboard.

We skied for about 2-1/2 hours as we just got a special early bird pass for the morning. The weather was beautiful as the sun was out and the wind was calm, although the temperature was only in the single digits. Lift lines weren't too bad and all the hills were open. Buck Hill has runs for both skis and snowboards, and there is a lot of crossovers between the the two.

Buck Hill just added a new magic carpet (it is like a moving sidewalk) ski lift that is the longest in the world at just over 900 feet. It actually goes over another run through a covered bridge.