I Suck At The Sunnyside Bowladrome

this past friday, i did something that i have not done since starting my job in marblehead: i hung out with my coworkers after hours.

it's not that i dislike my coworkers or anything like that. i like my coworkers a lot. they are a great bunch of people to hang out with. it's just that with my long commute home, it occasionally makes after hours events a little more difficult.

friday, however, i got to hang out with my coworkers at the sunnyside bowladrome in danvers after work. i definitely suck at the sunnyside bowladrome. after all, i have never been to the bowladrome... or anywhere in danvers. my boss had planned this outing a while ago after a bunch of us had a group luncheon in marblehead. (the luncheon was quite fun, especially since all of us got to learn about the "triple deuces" offered by a local bar in town.)

needless to say, all of us had fun bowling. it seems like all bowling alleys look the same to me... and the sunnyside bowladrome is no different. inside is usually... old... with a musty smell... although the bowladrome did have an electronic scoring system (which reminded me a lot of atari with its old-school graphics).

i am extremely terrible at bowling... although i could probably still beat my friend (hot amy). and as added proof that i am definitely getting old, the left cheek of my derriere started getting sore, as did my shoulder. who knew bowling could be such a workout?

afterwards, a bunch of my coworkers walked on over to the onion town grill, which is a restaurant directly across the street from the bowladrome. i must say, i love that name "onion town". for anyone curious, danvers is apparently famous for onions... or more importantly... the danvers onion.

anyway, my coworkers and i had a great time on friday. when my coworkers left, i was then lucky enough to hang out with karen and my friends (kerry and jen)... who were also at onion town.

while i was out an about bowling up a storm at the sunnyside bowladrome, karen and jen took the commuter rail train up to salem to meet up and hang out with kerry. i think it's been a while since the three of them just hung out together. so it was nice that they were able to hang out together... at least, i hope it was.

i don't know what they did prior to onion town... if they did do anything prior to onion town... but i was lucky enough to meet up with them at onion town.

the four of us ended up going back to salem to a pub called o'neills. in case anyone is curious, o'neills is an an irish pub and restaurant. o'neills was rather interesting. not only did they have a pub and restaurant area, they have a dance area. while we were there, the place quickly filled with people on the dance floor... although i am not sure if they were actually dancing.

needless to say, i had a great time on friday.

kerry has since offered to make pancakes for us if we stay over her place the next time we are in salem instead of heading home. yummy... pancakes!

I Suck At Salem Beer Works

today, karen and i visited my bff (kerry).

kerry recently moved to salem. she got a great deal on an apartment. as it turns out, karen and i were her first friends to actually visit kerry at her new apartment. i think our visit made kerry extremely happy because i get the feeling that she thinks no one will ever visit her since she lives further up north than most of my other friends. so we visited. that is what bff's are for, right?

i'm actually used to the commute as i drive to neighboring marblehead quite often. in fact, driving to visit kerry actually felt like i was going to work, especially since i drove to marblehead to show karen around and kill some time. karen and i were going to be early in our visit because i picked karen up following her lunch with my friend (hot amy) and her boy wonder. so karen got a quick sight seeing tour of scenic marblehead before going to salem.

in salem, we met up with kerry, who actually lives close to downtown. the three of us hung out a little before walking the mean streets of downtown salem... in october. amazingly, there were not as many people dressed up in costumes yet... aside from some gorilla on a bike. i am guessing that perhaps it is still too early in the month.

after wandering around town (in which i learned salem had an official witch), the three of us decided to grab a bite to eat. we decided to eat at the salem beer works. now, i suck at salem beer works. i have never been to the salem beer works. when i first went in, i thought... how interesting... they make their own beer and all that. sadly, i failed to realize that the salem beer works... is actually the boston beer works... in salem.

(pictured below are karen and kerry.)


the food (and drinks) were delicious at the salem beer works. i had a grilled red snapper sandwich... with blueberry beer... and then a pumpkin beer... (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound). the sandwich was very tasty.

afterwards, we strolled around salem some more before heading back to kerry's apartment. all in all, i would say both karen and i had a good time. i hope kerry likewise enjoyed our company.