Webster Avenue's fraternities and sororities are not the only places near Dartmouth to find packed dance floors, loud music and people looking to unwind after a tough week.
Last Saturday I ventured into the wilds of the Upper Valley to find out whether night life exists beyond the walls of the College's fraternity basements.
Every place I visited, from the miniature golf course to the local bars and clubs, attracts crowds eager to let down their hair. The opportunity to see new faces in exotic places is a perfect break from the College's typical night life.
Skunk Hollow Tavern
Wearing everything from tie-dye sweat pants and t-shirts to J. Crew chinos and sweaters, so many people were crammed into this small bar that many overflowed outside onto the lawn or upstairs into the restaurant.
Tucked away in rural Hartland, Vt., Skunk Hollow Tavern is a tiny, plain box of a building dwarfed by a massive church. The Tavern's hard-drinking clientele leave their cars on the holy ground next door.
Clasping mugs of molasses-colored beer or fluted glasses of white wine, a happy crowd of students and middle-aged adults chatted around the bar in the rear of the room. The place is a favorite of Dartmouth's medical and business students.
Thick wooden tables and a large stone fireplace occupy most of the interior of the quaint tavern, and the white walls are adorned with mirrors, colorful prints and wreaths of dried flowers.
The diversity of the customers was rivaled only by the musicians, who played everything from original acoustic numbers to reggae. When I visited it was "Open Mic[rophone] Night."
One middle-aged mustached man parodied the Internet, strumming his guitar to the tune of "It's A Small World After All," while singing "It's a Wide Web after all ... http://www.dartmouth.edu."
A women clad in jeans and a plaid shirt sang 10,000 Maniac's "Because the Night" and Natalie Merchant's "Carnival." From her shoulder-length black hair to her voice and mannerisms, the woman was a spitting image of Merchant herself. The crowd applauded wildly and pleaded for an encore.
Two 19-year-olds from Lebanon performed next, strumming guitars and singing original rock songs.
One of the two, Rob Guzy, told me the Skunk Hollow Tavern is a great place to play because of "the cool environment and its really homey atmosphere."
The night's final act, a three-man band with banjo, flute and guitar, brought the crowd to their feet, dancing and clapping to the furious melody.
Fore-U Golf Center
For the past couple decades, mini-golf has been a staple of America's nighttime culture, and West Lebanon's newly opened Fore-U Golf Center is already attracting crowds of locals.
Artfully arranged carnations and shrubbery replace the plastic windmills and vinyl palm trees, which seem like a mandatory part of most mini-golf courses. It is probably for the best, since plastic and vinyl would seem out of place in rural New Hampshire.
Either the Fore-U course is deceptively difficult or I am decidedly uncoordinated.
My friends tell me it is the latter. Holes that looked like easy holes-in-one kept taking me five or six strokes, and sometimes more.
Wooden footbridges traverse the man-made waterfall, which tumbles down the hillside on which the course is built. Tall lights illuminate the entire course.
When I returned my putter to the rack at 11 p.m., I could still hear the enthusiastic shouts of the lucky and the exasperated shrieks of the less-fortunate echoing down the hill.
Fore-U Golf Center is open until 11 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and until 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
The miniature golf course opened for the first time this Independence Day weekend, but the adjacent driving range has been in operation for 12 years.
Mark Johnson, who designed the course, said many Dartmouth students frequent the driving range.
Fore-U Golf Center is located just past Denny's (another spot with noteworthy night life) in West Lebanon.
The Bean Gallery
With its modern decor and extensive array of gourmet coffees and baked goods, the Bean Gallery Coffee Shop looks more like it belongs on a crowded street corner in Europe than next to Woolworth's in Lebanon.
Sipping flavored coffee and surveying the people at each of the shiny black Formica tables, I listened to jazz musicians blasting saxophones and trombones inside the small coffee shop.
Lush green plants dominate the white tile floor of the impeccably clean shop, and most of the freshly painted gray walls are bare, giving the small room a contemporary style.
Huge windows extend the entire length and width of two of the walls, giving a complete view of Lebanon's town green.
Almost every table in the shop was occupied when I visited, and the eclectic mix of people, who ranged from high school students to middle-aged professionals, seemed to enjoy the atmosphere and music as much as the coffee.
Bean Gallery employee Heath Gosselin said very few Dartmouth students visit the shop.
The Bean Gallery, which opened two years ago, stays open on Friday and Saturday nights until 11 p.m.
Karaoke Night at China Lite
Red vinyl swivel chairs reminiscent of the 1970s and an impenetrable screen of smoke were the first two things I noticed upon entering China Lite's Karaoke Night close to midnight last Saturday.
Giggling like school girls, two heavy-set 40-year-old women belted out Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" in front of the crowded room.
Students seldom visit this event at China Lite, which is a favorite of the 30-something crowd. Strange looks and curious glances greeted me from every direction when I made my way across the bar.
China Lite is famous among locals for its extensive selection of brightly colored and artfully presented drinks, which come with complete tropical regalia, including plastic swords, paper fans and umbrellas.
In addition to the wide array of tropical drinks, the restaurant boasts an exhaustive list of more than 50 cocktails and an assortment of gins, bourbons and beer.
China Lite, a hard-to-miss banana-colored pagoda with a giant red neon sign, is located in the Colonial Plaza in West Lebanon.
Every Friday and Saturday night from 9 p.m. until midnight is Karaoke night. The bar is closed to those under age 21.
China Lite restaurant has been a local favorite for more than 14 years. Karaoke Night debuted three years ago.
Destiny Nightclub
Destiny Nightclub in Ascutney, Vt. attracts a lively crowd of locals, students and swine.
I was accosted by three honest-to-god pigs in the parking lot of the night club, the region's only dance spot open to those younger than 21.
Woods and farmland surround the building on a quiet two-lane road 20 minutes from Dartmouth.
The nightclub's advertising slogan, "18 to party; 21 to drink" is enforced by two ape-like bouncers, who kept my driver's license until I left the club.
I navigated through the tables to the dimly-lit dance floor, feeling slightly out of place among the locals.
Once I joined the crowd on the dance floor, all my worries dissipated, and I felt like I was at a club back home on the Jersey shore.
I must admit, I was a bit embarrassment when the disc jockey, DJ Eric G shouted, "We would like to welcome the students here from Dartmouth College tonight..."
"G" played Billy Idol's "Mony, Mony," Coolio's "Fantastic Voyage" and the Fugee's "Killing Me Softly" before introducing the rock band Motorplant.
Taking a break near the bar, a 40-year old, mustached man in multi-colored neon pants and a loose tank top stumbled over to ask me to dance. Even though I declined his offer, it definitely added to my evening's fun.
As I prepared to leave, I noticed several signs advertising the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Swimwear Contest, which will start at Destiny this weekend.
The club is importing several tons of sand, and the manager will raffle off a Bahamas cruise to kick-off the event.
The club is open from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m. Wednesday through Friday and until 1 a.m. on Saturday. There is a $5 cover charge.
According to Manager Bill Henne, Destiny Nightclub is the "oldest still-functioning nightspot in the state of Vermont."
"Destiny has been here since the early '30s, existing even before liquor licenses," Henne said.
Henne said Dartmouth's organizations, especially fraternities and sororities, used to hold events at the club.
He said most of the Destiny's clients are 24 to 25 years old, and the club draws customers from as far as 40 miles away.
The club employs seven security personnel, five bartenders and four waitresses, Henne said.
Fort Lou's Truck Stop
Following the precedent set by legions of Dartmouth students, I finished my night with breakfast at Fort Lou's Truck Stop, formerly known as Harry's.
Serving up greasy food and authentic truck stop ambiance 24 hours a day, Lou's has been a favorite of Dartmouth students for its entire 10-year existence.
Even though Lou's menu has dinner fare, Dartmouth students' favorites are the "Flatbed Breakfast Specials," waitress Shirley Jenks said.
After I slid into my booth I contemplated calling a friend on the working telephone sitting on my table. Like many truck stops, Lou's has a telephone at every table so truckers can call home.
The shelves along the wood-paneled walls are lined with plastic car and truck figurines, and a jukebox stands in a corner of the small restaurant.
A convenience store is separated from the restaurant by a partition.
The only other customer was a weary-looking truck driver who sat alone at the counter in the center of the restaurant.
One of Lou's best features is its line of apparel, emblazoned with images of tractor trailers and the restaurant itself.
