I recently mentioned I went on a little bowling outting with a few of my friends from a small group. Well, I just thought that I’d elaborate a bit and give mention to the Oakfield Hotel. For those of you who have been there you know that you are greeted by the hundreds of little stuffed heads of animals and little statuesque figures of critters and wildlife (sorry for those of you who might be professional taxidermists who prefer to use other terms than “stuffed”). I believe there is a 2 headed calf head mounted, and your normal squirrels and chipmunks and deer and all of those types of objects. I believe there is even a butt of a deer mounted with eyes on it to make it look like a funny face. Now, for those of you readers who might object to the killing and stuffing of animals, please keep reading, I am not necessarily disagreeing or agreeing either way with mounting animals on your walls as a showcase, but it was part of the Oakfield Hotel experience! And it is what you are greeted with upon arrival.
But its a quaint little place that really is in the middle of nowhere to most people! I tried to give directions to someone and said turn left at the greenhouse, and they thought I meant an actual green house! When you find your way there, its a place that might seem startling at first. You walk in and every single person turns at the bar to see who is walking in the door. But admit it, you could be sitting at the bar and you’d be curious to know who comes in also! We all do it! At first no one says hi, but give it a few minutes and its like Cheers! (Come on! I know you all know the theme song…. WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME!!! ::singing:::)
At first glance most people would think, “okay, the Oakfield Hotel is nothing more than a little dive bar that is full of locals.” — Give it a minute! Just wait for it….
AND THEN the doors open in the back to a bowling alley!!!! A private little area, with maybe 13 lanes. You pay $0.50 for shoes and something like $2.00-$2.50 per game! I MEAN that is a good time! Everyone is looking to save these days. But we had a group of friends there on Friday, we played 2 games and basically had the whole place to ourselves. We ordered pizza and soda and wings, great food, its not one of those nights you have a good time with and not go home crying that you spent too much money. We all laughed and joked around and had the occasional bowling lane issues, where the guy who ran the desk was more than happy to help us out a bit.
And I am glad that Mancusos is here and bowl there also, but sometimes on a Friday night you just want to have a fun personal night with your group of friends and its hard when there is Rock and Bowl and you are squeezing your groups into the last two lanes available. So I do recommend this new discovery! We had a blast. Everyone there is either playing darts, or socializing at the bar, playing pool… they even have horseshoes in the summer! But the Oakfield Hotel is a pretty good place to go! I’ve suggested it to many friends and they’ve all given it a try! I think our night of bowling cost $5.50 a person to bowl for 2 hours of fun and $5.00 a person to eat pizza and wings. Really thats a cheap date! But it makes for lots of laughter and good times.
