Over Christmas break, my family and I went up to Bass Lake for a couple of days. Before school got out, Greg Stobbe, our journalism advisor, recommended that we as a family take a day trip to Yosemite National Park and skate at Curry Village’s outdoor ice-skating rink. From Bass Lake, we were only about 20 minutes from Yosemite, so we bundled up, piled in the car and headed to Curry Village.

I wish I could say that only positive things came to mind when Stobbe said “ice skating rink in Yosemite:” ice skating (cool!), outdoors in Yosemite (gorgeous), family event (perhaps Dad will comply). Yosemite alone should have confirmed it in my mind. But, after running through the pros to going, I remembered a not-so-pleasant experience involving ice skating and the out-of-doors.

The only time I’d ever done outdoor ice skating was in downtown Clovis a couple of years ago. My cousins had heard about it and decided to take me and my siblings as a fun cousin-day. We were all super excited about it until we arrived, strapped on our skates, and stepped onto the ice, when we discovered that the “ice” was actually plastic with soapy water poured over it and chilled.

It reminded me a little bit of skating in those Barbie roller skates that parents buy for their four-year-olds that only go as far as you step, kind of like roller walking instead of roller skating. No glide, no roll. Step, slide a few inches. Step, Whoops! I tripped over a rut in the plastic.

It does make sense that there would be a plastic and soap rink in the Fresno area because it’s a little hard to pull off an outdoor ice rink, at least with real ice, in a city where the winter low averages somewhere between 40-50 degrees at night. Welcome to winter in the California Central Valley, where we have soap-and-plastic skating. Not exactly the most enjoyable of experiences.

So, when Stobbe told me, “Hey, you and your family should definitely go and check this out,” I thought, if it’s anything like the one in Clovis, not a chance I’m going. He insisted that it was a worthwhile thing to do, especially as a family, so I told my dad about it, and it worked out to go, hence the car ride to Yosemite.

We finally arrived, after a family Catch-Phrase marathon in the car, and as I stepped out of the car, felt the wind chill and looked up, I saw that Stobbe wasn’t kidding. Real ice rink (no plastic or soap), real winter weather (something below 70 degrees during the day) and through the pine trees a gorgeous view of Half Dome reflecting off the ice. Okay, I’m excited at this point. Maybe I just should have assumed in the first place that, since it was Yosemite, it would be good.

My mom’s health hasn’t been so good lately, so she decided not to skate, but my dad, my siblings and I headed to pick up our skates. When the session started, we got out onto the ice and I realized how much of a family event it was. Not only did the skating place provide free helmets for kids to borrow in case they fell; they also had big orange parking cones available for the little ones to use for balance as they skated.

At first the skating started off at a decent pace. The rink was pretty crowded, especially with families, but the traffic flow kept moving.The speed of the skaters varied a lot. You had the normal scenario of parents holding their four and five-year olds, skating in slow motion, big kids cutting in and out of traffic (maybe that’s why they had the cones) and a few speed skaters.

There were some slow adults and kids and some fast. Skill level differed as well, and not just because of age. There was a sixth-grade girl in the center practicing her spins and backwards skating, while on the other side of the rink a man was on the ground more than he was on his feet. And then there was everyone else, falling every few laps around.

I love ice skating- the cold weather (no 70 degrees for me), the freedom to glide and spin (no Barbie skates for me), the adrenaline rush when you get going fast enough, and being in Yosemite made it even better. I had only two concerns at the beginning: was I going to accidentally knock a bunch of kids over (I only ran into one the entire time) and how on earth was I going to skate for a whole two-and-one-half hours, as that was the length of the skating session? Once you got started though and the initial shin cramps from wearing ice skates went away, the time flew by.

Partway through the session, the staff cleared the ice and the Zamboni came out for the mid-session resurfacing, enthralling all the kids and relieving all the adults. The ten minutes it took to clear the ice gave skaters enough time to take a little break by the campfire or inside the heated tent the rink had set up for observers or resting skaters. The rink had hot chocolate, s’more kits, and other snacks available for purchase in case people were hungry, which was brilliant because it was pretty cold by then.

Once the ice had been thoroughly resurfaced, skaters were free to head on back out there and skate for the little over an hour that remained in the session. I heard parents telling their kids that it was time to leave and I got really excited that the ice might not be as crowded, meaning a faster and freer flow.

However, lots of people, mainly teenagers or college students, came for the later half of the session and it felt even more crowded than before. With teenagers come speed-skating and scuffing and all of the things the sign tells you not to do, and the ice was torn up in about two minutes. Toward the end of it, we ended up leaving a little early because the traffic speed was getting a little more dangerous, especially for my little brother and sister.

Overall it was a blast. Of course, it was a little crowded (who wouldn’t want to be ice-skating at Yosemite) and toward the end the skating flow got just a bit hazardous, especially for little kids, but it was a great day. If I were to ever go again, it would probably be to the early morning session, simply because there would be fewer people and I could try some spins and tricks without feeling dumb because I’ve fallen in front of a hundred people.

Other than that, though, I have nothing negative to say about the experience. I would definitely recommend this to families and individuals alike, as it’s a fun activity for anyone, a great way to spend time together as a family or group of friends and a laid-back atmosphere to ice-skate, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced skater. I know my siblings had tons of fun, as well as my dad. It was definitely worth the $14 my dad payed for me, and I would do it again for sure if I had a chance.

Curry Village Ice Rink winter skating sessions begin in mid-November, weather permitting, and generally end at the beginning of March. Below are listed the session times:

Monday through Friday:

12 p.m. ? 2:30 p.m. *Special Holiday session
3:30 p.m. ? 6 p.m.
7 p.m. ? 9:30 p.m.

Weekends and holidays:

8:30 a.m. ? 11 a.m.
12 p.m. ? 2:30 p.m.
3:30 p.m. ? 6 p.m.
7 p.m. ? 9:30 p.m.

Ice rink prices:

Adults/seniors: $10
Children: $9.50
Skate rentals: $4
Helmets are available upon request for free, and spectators are admitted with no charge.

This writer can be reached on Twitter at @JennaWeimer42. Follow The Feather Online at @thefeather.

For more information on Yosemite’s ice skating, see the Curry Village Ice Rink’s website.

For more opinions, see the Dec. 17 article Senior reflects on learning experience, journalism.