It’s Sunday, you don’t have to work, and the skatepark is packed. Not feeling like interacting or being surrounded by many people, you drive off to a nearby parking lot of a closed store.

An empty parking lot, like a canvas. Everything you do is your own creation. No one is around; you’re all by yourself. It’s quiet and peaceful. You don’t feel like going hard and just want to do simple tricks. After warming up, you grab your wax, take care of a curb or a parking block, and start doing some slappies. There’s nothing like the feeling of having a piece of your board sliding on objects that weren’t built with skateboarding in mind. The noise of grinding trucks is genuinely one of a kind.

These parking lots are perfect for improving your flat ground skills and playing a game of S.K.A.T.E with your buddies. Still, my favorite is to create tricks that I’ve never seen or done before. Just start to goof around, use my hands and feet to make my board and body do all sorts of flips and motions.

The most time I’ve spent on single sessions must’ve been on parking lots. To me, there’s nothing more satisfying than this.