John Dolan, of Warren, laces up the skates on his son, Jack, 8, at the Cranston Veterans Memorial Rink. The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

CRANSTON

Theresa Fox is a mother of two, a middle school English teacher and a rat.

A happy, self-admitted rink rat, that is, an endearing term reserved for aficionados of ice.

“We have all the rink schedules on the refrigerator at home,” she says as her 8-year-old Owen, a hockey player, carves up the ice at the Cranston Veterans Memorial Rink. “We do Pawtucket, we do this one, we did the Thayer rink [in Warwick] yesterday.”

Outside, the summer sun threatens to turn the asphalt to goo and the air is heavy with wilting humidity. But inside the rink, the air feels like a misty daffodil morning in April, the temperature a steady 55 degrees.

Fox digs into her duffel bag, pulls out mittens for 4-year-old Nola and a fleece for herself, and together they clomp across the rubber mats in their figure skates to join Owen on the frozen white sheet.

“This is glorious to me,” she says. “I’m Camp Mom. I have to find things to do with the kids this summer so this is great. And you don’t get sand in everything.”

Rhode Island is never more the Ocean State than on a steamy summer day. But scattered from South Kingstown to North Smithfield are also a half-dozen domed structures that stand in humming tribute to the joys attained at temperatures below the freezing point.

Adventures at Hand:
A Summer Series

With gas prices so high, we all have less money to splurge on vacation. Many Rhode Islanders are choosing to stay closer to home this summer, opting for day trips and local adventures. With this series, The Journal will offer up some nearby activities and outings. Some may be old favorites while others perhaps, you've never tried.

Your Turn: What are three of your can't-miss R.I. summer favorites?

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Summer photos: Share yours, see others

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More of this series . . .

While thousands baste along the water’s edge on any given day, the rink rats pack their jackets and shin pads and head to the nearest rink. For an average price of $5, they can enjoy a skate, practice their double axels or hone their hockey skills. Five of the rinks are municipal buildings where people can go for free, watch the skaters and get some respite from the heat.

Not many people seem to know that, says Jim Dorney, Warwick’s recreation facilities manager.

For instance, the Thayer/Warburton Arenas have “plenty of bleachers, we’re open all day and people can just come in and enjoy it,” says Dorney. “Coming in here, it’s like walking into a store. It’s a damp coolness and it really hits you nice. I think it’s like heaven.”

Dorney says that when he once worked the summer afternoon shift “I used to come in an hour early, have an ice coffee and just read the paper. Sometimes I would eat my lunch in the rink. I hated to go home, really, though I hate to say that to my wife, but we didn’t have air conditioning back then.”

During heat waves, the Thayer/Warburton rinks, like several others, are designated cooling centers where people can go to escape the oppression. But Dorney says people don’t need to wait until then.

“If people are in the area they should just walk in. If they want to play cards I’ll even set up tables for them.”

Rinks including Cranston Veterans Memorial offer various time slots during the day for public skating, pickup hockey games and reserved times for hockey league teams.

ON THIS MORNING, the Fox family join only eight other skaters on the Cranston ice for the 10 a.m.-to-noon public skating period.

Danielle St. Martin and Haley Guinan, both 11 and from Northbridge, Mass., were the first skaters to take the ice.

“We’ve been coming here off and on for the last six months or so,” explains David St. Martin, as he watches the girls from the concession stand. “We normally skate in Worcester but the rinks up there have all closed for the summer. Here you can skate a little longer and there aren’t many people on the ice.”

The public skating periods often attract many regulars like Jannie Weisfeld, 54, of North Attleboro, a Providence lawyer who takes her lunch break from the public defender’s office early each day to practice her figure skating twirls and jumps.

Weisfeld took up skating in her 40s after enrolling her daughter in a figure skating class. “I got hooked,” she says from the bleachers as she laces up a skate. “I would be better if I had started sooner. Figure skating is way harder than it looks. You don’t realize how unbelievably good the Olympic skaters are until you start trying to skate. I like the challenge that you are always working on something to improve.”

Skating in summer, she says, is nothing short of a reward for all those cold days trekking to the rink in winter.

“When it is hot out there it’s nice and cool in here. It just feels so good.”

A FEW MILES north in North Smithfield, two dozen hockey players, many dressed in shorts and wearing flip-flops, are pulling into the parking lot of the Rhode Island Sports Center rink, along Route 146.

From noon until 2 p.m. players ranging in talent and ages — from high school stars to a few old duffers in their 40s and 50s — take to the ice for a $5 pickup game. The games are limited to the first 30 players who arrive.

In one locker room, Jake Howard, 16, of Cumberland, suits up with friends and some acquaintances from Lincoln High School, including Aaron Boisson, 15, of Lincoln, who says he just got promoted at his summer job at the Roast House in Blackstone. He’s going to be a dishwasher. The boys laugh. Gee, Howard says, what were you before? “A busboy,” says Boisson. Howard says he shouldn’t laugh since he doesn’t have a job.

In the other locker room, Mike Tortolani, 43, of Seekonk, dons his pads. Minutes later he is streaking down the ice, along with George Maris, 49, of Lincoln, who grew up playing hockey in Canada.

Both men see these lunchtime games a bit differently than the boys.

Tortolani had a minor stroke earlier in the year. He made a vow to get into better shape and turned in his golf clubs for a hockey stick.

“This is a whole lot more fun than golf,” says the insurance salesman, coming to the bench.

Maris, who is semiretired after selling his furniture factory in Montreal, says hockey “actually saved my life. I had stopped playing for 17 years and reached the executive weight of 245 pounds.” Now 70 pounds lighter, “I’m finally doing what I’ve always wanted to do: be on the ice.”WHERE TO SKATE

Six Rhode Island ice rinks offer public skating and/or public hockey sessions through the summer. The following are the general schedules and pricing for each rink. Contact the rink for more specific information.

The Bradford R. Boss Arena

University of Rhode Island, Kingston campus

Phone: 874-5480

Public skating: Monday-Friday 10 a.m. – to 11:50 a.m.; Saturday, Sunday, 2 – to 3:50 p.m.

Adult skating (18 and older): Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 to 9:50 a.m.

Open figure skating: Wednesday 8 to 9:50 a.m.

Public hockey Monday-Friday noon to 1:50 p.m.

Cost: $5 general admission.

Cranston Veterans Memorial Rink

900 Phoenix Ave.

Phone: 944-8690

Public skating: Monday-Friday 10 a.m. to noon;

Sunday 1 to 3 p.m.

Public hockey: Monday-Friday noon to 2 p.m.;

Saturday 3 to 5 p.m.

Cost: $5 general admission, $3 for children under 6; $2 senior citizens.

Skate rentals: $5

Dennis M. Lynch Arena

25 Andrew Ferland Way, Pawtucket

Phone: 728-7420

Public skating: Thursday and Friday, 11:30 to 1 p.m.

Cost: $3

No public hockey

Rhode Island Sports Center

Route 146, North Smithfield

Phone: 762-1588

No public skating.

Public hockey: Currently Noon to 2 p.m. Hours vary later in summer. Check Web site: risportscenter.com

Cost: $5 general admission.

Smithfield Municipal Ice Rink

109 Pleasant View Ave., Smithfield

Phone: 233-1051

Public skating: Wednesday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Friday 11 to 2 p.m.

Cost: $3

Skate rentals: $5

Public hockey: Monday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Cost: $5

Thayer Warburton Arenas

975 Sandy Lane, Warwick

Phone: 738-2000

Public skating: Monday 4 to 5:15 p.m., Wednesday 4:45 to 5:45 p.m., Friday 4 to 6 p.m.

Adult public skating (18 and older): Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 8 to 11 a.m.; Thursday 8 to 9:15 a.m.

Cost: $3; no public hockey

tmooney@projo.com