I saw a tweet earlier this week that Skateland Mesa was having “free skating night” yesterday. On a whim, I sent an email to a bunch of friends to see if anyone would be interested in returning to one of our childhood haunts. Indeed, several took the bait.
Imagine a covered wagon mosying along during a NASCAR event and you’d have a good idea of what I looked like among the throng of far too talented skaters. There were 3-year-olds and 60-year-olds with custom wheels and attitudes to match. I am pretty sure there were even a couple former professional ice skaters in the mix. These men would occasionally skate up to our group of three, trembling and giggling girls, to wow us with salchows and dips. I wanted to scream, “TOE PICK!” but no one would have heard me over the thumping Lady GaGa.
It was a ridiculous amount of fun. When I finally pulled off those weighty beasts above, my toes ached as much as my cheeks from smiling. For the record, however, Skateland still smells exactly as it did 20 years ago — like popcorn, Red Vines, sweat, embarrassment and grime.
~K