Free Things Are Cool

Archery lesson: free
Equipment rental: free
Changing Facebook status to "has learned archery. +2": priceless.

If you live in the Los Angeles area, you should definitely check out the Rancho Park Archery Range. Every Saturday there is a free lesson for beginners, along with a safety course mandatory for all archers new to the range. After you've completed the safety course, you can come any weekend on Saturday morning (about 9:30 to noon, when the safety course finishes) or Sunday afternoon (12-2) and use the range and their equipment absolutely FREE. Parking is also free. The range was built with money from the Olympics (can't remember what year--early 80s?), and is maintained by the volunteer instructors and donations from users. The instructors were really friendly and helpful, and it is kid-friendly (children must be at least 8 years old and accompanied by an adult). It is probably also handicap-accessible, although the path to the range is not paved.

Unlike with the rifle, my husband shot better than I did today. All 16 of my shots were on the target, though, and three were, well, in the vicinity of the bullseye. We will definitely go back and do it again! It was very fun. As I said, if you live in Los Angeles, you have no excuse not to go! Do be on time, though, because once class has started they won't let you in--you have to be there for the whole safety lecture. Seriously--go! How cool is it to be able to say you can shoot a bow?