I have a long commute to the office/NYC - 9 hrs in the car, minimum. Drives my DH crazy that I always have to stop at some rink I've never been to before. I've lowered my standards (and travel time) - I no longer insist on actually skating, but I have to pick up the brochures and check out the bathrooms/snack bar/facilities.
My latest venue was to meet up with our own Jim Stanmore at the Mt. Laurel, NJ Igloo Ice Arena. Nice facility, two sheets of ice, all one level with a snack bar area and a multi-purpose room. Harness across a blue line at one end of the rink, small workout area in a back corner.
Earlier, I had to pick up my paycheck at my current rink, then my last stop before hotel was my old NYC rink (to use the bathroom) before calling it a night.
After visiting Klingbeil's, I surprised Sk8dreams at Aviator Sports in Brooklyn for a quick visit. That place is always crowded and the facilities are great. The snack bar alone is worth the trip. One of these days, I have to go upstairs and check out the second floor. I see they moved the pro shop to the front lobby, probably a good thing. At least they now carry figure skates, lol. One note: there used to be a plane out in front as a tribute to the park's original purpose as an air field, but it's gone. At one meetup, a Concorde was parked there, but it's gone too - I guess back to the Intrepid in Manhattan. Too bad - the plane gave the place some nice character.
I also stopped at Coney Island's very sad Abe Stark Arena on my way back west. Such an unwelcoming place. Figuring out how to get into the lot means breaking traffic laws, lol. Nothing to write home about, it was pretty empty and depressing, imo.
I skated outdoors at the SI War Memorial Ice Rink, which played the most inappropriate music I have ever heard at a public session. Every song was about banging this and shooting that - awful, especially with all the young kids and families there. Ice was really nice, you could see the cracks, but they were resurfaced well, so no problems. Snack bar and lobby were clean. (You could see on the floor where they had the "Igloo" that served as a party room. It was okay - just interesting if you didn't know what had been there before the renovation.) They still have the toy train exhibit - meh. Would it kill them to put up a privacy panel so you don't have the whole lobby looking into the ladies room? They have the door blocked open and the bathroom was clean, but there's no privacy once you come out of a stall.
Dinner with AgnesNitt was on my return itinerary, but we didn't get to a rink. Too bad - six rinks in three days is pretty good, but a seventh would have been a feather in my traveling hat.
I can honestly say that none of people I met up with have two heads. Everyone seems pretty normal, although I can't vouch for myself.