Last week, our weekend plans were thrown for a bit of a loop when we found out we needed to drive down state and look after our nephews last minute. My wife's brother was going to go down and do it, but he had something unexpected come up, so we offered to fill in.
Normally we would have all the kids on an occasion like this, but their sister was attending the daddy daughter dance that night with their dad. Meanwhile, their mom was in charge of the dance, so she had to be on hand to make sure it all went off without a hitch. That left us with the two boys for the night.
As soon as we found out we were going to have them, @mrsbozz put me in charge of finding something for us to do. She said "we are not going to sit around the house all night, so you need to find something for us to do". They live down in the Flint area, so finding things to do wasn't that hard, unfortunately, many of those things are outdoors and doing that in the middle of winter doesn't always work out.
I had looked into one of those indoor trampoline parks, but my brother in law said their sister actually enjoys those more than the boys do. He said if it is nice out we could always just take them to the park to play basketball. That's one of the things they love to do. Unfortunately, it wasn't that nice out.
I looked into taking them to the bowling alley as I mentioned to @gooddream, but I figured on a Friday evening those would be pretty busy with leagues and stuff like that. That's usually how it is around here anyway. I also thought about taking them to one of those retro bar/arcade places that seem to be the rage now, but I couldn't find one down in their area.
Eventually, I happened upon Extreme Kart Racing which was just up the expressway one exit. Built in a strip mall in a building that use to be a KMart store (I think), Extreme Indoor Kart Racing is unlike anything I have ever seen before.
So we picked up the boys around 4:00 PM on Friday and fought our way through traffic up to Clio, Michigan where the kart track was. @mrsbozz noticed the sign on the door as we walked in and though it was pretty funny, so I just had to take a photo.
I was a big shocked to see that the place was virtually dead when we stepped inside. @mrsbozz wasn't so shocked because she felt the place was a "dump". To be fair, it wasn't in the best condition, but I still felt it was pretty cool. I thought I took a photo of the outside, but I can't seem to find it now.
To be fair, it did look a bit sketch as we were walking in. The whole strip mall seems virtually abandoned and much of the building looks like it has seen better days.
They have the building separated into two sections. The side above is where the spectators sit. They also have a party area and a small arcade that we didn't have time to check out.
You pay at the counter up front, then wait to be called back for them to go over the safety protocols and rules.
We decided to just let the boys race while we sat and watched.
The other side of the building is the track. It's billed as being a 1/4 mile long, but I am not sure how accurate that is. @mrsbozz was reading that the karts can get up to 40 MPH, so they had lots of barriers in place to ensure safety.
We had to sit behind a wall with windows in that spectator area I mentioned above, we weren't even allowed in the racing area.
There were a couple adult guys finishing up a race when we got there. They looked like they were having a blast.
It was hard to get a good photo of the track from behind the glass. It actually goes back into the back area of the store to the left there. We weren't able to even seen the boys for a good portion of the race.
I think one of our biggest complaints about the place was the fact that there wasn't adequate ventilation. I'm guessing there is probably some kind of code or rule for a business like this and while they may have been meeting the minimum standard, the exhaust fumes from the gas powered karts was starting to get to us by the time we left.
We were able to get two races for the boys at $30 a piece, so $60 total for them to race. Which didn't seem too bad at the time, but when you consider the fact that a race only lasts maybe five minutes, it's actually a bit pricey.
So $60 for ten to fifteen minutes of fun. They boys had a blast though and at that point, it didn't really matter how much it cost.
It was actually kind of comical to watch them at first. I don't think they had ever been in a go-kart before and they were putzing around the track like a little old lady on a Sunday drive. My youngest nephew kept having trouble with the sharp turn you see in the photo above and the workers had to run out and set him straight since the karts don't have reverse.
Eventually though, he got it. By the end of the second race they were going quite a bit faster than they had to begin with.
I found myself wishing I had went out there with them and driven a couple of laps.
I tried taking some photos, but ended up getting blurry ones like the one above.
So then I started messing with the shutter speed on my phone to see if I could get the action shots a little better. It was hard to find a balance of the shutter being open long enough to let a good amount of light in, but not being open too long that the karts turned out blurry.
As you can see in the photo above, I was way off on both counts!
I was able to get one or two good ones.
It's pretty cool too because they keep track of your lap times and they put your stats on a display that everyone can see. It actually worked out well that the place was so dead, my nephews were the only ones on the track and instead of having to wait in between races, they were able to run them both back to back.
Depending on how fast the drivers go, a single race usually gives you between 6 to 10 laps around the track.
As you can see, I think they had a pretty good time!
The boys picked Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner, so we took them there, then we headed home where they went to their respective areas to play Fortnite. Good call on the part of @mrsbozz, because she knew if we just went right home after picking them up, they would sit and do this all night.
Their dad got home about 9:30 PM and @mrsbozz and I piled in the car for the 45 minute drive home.
It wasn't what we had planned for our Friday night, but I'd like to hope the boys will carry moments like this with them for a long time. Time spent with others is definitely time well spent, and I'm definitely happy I got to spend this time with them.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
I've been karting a few times as work outings. It can be fun, but I'm not that good at racing. There are a lot of places doing it here. One time we were on an area within the Silverstone racetrack. Some places use electric karts these days, so there's less fumes.
I think the electric karts would be much better. Maybe once the technology catches up they will all convert over to that. It seems a lot healthier and better for the environment. I can't remember the last time I was karting. I think it was down at Disneyworld.
This looks so much fun! What a great way to spend the weekend.
They had a really good time for sure! It was honestly over way too fast!
I thought you were going to sneak in a few food photos at the end there. It's been a while since I was go karting and it is great fun, but the price seems really crazy. I don't know why they don't lower the cost to get more people in and staying for longer...
Yeah, I am not sure either. I think you can buy a pass if you are a regular and they probably give a discount on that. I thought about taking some photos of the food, but it was Buffalo Wild Wings which is kind of meh. It used to be my favorite, but not so much anymore. It's just way too expensive. It was close to $100 for our four meals.
Is that including the karting?
No, the karting was at a separate place.
Prices going up fast there!
You would not believe it!
Unless they brake down on you, you can NEVER go wrong with Karting its just awesome, I love it as a kid an adult, its very often to see this type of tracks empty for multiple reasons, its not on the cheap cheap side of fun things to do and it last very little as you mention only 6 to 10 laps although the adrenaline is awesome, people usually feel its not enough for what they spend, I usually end up with my hands hurting badly after the first set of laps but still love it
Yeah, I am kind of wishing I had gotten out there now. My wife kept asking me why I didn't buy a ticket for myself, but it was fun watching the kids have fun. I probably would have frustrated them more than anything trying to keep up with me!
Yeah some times its more joy on been an spectator specially watching the kids have fun, I got two kids and it does put a smile on my facing watching them have fun ✌️
Looks like a blast. The only place I’ve ever done carts like that was in Florida. It was cool
Nice of you and the misses to jump in to help out.
I've seen karts outside a lot, but I don't think have ever seen them indoors like this.
Go karting is great, AI used to race. While back, my own kart, until it got so expensive to be competitive I decided to give it away. I don't go much these days, but when I do I enjoy it. My old bones to not though. 🤔
Haha, I can only imagine. As I said in one of the other comments I don't think I have been since I went to Disney and that was ages ago. I kind of wish I had taken a drive with them. Especially since we had the whole place to ourselves!
The hire karts are quite different to the racing karts as you can imagine, but are still fun. I got to the point where racing wasn't that fun though, always looking for more speed, the right gearing for the race tracks each weekend, and that meant sinking more and more money. I liked it, but there's a time to draw a line you know?
These days, I get that same fire inside when I step into a kart, the desire to win and all, but knowing how my bones will protest later I tend to temper my efforts. 🤪
Yes, I know all about expensive hobbies and things like that. There is definitely a point where you just have to draw the line and be content that you won't have the top shelf.
Bet that was fun and despite the Ms. opinion, to a child, something like that is amazing - regardless the condition. We have a few around here, in fact, the only working skating rink for about 70 miles. The place is run down and ran by an older couple, but the kids still have a blast there. Fun factor doesn't really look at cosmetics.
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We have a roll arena down the road from where we live, but about the only time we got here is to have dinner at the bar that is attached to it!
I'm happy that places like this still exist. This would have been an absolute wonderland for me as a kid. I'm sure the kiddos had a blast there.
I think they had a great time. My younger nephew was a little iffy on the whole thing, but I think that is just because he was mad his brother beat him. I think now that they know this place is so close to where they live, they might be asking their parents to take them more often.
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First time i tried carting it's really fun and can't get enough
My nephews would totally agree!
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It kind of makes you wonder how they are able to stay in business, but maybe it was just an off day for them.