Keene

Dance party bowling

I was particularly excited to research this month's piece since it would afford me the opportunity to visit one of my girlfriends whom I rarely get to see since she moved to Keene a few years ago. We keep up through e-mail and at least see each other once a year at her annual pre-Keene Pumpkin Festival carving party, but I miss seeing her face. As Christine describes it we are soulmates; you get us together and it's nonstop hilarity, so I felt it necessary to call Keene City Hall and warn the entire town of our outing in advance.

Upon arriving at Christine's house, a birthday party for her 5-year-old was winding down. As the bouncehouse deflated, I chatted with the parents there and got some good intel on where to go and what to do that evening. I also invited her brother and next-door neighbor to come along and determinedly packed all four of us – plus a wheelchair – in my Mini Cooper Convertible. We must've been quite the sight cruising through the center of town with each of us holding onto various wheelchair parts.

Keene seemed fairly quiet on the September evening I researched this piece, but Margaritas Mexican Restaurant offered a nice variety of seating and a decent-sized crowd. We took over the leather couch area and ordered a coffee table full of appetizers including the shrimp quesadillas and baby beef chimichangas, which were both simple and delicious. I ordered a Don Julio/Grand Marnier margarita on the rocks and the rest of the table followed suit, although everyone accessorized theirs differently which, as a bonus, helped to keep our glasses straight – one with salt, one with sugar, one without salt and one without salt and extra limes. After a photo session with one of the Mexican idols, we headed back to the car and found where all the college kids were at – hanging out in the back parking lot, listening to music and smoking cigarettes. A wheelchair race and dance party ensued. Then my group of clearly-no-longer-college-students pulled a reverse clown car to the crowd's amazement and made our way to Yankee Lanes for glow bowling.

For $16, we were able to bowl unlimitedly from 9:30 p.m. on. Shoes included. But the best part was that the regular lights were down, the black lights were on and a DJ spun a variety of '80s, '90s, and millennium pop music. This made the perfect backdrop for laughing at our poor bowling skills, although I must say that I won the first game with a whopping score of 134. I'll tell you, glow bowling works as a group thing but would also be fun on a date night.

The pump primed, we wandered into the City Sports Grille, which is literally connected to the bowling alley, and happened upon karaoke night. Properly warned, the residents of Keene were awaiting our performance with bated breath so Christine and I treated them to a roaring rendition of Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf." When the DJ cued up "Sweet Caroline" we knew it was time to make our way home.