Skating and Rinks in the Chicago Area

[manleywoman]

I posted this in the General thread too, but since lots of adults seem to hang out here...

I'm an adult skater who used to live in Chicago and am hopefully moving back later this year. I had just started skating during my last year in Chicago, so I'm only familiar with the one rink in Wilmette (Centennial). I've downloaded the list of clubs and rinks from the USFSA website, but I don't know how far most of these rinks are from Chicago's Northside (where I will most likely live).

Can any Chicago skaters tell me...

1) Which rinks are not more than 40 minutes from Ravenswood/Wrigley area
2) Which clubs are Adult-friendly (I've heard from some that DuPage FSC is not supportive of it's adults, but I'm not sure if that's true)
3) If any rinks have a lot of early morning ice, since that's when I'll be skating.

I skate Novice level, if that makes any difference for ice time. Any information is great. Thanks!

[Jem X]

If you'll be living in the Wrigleyville area, I would think the closest rink I can think of would be McFetridge, through the Chicago Park District. I don't know about times. I have a friend and his daughter who skate there. It would be on California around Irving or Addison. You may be able to shoot up to the rink in Evanston - its name escapes me right now. I skate in Niles at Iceland - we have an adult class on Wednesday nights - ranging from novice to fairly advanced. Its fun. Traffic in Wrigleyville/Ravenswood is not too good - it might be hard to get out to the suburbs, depending on your time restraints. Skokie and Evanston are probably closest rinks I can think of to your area in the burbs. Good luck with your move.

[Polar Bear]

The rink in Evanston is Robert Crown (on Main Street, east of Dodge). They do have adults only classes: freestyle 1-3, freestyle 1-5, ice dance. I'm pretty sure they also have early morning ice time, but you'll need to check with them. McFetridge (Irving park and California) does not have adults only classes, but there is an adults fs only public skate on mon,wed,fri from 11:30 to 1pm. Many people do this on their lunch hour. There are a LOT of ice rinks in the area; these are 2 that I go to. There is also the Skatium in Skokie; don't know their schedules.
Good Luck !!

[Black Sheep]

Also Oakton Ice Arena in Park Ridge, which is rather NW of the city. The Santee family is really nice!;)