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February 17, 2014 - 12:15 a.m.
"ardsley" or "dedicated ice"

Hey Journal!

Well, today we got to experience DEDICATED ICE!

Dan and I got up around 10:30 and watched some TV. Dan went to the gym around 11:00, and I stayed home because I had a couple of things to work on online and also wanted to get some laundry done.

When Dan got back he showered up, and then we got ready to go. Re arrived at 12:30 and we hit the road for Ardsley! I had never heard of the town of Ardsley before until we were told that it was the home of the nearest dedicated ice! We made a slight detour to pick up Linda and then we were back on the road.

I had forgotten my cell phone charger at home, and I wanted to have it in the car in order to make sure I had enough batteries for navigation and to take pictures of us curling. Luckily, Linda was able to provide me with an iPhone 5 charger! Phew!

We made good time, although we did run into a little bit of traffic crossing the Throgs Neck Bridge. In retrospect, it would have been better to have taken the Whitestone, but the traffic on the Throgs was so random. It started JUST as we got on and ended just as the span of the bridge ended..... it didn't seems like there was any logical reason for why, either. Since it cleared us so quickly, we only lost about 10 minutes.

Once we got off the highway in Ardsley, it was kinda wild... the club was located off the beaten path, down many windy roads and was at the top of a hill. We weren't sure we were in the right place until we saw one of our fellow club members!

We didn't have time to get anything to eat on the way, so we were fortunate that Re had brought along some pretzels! They saved the day.

The building was not quite what I had expected beforehand, but then again, I don't know what I really should have been expecting since I'd never been to a curling facility before.

When you first walk in, there's a room with three tables and the room looks out through big glass windows onto the three sheets. It was cool to actually see the house painted in the ice!

We waited a little while and more people started arriving. There were a total of 16 people there today and from what we hear, that's the biggest turnout they've seen this season. I guess that was good, but at the same time, we were hoping for a smaller crowd so we could just throw stones and try to practice more.... as opposed to having a real game.

In any case, it was really cool to experience the dedicated ice. First off, it was so much smoother than Newbridge, and it made it so much easier to make consistent shots. Having the house painted made it SOOOO much easier to see where your stone had landed! It was really cool. My other favorite thing was the line down the center of the ice. Having that, you could really tell how the stone was curling with much more precision!

Mike split us up into different teams, and so we weren't on our usual team! It was good, though, because we played against eachother. Except Dan... he was off on another team.

My team played Re and Linda... and we won 13 to nothing!! Way to go, us! We got some good photos on the ice, and it was a really fun time.

At 4:30, we were finished and headed back to the "warm room." Ruth had purchased snacks from Price Club, and everyone hung out for a while. I had some cake which was really good. I'm not sure what kinda it was, but I want to get that cake some time for some occasion!

So, it was a really fun experience, and we were all glad that we attended!

We left around 5:30, I think.... and we decided to get dinner. I looked up restaurants nearby and we would up in Tarrytown where it looked like a "Main Street" with lots of choices. We settled on a place called Horsefeathers which looked like it had a good menu.

It was a cool place, but I don't think the food was really all that amazing. I saw a French Dip on the menu and, strangely, it's served cold. That's a little odd... I got it... but I really think it should have been served warm. I feel like Dan, Linda, and Re were underwhelmed with their meals also. It was still fun, though.

Before hitting the road to head back, we went to Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins so we could get some dessert! Funnily enough, the one we went to was the same one that we had gone to with Jen B back in September when we went to see Bill Cosby!!

I got some mint chocolate chip ice cream and we sat and ate and chatted it up.

Then we headed back home. We didn't have any traffic except for one spot. There was an accident on the expressway, and a car was flipped upside down. It must have just happened because no police were there yet, and after we got past it, we saw tons of police and ambulances heading that way on the other side of the road!

We dropped off Linda, and then made our way back here. When we got back, I was EXHAUSTED. I really wanted to just sit down on the couch, watch a little TV, and fall asleep....

But not so fast.... Dan got a text from Shawn that they were meeting at the Tap and Barrel in Smithtown, and so we decided to go hang out for a bit.

Shawn, Caitlin, Jackie, Arianna, her boyfriend, and someone named Chris, who I'm not sure if I'd met before were there. I had two cranberry and vodkas, and I felt pretty drunk from them! At one point, I went to the bathroom (which is apparently NOT a single person bathroom) and I didn't notice there was someone at the sink until I was peeing and heard him take paper towel out of the dispense... I was like... shocked that I didn't see him. Dan and Shawn played darts and some video game, and I was talking to Caitlin, Jackie, and Arianna about TV shows for a while! They recommended that we watch Game of Thrones. I mentioned Pushing Daisies and it turns out Arianna is a big fan... she's watched the series 3 times. I am so upset that it was cancelled so soon, but I really would like to go back and watch it now!

We left the bar around 11:30 and headed home. I was so exhausted, and feeling way too drunk for having only had two drinks!

Anyway, Dan and I watched some Judge Judy and now it's time for bed!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)