Last night I had the unexpected experience of spending three hours in a real life time machine. My friend Cindy’s birthday is coming up and she decided that it would be fun to have a few friends get together for a roller skating birthday party. I hadn’t roller skated on quads in at least twenty years and not on rollerblades in at least ten, but I figured, why not, this would be fun.

I arrived in the familiar parking lot and while the sign on the outside may say Whitehall Family Skating Center, as soon as I walked inside I knew this was the Skateaway that I used to frequent back when I was in middle school. Even the song that they were playing was from the 90s. It was like I’d never left. A quick look around and about the only things that appear to have changed in the interim are that the DJ is no longer behind the glass near the snack bar and that the Neo Geo arcade game is long gone.

Putting on my skates I was a bit shaky at first, but I fared better than some and most importantly, everyone had a great time. As I felt the blast of cool air from the air conditioning vents as I cruised around the rink I thought to myself, “Why did this ever become uncool?”

It seemed like as soon as you got to high school, roller skating was no longer an acceptable form of spending time with your friends and based on most of the clientele last night, that still holds true today. If you’re looking for a great place to lace up your skates, listen to some music and spend time with friends, be sure to check out Skateaway in Whitehall. Their website may be dated, but the fun you’ll have there is timeless.