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Tahoe Family Guy: Bowling for parties |
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Written by By Andrew Cristancho/Special to the World - View Profile
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008 |
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My daughter turned five last week.
My wife and I were faced with what to do for her party. The same thing we’ve done the last three years? Or think of something different? Our soon to be five-year-old told us that she was happy with the same old thing, and we almost sent out the printed invites when everything changed.
My daughter was introduced to a new sport.
Ice-skating? Nope, Skiing? Been there. Sledding? Done that. Snowshoeing? No.
Her new love of the sport of bowling can be blamed on her friend Justin, who invited her to his birthday party at the Incline Village bowling alley just a few weeks prior. Even before we left that party Sophia, asked if she could have her’s there.
She was hooked.
My wife and I looked at each other knowing that meant reprinting the invites, and canceling the other venues, which included a visit to both, an educational center in Truckee and the local ice skating rink. But, who needs to be educated or outside when, during a clear bluebird 50-degree Tahoe day, you can drive a half-hour to spend the day inside tenpin alley?
Within the darkened bowling hall, the air is filled with the aroma of pine-scented Lysol, you know, the kind that vendors of short-term rental footwear use to spray-freshen their sweaty products, like bowling shoes?
I’m familiar; my first job in Tahoe was fitting customers at Alpine Meadows resort with ski boots. We sprayed the heck out of those foam liners. Ah, the smell of “boot-world,” being in the bowling alley takes me back.
But I digress. The smell in the bowling hall is aerosol fresh, but not smoky, because in Incline Village, though technically in the state Nevada, is now being called “Eastern California,” by the owners of this establishment, hinting at their frustration of a recently-passed smoking ban in the state. What business from smokers the ban discourages, the smoke-free environment is an attraction for Eastern Californians like our family.
The building interior was fairly clean with mostly dim lighting except for the bright bowling lanes. The air was haunted with digital voices emanating from the corner in the upper tier of the building, that is crammed with video and pinball games, an air hokey table and at least two crane games; the ones with the grappling hooks that drop into a the bottom of the plastic case filled with either candy or stuffed animals.
Of course, being eastern Californians my wife and I worried about the toys,
all made in China, being laced with lead, and the candy loaded with every color and flavor but a natural one. Well, one day of lead and eatable artifice on a stick won’t hurt — I hope.
Good clean fun
There is nothing artificial about the cuteness of a bunch of four and five year-olds rolling bowling balls down the lanes, all with their tiny little bowling shoes on, except maybe their 2-year-old siblings with even smaller shoes on. One of the 2 year-old bowlers rolled the ball so gently it stopped midway down the lane, so we threw him down headfirst after it, no just kidding, he would have never fit inside the automatic ball return.
The lanes at Incline Bowl all come with retractable bumpers for the gutters, so the kids can really experience the sport without getting bored. I like the bumpers too, with no gutter balls I might hit 100 score, I’m told a perfect game is 300.
Bowling is primal
I've found that bowling is primal. I say that not because playing the game makes me want to hear heavy metal music and drink beer, although it does. No, it’s primal because it elicits instant emotion from the player. When you throw the ball correctly and you knock down some, or all of the pins, you can’t suppress the grin. I know, I tried to remain sedate after my first strike of the day, (about two hours after I started). I couldn’t help turning around fast to my group of bowlers sitting in swivel chairs and doing one of those punching down at the air with my fist moves, while kicking out one foot and hissing “yessss!”
It wasn’t a fake reaction, or something I felt I should do to encourage the others to play, it just came naturally. There is that feeling that washes over you when you do well in any sport I guess, when all of a sudden you are “in it”. And I think that is what bowling lends to the total novice looking to spend an afternoon with family and friends; a no pressure, low-impact sport, where the complete beginner is, all of a sudden, totally engaged in everything it has to offer.
Not that bowling lacks a learning curve. I’m sure the pros spend hours, probably years, perfecting their game and honing their skills. But in tenpins, unlike say, skiing, you can achieve the pinnacle of the sport, the strike, in the first few minutes, if your lucky. With skiing you might be on your boards, on the snow, but you don’t go hucking off cliffs or enjoying the ultimate powder day for quite some time.
With bowling, once you’re in your shoes, you’re there man; it’s you, the ball, the smooth polished hardwood lane and those 10 pins teasing you at the end. The only obstacle between you and glory are the evil gutters on both sides of the lane, and your own lack of skill and focus.
Both the big and the little kids had a good time last weekend, and I think that many of them will return to chuck balls down the lanes.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 February 2008 )
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