Ice Skating Rinks

Since the Winter Olympics are starting very soon, I felt like explaining something cool about the winter and Minnesota.

Scattered throughout the Twin Cities metro are Ice Skating/Hockey(with boards)/Broomball rinks, outside, in many parks. The best part of this is they are free (and maintained) for people to use. In your city, you may have ice rinks or ice arenas inside large buildings (eyesores) for you to escape your boring, non-winter reality; these are places you have to pay to enter. Well not in Minnesota. We believe that ice skating is a natural human right, or something like that.

I understand you can argue that we pay taxes to keep these ice rinks around. I cannot deny that, but here is why it is better than paying your 5-10 dollar admission to skate in your arenas.

1. We pay taxes for the awesome parks (which we have in abundance and I can post on that later) already, so the land is already there. You could say we are making sure we use the park year round, by flooding it with water and letting nature turn it into a winter wonderland or frozen tundra (whichever you prefer).

2. Skating outside and seeing the beautiful parks, neighborhoods and busy streets is more exciting, tranquil and captivating than being inside.

3. It is free for everybody. Some people cannot afford to pay your ridiculous admission rates for themselves or for a family. Here they can skate free as often as they want.

All of this doesn't even include all of the lakes spread throughout the state, both inside of populated city areas and sparse rural areas. The incredible number of lakes in this area should be another post.

If you still like to skate inside, we have places like that too, especially something exciting like the Depot in Minneapolis.
The Depot, Minneapolis

If you live in Québec or any of the Canadian places listed here that have superior ice rinks and trails, disregard everything I said, but still move here.
Outdoor Ice Skating Rinks & Trails in US and Canada

What kind of outdoor winter options does your boring city offer?