Longview Lanes

You’re in a small town in Texas. It’s a Saturday night. Whatcha gonna do? Go bowling, of course!
I was in town for my cousin’s afternoon wedding, and since the wedding was held too late to drive back to Houston, my extended family and I had an evening to kill in Longview. My uncle suggested bowling and since I’d just done an unofficial Unilocal event in Houston involving pins and balls, of COURSE I was up for a few games (gotta improve my skills for the next one)! We looked up bowling in the local yellow pages, noticed this location was practically across the street from where cuz’s wedding reception was held, and set off to put in our strikes and spares.
For a small town, it’s decent, but boy is it ever run down. Even though I wasn’t terribly impressed by the über-​swank 300, newly opened in Houston, I found myself wishing for some of its niceties while I was here. My sister and I both wear size 8 shoes and when we laced them up, we realized they were crazy stretched out. I got a 7 instead and she ended up having to go down to a 6 (there are no half sizes). The balls are pockmarked with years and years of use, and you just have to root around to find a ball that’s right for you on the racks near the lanes. Scoring systems are old and we noted quite a few errors. The prices seemed incredible for A) being in a small town and B) how old everything was. It was $ 5 for shoe rental and $ 10/​hr to bowl. I don’t really know how the locals could afford to go here that often.
However, the one GREAT thing about this place, and the point that made me almost forget all of its shortcomings, is the fact that it’s non-​smoking. I was expecting that a small east Texas town would be filled to the gills with folks lighting up, and I actually adjusted my clothing choices accordingly (didn’t want freshly drycleaned pants getting all gross-​smelling thanks to one wear). But walking in and not smelling a hint of smoke was fantastic. Of course, tobacco wasn’t completely eliminated – there were some young guys chewing and spitting into cups a few lanes down from us. Grossss.
There’s pool, air hockey, and a ton of video games tucked into one corner of the building, and lots of kids were taking advantage of that while we were there. It looked like there was food available at counter service, but we ended up heading out to the Waffle House on the Loop for our dinner fix instead.
All in all we had a really fun night out, and my mom (ex-​league player) totally wiped the floor with us. Now that I’ve discovered Mom’s hidden talent, I need her to give me some lessons!