Yes, rented skates are damp inside. No, the cramped, fluorescent-lit Fisher Pavilion is not the star-gazy, tree-warmed environment of Central Park at night. However! The season is simply not proper without strapping on a pair and slicing crevices in a sheet of ice. Falling down is to your credit (really good amateur ice-skaters are slightly creepy, haven’t you noticed? Except when they are actual hockey players, which is the coolest thing ever). Bonus points for an attempt, however janky it turns out, to skate backward. The whole affair is janky. Janky with love. (Fisher Pavilion, Seattle Center, 684-7200, 11 am–8 pm, $7, includes skate rental, cash only)
Jen Graves (The Stranger’s former arts critic) mostly writes about things you approach with your eyeballs. But she’s also a history nerd interested in anything that needs more talking about, from male... More by Jen Graves
Do any skating places have Top Pot donuts?
The Top Pot in Bellevue is in an old IHOP about a block from the outdoor rink there.