Skating

A couple years ago, when they opened the new Atlanta Aquarium we went over to the park to kill time until we were supposed to meet our group of people. And while we were waiting we found that they had the park set up for ice skating. Nick wanted to go skating, but since we were meeting people at a certain time and our tickets were for a group we had to be there at that time.

I was sitting here tonight wondering if they have the skating this year also because I would love to take the kids down to the park and go ice skating. When I was a kid growing up in the Northern foothills of the Sierra Mountains we had a lake near our home called Hog Flats. The reason it was called the flats was because although it was huge it was no deeper than 10 feet in the deepest part.

Ice for skating, that develops naturally out in the open needs special conditions, no wind, deep cold, and no rain or snow. If it snows while it is freezing it makes the top of the ice a bit like sand paper with pits or bubbles. Same if it is raining, and if the winds blows, well the water freezes in mounds that make it practically impossible to skate. Every year we would go out to Hog flats to skate, but seldom did we have perfect conditions. Except for 1960. That particular year the ice skating conditions were perfect and we got to skate on ice as smooth as glass. What a treat. Mom even parted with enough money to purchase me my own pair of skates. I felt like Sonia Heni......