WinterSkate is the Cutest. Date. Ever…read more Outdoor activities are one of those things that make Twin Cities winters slightly more bearable. Rice Park is another one of those things, with its pretty twinkling lights... and the majestic Landmark Center backdrop doesn't hurt either. Together, WinterSkate comes to life as an outdoor rink right in the middle of St. Paul. This year, it's open from Nov. 26 to Feb. 5. They have a warming house for changing your skates and staying cozy. The rink itself isn't huge, but I basically just need room to lurch around like a Frankenstein and then fall... so I'm good. Best part aside from the fact that you have an instant date-night? Skate rentals are only $2 and the rink itself is FREE. So what are you waiting for? Oh yeah, winter has to come first. Thanks, Wells Fargo, for making winter a little more fun!

The opening of the WinterSkate rink in Rice Park is a kickoff to the holiday season for many of us…read morein St Paul. It's a free city event where you have the opportunity to see local figure skaters cut loose on fresh ice. After that, you can wander across the street for live musical entertainment. You can get a first glimpse of the upcoming year's winter carnival button -- and watch the official lighting of the Holiday tree (and all the other trees) in Rice Park, accompanied by fireworks. A perfect holiday night. Rice park is the perfect strolling park when you're on a date at the Ordway, Riverwalk Center, Xcel Center, or anywhere else in downtown St Paul. The skating rink also makes it a great stand-alone family destination in the winter from November (when the rink opens) to the new year when Rice Park hosts the annual Ice Castle.

Tips: - Rink access is on level 7 (top deck) of the parking…read moreramp. It's best to park at a higher level. - There are two parking ramps: - From 6th Street (21 East 6th Street) - entrance B - From Wabasha Street - entrance C - The parking ramp clearance is 6'3". My rental SUV had a few inches to spare. - If you are watching the Minnesota Wild practise, you need to sign a waiver. A few years ago, in September, I was invited to a Minnesota Wild practice session in the afternoon on a Saturday. Sadly, my Air Canada flight was delayed by three hours, which meant that I would miss it. Ugh! It took three years to finally get a similar invitation. Going to a Wild practice session tends to be for Wild season ticket holders and it's free. I said yes over a month ago. I flew into the Twin Cities on a Wednesday. The following morning, I attended the practice session at TRIA Rink. This rink is on the fifth floor of Treasure Island Center. It's not far away from where the Wild play their games at Grand Casino Arena. While flying into MSP, I got an e-mail from Wild customer service on event details, where to park, where to go, and more. It also said to print out a waiver form and fill it out. It's the only negative detail about this event. I realize that some details may change, which may be why this message was sent less than 24 hours before the event. However, had I got these details two days in advance, I would have been able to print out this waiver form. I'm at neither home, nor work. I don't have a travel printer. Luckily, I ended up printing a form at the hotel where I was staying. Still, I shouldn't have to scramble to find a printer. What the message didn't say is that if you don't have your waiver filled out, you can fill it out at the check-in table. Why not say that?! I had no problem driving over to this rink in downtown Saint Paul. I turned right from Wabasha Street, into entrance C of the parking lot (ramp). I took a ticket and proceeded up a bunch of levels. I parked on level 6. The entrance to the rink is level 7 (top floor) of the ramp. I pulled into a spot, walked a bit, and entered through the door. I walked down a few steps and saw the check-in area. A cheerful friendly man welcomed me. I handed my form in. He thanked me and said to head up the stairs for breakfast. Nice! The check-in area was across from the skate rental place. I walked up the stairs to the top floor of the rink. Continental breakfast was available, thanks to Levy Restaurants. There was oatmeal with fruit, pastries, muffins, and hot beverages. I had breakfast at the hotel at 7:30 am. It was now 10:30 am. I was able to down two fruit danish pastries and a cakey donut. They were all yummy, but the cakey donut wowed me the most. It was so good. What I like about TRIA Rink is that there are shorter bench seats for one to two people to sit down. I did just that, as it was me and my continental breakfast. Oh, I got hot chocolate. It was delicious. I loved every sip. It went well with my donut. Seeing the Wild practice was such a delight. Boldy came on the ice without any skates on. He was practising shooting pucks on net. Johansson joined him and they chatted off to the side for a bit. I loved seeing the Wild do drills and the camaraderie between players. Kaprizov. Zuccarello. Huges. McCarron. Nick Foligno (his brother, Marcus, was injured and wasn't there). Gustavsson. Wallstedt. Ericsson Ek. Fleury. I was so happy! Mats Zuccarello is one of my favourite Wild players. It was great seeing him practise right in front of me. The practice lasted an hour. We then headed to the Saint Paul Event Center on the third floor. Wild CEO Matt Majka was there to speak about his time with the Wild. The elevators were huge and efficient. Staff were great directing us to the event centre, which was huge and inviting. I frankly didn't care much for this part of the event. He had stories to tell, but he couldn't remember the exact details by admitting this fact, which was a downer. He wasn't a smooth talker, either. I guess it's also because I'm Canadian. The part about the US hockey teams winning gold at the Olympics went on for what felt like forever. I would have rather been back at the rink to stuff myself with more pastries and get a hot chocolate refill. Yum! Afterwards, I needed to use the washroom. There was one to the left. The women's washroom was impeccably clean and bright. Wow! I headed back to the fifth floor, to get back to the parking ramp. It was nice seeing a quiet rink before leaving it. One male season ticket holder commented that I had the right sneakers on today. I looked down. I was wearing Vans with Minnesota Wild green on parts of them. I thanked him and reciprocated. You scan the QR code on your ticket to pay for parking. You then scan your ticket to leave the ramp. I had a memorable experience. I'd do it again! (129)

We saw the MN Whitecaps play the Buffalo Beauts at a Sunday 12pm game and overall the experience…read morewas fun and positive. Despite being a professional game the atmosphere feels more like attending a casual college game. Which I appreciate. We paid $7 for parking ahead of time but if you stay even a minute after the end time on the parking ticket, they charge you $11 which is the current rate for 1-3 hours in the parking garage. Still not bad overall for attending a downtown event. Parking couldn't be easier to get in and out of, and was plentiful. Tria has clean bathrooms. The vending machines were all down and no concession stands (because then they'd have to check vaccination status and that was not done to attend the game). We were able to bring in our own water bottles. It's a no-frills casual arena in the heart of downtown St Paul. We had a great time. Bring stadium seat cushions if you have them-- the bleachers have no padding.

What a nice local ice rink. Nothing fancy here and that's just fine. 6 rows of seating on one side…read moreof this small rink.

It depends what you're looking for. If you just need…read moreskating lessons for your kid, look elsewhere. The teacher will not advance the kid to the next level, unless they meet some stringent criteria "because we are a figure skating club". We're talking about a 5-6 year old on ice here. And this means the second time your child is in the same (introductory) level, they are with more inexperienced skaters, and won't gain much. It is also slightly cheaper in other Learn to skate programs nearby (Eagan or Roseville I think). For us, I regret signing up here.

We bring our competitive figure skater to SPFSC several times a year from out of state to train…read more The coaches are amazing, and the setting is always uplifting and inviting. If we lived closer, we'd be here full time. Highly recommend!

Nice ice arena and mostly I love the high bar stool style seating vs having to sit on bleachers!…read moreTemperature inside was comfortable as I was not doing the usual shivering. Signs directing to rink 1 and 2 were clearly marked along with location to locker rooms.

Question - Who's got 2 thumbs and is finally the first to review something? THIS GUY!!! Let's get…read moreit on! What? I'm reviewing an ice arena? What you say? It's ice Scott, it's ice. What's to review about ice? Well sit back and lets me edjumacate yous. A - ice arenas are not all the same. not even close. B - the ice at each individual arena can be drastically different. DRASTICALLY! Thirdly - staff, staff, staff. Ok, on to the review; I take my son here for open skate either every Wednesday or every other Wednesday to keep up his skating skills for hockey - side note, 5-6 yr olds playing hockey is absolutely adorable - side note over. In general it is an exceptional arena for this. Not too cold, always clean, friendly staff - HUGE shout out to Tara who is a fantastic employee and really makes it fun!! However.....the ice is always a little soft for my taste. More edjumacations? Yes. Ice can be soft. GASP!! Soft ice = great for figure skaters but terrible for hockey and not so good for standard skating Also, it's getting a little thin. Even more edjumacations? Yes. Ice can be too thin. It causes cracks and ruts. Cracks and ruts = folks on their butts! Thats the bad. Overall not too big of an issue. Now the good; 1 - The aformentioned staff (what up Tara?), all of which are always friendly, courteous, and just plain nice. These are mostly late teens to early 20's kids people!! And they're nice! 2 - Clean, clean, clean. Love an ice arena that's clean. See one that isn't and you'll know what I mean. (I'm a poet and didn't even know it) 3 - Centrally located 4 - Relatively inexpensive (*ahem* date night, date night). $4 to skate. $2 more to rent if you don't own skates (and they are good rental skates) 4 stars because of all the good. Work on that ice and it'll be 5 PS; a word to the wise - this is skating, on ice, ice is hard, it will hurt if you fall. Wear padding if you are a beginner, no one will care and no one will make fun of you. Trust me. It hurts to fall.

Home to the multiple National Champion Golden Gophers women's hockey team, Ridder is a fantastic…read moreice arena. This ice arena was the first, and remains one of only a few, ice arena's dedicated to woman's hockey. The arena features seating for 3,400. Ridder Arena features and NHL sized ice surface and is next door to Mariucci Arena (home of the men's Gopher hockey team). The two buildings are connected via an underground access tunnel, which allows them to share ice resurfacing. The arrangement also allows the two Gopher hockey teams easy access to both NHL (Ridder Arena) and Olympic ice (Mariucci Arena), depending on their weekly opponent. Ridder Arena has concessions, merchandise, trophies and memorabilia areas. This arena is a gem.

We have had our swim spa drained, cleaned, and refilled for 5 years now. CWS has an amazing team…read moreof professionals! High quality service and high quality people who care! Thanks so much!!

A+. Our heroes! Our salinator equipment went on the fritz which caused our salinity to go off the…read morecharts. To save our well (and our sanity) we brought in 6k gallons. These guys were responsive, friendly, prompt and efficient. We want to be on the list each Spring for start-up! i could not recommend them more highly.

Such a great experience for game day! Nestled across the highway from mac-groveland, this was an…read moreepic experience. It was easy to park on the streets for free, and many others did as well to avoid the parking lot fee at the stadium. They had a pre-game party on the lawn which was so fun! There were samples of beverages, games, and plenty of information booths. There are multiple entrances to head into the stadium. The stadium was epic! There is a huge Brewhall on one end of it, which was incredible, and they had lots of other food stations as well to choose from. We enjoyed the cheese curds! Lots of shops as well to get some gear. Evening games are gorgeous as the sun is setting just past the stadium. There is truly not a bad seat in the stadium! We were high up, but it was good so we were able to see the whole field. Staff were friendly and helpful too. Lots of fun chants to yell during the game, and of course waving your towel! Quite a crowd getting out of there but many traffic guards to help. Definitely worth a try!

First timer to Allianz Field. Was attending a company event with the family where my hubby's…read morecompany is a huge sponsor of MN United. They sponsored a picnic dinner for family outside the stadium. There's a huge pre- party area nearby for pre-game music and booths and some fun interactive experiences. I grabbed a free clear bag from Hyundai. We also checked out the kids playground area on the east side of the stadium. Loved it. Great for kids to get the wiggles out before heading into the stadium. The game was full of excitement. We sat behind the north side goal tender area. I did a nice lap around the stadium, grabbed drinks, ice cream and a souvenir for the kiddo. The only negative for me was one of the refs that had some very bad calls and the bugs. It was very buggy, I felt itchy quite often and maybe because they are constantly watering the grass so it's the only place the bugs are attracted to in the area since it's been so dry.