Recently, I had to travel to Chicago for work.  We stayed at the Eaglewood Resort in Itasca, just outside of Chicago.  It was a 3 day meeting and on the 2nd night I noticed there was an advertisment for a bowling alley at the hotel.  So, I got 3 of my co-workers to go with me.  We finally found it after about 20 minutes of walking around the hotel (it is in the sports center in the parking lot...I know we should have just asked someone).  We walk in and there is 1 guy working at the bar/counter with no one else in the place.  It's a 6 lane alley that costs $20/hr/lane including shoes (although, he said we didn't have to wear shoes if we didn't want to).  It was still pretty modern with electronic scoring that showed speed (my local alley doesn't even do that).  Here's where the fun comes in:
I have, what I'd say, are pretty average stats...speed around 17 mph, roughly 300-350 revs and usually play an 18-5 line.  My first shot hooked right into the left gutter, about 5 feet short of the pins!  Here is what I had to throw that night.  I had to basically stand in the left gutter, throw it cross-lane to about the 4-5 board and throw it over 21 mph (according to their system) just to keep it from hooking back too far!  This was with a house ball!  I still had several shots that would come into the 1-2 or 2-4 after overhooking the pocket!  I literally couldn't move any further left or I would have been on the next lane and I couldn't throw it any faster as my shoulder felt like it was going to fall off.  I ended up shooting 181, 189, 206 in the 3 games I got in.  The best part was, it was probably the most fun I've had bowling in a long time!  It was just for fun and there was no pressure!  Has anyone else ever discovered a "recreational alley" like this before?