My family moved to Texas from Maryland when I was a young boy, and one of the things that I missed the most was the ice skating rinks that were everywhere up there, and few and far between in Texas at the time.
As time has gone by, however, and the Dallas Stars and a few minor league hockey clubs moved to Texas, ice skating rinks are starting to pop up more and more across the state. The good thing about it is, there are now many places open to the public, and it has always been my experience that they provide good, clean fun.
My parents used to take me and my brother to ice skating rinks when we were kids, and it was such a thrill to glide down the ice, race each other and start learning how to play hockey. I don't know if it is because ice is such a unique surface on which to play a sport, but everyone seemed to work together and help each other out when we were at a rink.
I think one of the things that was most appealing about it was that it was a family sort of event, where parents and children got out on the ice together and skated together. There was no tolerance for fighting or cursing, because there was almost an honor code of sorts at the ice skating rinks where I grew up that it would be reported, and such people would be removed.
When we started to finally get more ice skating rinks in Texas, I decided to take my children one day, and found it to be the same kind of way. Everyone was having a great time, and while the parents were not nearly as proficient on their skates as their children in Texas, they were out there with them and doing their best to keep up.
We began visiting rinks throughout the area and it has become one of my kids' favorite activities. One of the greatest things about it is that it can be done all year, and it is often one of our favorite destinations when it is hot outside, because the rinks are always so cool.
I always thought I would have to take my children back to the Northeast if they were to experience the fun of ice skating rinks, but we have them in our own backyard these days.
My son is now playing in a youth hockey league and my daughter wants to be a figure skater when she grows up. I am so happy that ice skating rinks started to open down here, because it has opened up a whole new world to them that they may not have known otherwise.