‘I’m Sticking to 10-Pin’

Thanks everyone for the amazing suggestions over the past few weeks. But, full disclosure, I’m in beach mode as I plan for a June trip to Miami and am going to try to cut back on getting to know Glen Burnie restaurants.

That being said, I jumped at Brenda Kelly’s suggestion to take my first stab at duckpin bowling at Glen Burnie Bowl. I’ll be happy to try all of your restaurant suggestions after my vacation in June.

Growing up in Virginia—where I’m told there are duckpin-bowling facilities—I’m kind of surprised that I’d never heard of the game before moving to Maryland in 2004.

So Sunday afternoon I met Brenda at Glen Burnie Bowl and proceeded to embarrass myself while professional duckpin bowlers from the Pop Whitten Pro Tour participated in the finals of a weekend-long tournament at the other end of the bowling alley.

It was better that way so as we didn’t distract them with our bowling skills, or lack thereof, Brenda quipped.

I could see why people like the family feeling of Glen Burnie Bowl, which is something new manager Jonathan Steele said draws his customers back again and again.

“We have a family atmosphere,” said Steele, who’s been with Glen Burnie Bowl since the end of February. “We put family fun first before anything else. … We have a lot of consistent people who have been doing it for years. They’ve been in leagues here for years.”

The benefit of going to a women’s college is that for my one of my two required physical education classes I was able to take a bowling class—10-pin bowling, but still bowling. And through that class I believe I was able get a decent amount of skill.

Well all of that went out of the window. I just could not get the hang of duckpin. The smaller ball, the lack of finger holes, the three rolls per turn, the way my ball curved to the right in duckpin when it always curves to the left in 10 pin. It just wasn’t my day.

Brenda easily whooped me, but she’s also in a 10-pin bowling league and has played duckpin many times before. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

But Brenda and I agreed that we give much respect to those men who participated in the duckpin tournament at Glen Burnie Bowl Sunday. I just know that I’m sticking to 10-pin.

So, where else should I go? What’s a place or activity—preferably not a restaurant for the next couple months—that every Glen Burnie resident should go or experience?