April 19th 2012: Candlepin Bowling in Acton

Today after work, I decided to use another of my Livingsocial deals, this time for 2 games of bowling, shoes, a burger and a shake at Acton Bowladrome in Acton. When I first bought the deal, I had thought that the place had ten-pin bowling as well, but I was disappointed to realize that this was not the case. 

Regardless, I was going to get free entertainment and a meal as well, so I went along with it for today. The place itself had one redeeming feature compared to the other candlepin bowling places I have been to before, namely a computerized scoring system. Even so, I failed to perform well at both of my free games, scoring less than a hundred on either game.

With respect to my meal, I got the Vanilla Shake and the Classic Burger. I did not know however, that the burger would come with fries as well.

The shake was pretty good, and the burger alright. I was hoping that I would still be hungry by the end of it, so that I could head into Bedford to try a new restaurant, where I will be co-hosting a meetup event and need to decide on a place for the group to eat at, but as it turned out, I could not even finish my meal. I blame the shake.

After I was done, I realized that I still had some time before the sun set, so I decided to do a little more sightseeing before heading home. I chose to visit the trails at Buckboard Drive in Westford.

When I reached the area, I could not find any trailhead, and all the water bodies I saw in the residential area were swampy ones. I was about to give up when I finally spotted a trail leading northwards from the southern fork of Buckboard Drive. As it turned out, this wasn't the actual trail, but it connected to the main trail, and finally I was able to explore the area. The path I took here is highlighted in pink below.

The trails I walked were not very well maintained, and there was nothing much to see until I finally reached the northern two ponds, which actually looked like water bodies for once. Here, I was able to take a few pictures of the ponds here, in the light of the setting sun.

From here, I walked out to Chamberlain Road, from which I turned right into Buckboard Drive and headed back to my car.

Overall, I did not think this was that great a place to visit, but the views of the northernmost ponds were decent, so I will leave it in my list of recommended places.