- Take hotel shuttle to airport
- Fly to Seattle
- Fly to Newark
- Drive rental car to Atlantic City
We had a busy day of travel today! Our day started off great with our shuttle ride to the airport. We had the same driver we had when we went to LA. Of course he 
didn’t remember us, but we had liked him then and his cheerful attitude made our early start much nicer.
As we walked in the airport doors and strolled right past the ticket counters I felt thankful we were traveling light. Brandon had checked us in the night before so we just headed straight to our gate.
Our first flight was very uneventful – just a quick up and down to Seattle where we caught our next flight to Newark. Of course I have some lovely in flight photos of us (your welcome, Brandon). The second flight to Jersey was fine – a little bumpy (which makes me very nervous), but when we got close we had to circle for quite a while making us about an hour late on arrival. While frustrating because we were ready to be off the plane, this was no big deal because we didn’t have a connecting flight. We were thankful however, that we had chosen to rent a car at the airport rather than take a train because we would have been late for that.
Oh, one other note – after getting off the plane I wanted to get some coffee for our drive since I was sleepy after our early morning. I spotted a Starbucks and 
figured we could grab a quick caffeine fix. So, let’s just say east coast Starbucks are not like west coast Starbucks. Our barista was nice – but, I don’t recall ever having a west coast barista answer his/her personal cell phone mid drinking making and have a nice chat?? I almost wished for an annoying, hyper cheerful, twenty something Starbucks employee – and anyone who knows how “abrasive” that makes 
me would be surprised! So, I know, big surprise, my latte was terrible. But I drank it anyone and decided maybe I will just be ordering drip coffee on this trip.
After we got off the plane I was thankful for traveling light again because we didn’t have to wait around to get our bags – we just took the tram to the car rental area and picked up our car. Now, I know you will all be jealous because we 
got to rent a Hyundai!! I know how very exciting. At least the AC worked!
Our drive to Atlantic City was fun. It was a neat way to get to see New Jersey, or at least part of it. We kept remarking to each other about how green it was – I guess we shouldn’t be surprised since it is the “Garden State”, but we just didn’t expect it.
Along w/the greenery we of course noticed all the toll roads. We must have
driven through eight or ten different toll roads. Luckily our rental car had an “EZ Pass” which let us drive through a specially marked lane and just charged the toll cost to our credit card. This made the drive easier and kept us from have to fumble w/change.
Two more quick notes about the drive. Number one: we got honked at as we were exciting the rental car parking lot – apparently we stopped at the stop sign for a few seconds too long! I told Brandon that made it official that 
we were on the East Coast and after texting the experience to Joylyn – she said that is the NYC welcome. So, we feel welcome! Number two: Brandon wanted me to be the navigator – if you know me and directions you know this could be a very bad idea. But despite my aniexty I think I did a pretty good job, only answering “I don’t know” once to the question, “Is this my exit?” (Check out the picture of me being nervous holding the directions) 
We arrived at our hotel at about 9:00PM EST, so it felt like 6:00PM to us. It was pretty neat to drive in to Atlantic City at night and see all the lights of the casinos, hotels, and shops. We parked our slamming Hyundai and went in to check in. We are staying at the Borgata, http://www.theborgata.com. After waiting in line to check in we met our very nice hotel clerk, Jason. 
He was great. He asked to see our IDs to check us in and was surprised that we were from Oregon. He said he hadn’t been out west before, the farthest west he had been was Lancaster, PA. “Ya know, where the Amish people live,” he says in a Jersey accent. Then he tells us that since 
it is our first time here he is going to “hook us up with a sweet room”. We of course thank him and head up to our room thinking, okay so now our room with have a fridge…no big deal.
Then when we get up to the room, we realize he did “hook us up” with a sweet suite! It was probably the nicest hotel room we had every stayed in. Check out the pictures. We are very excited!! 
After settling in our room we went out to dinner. We are still on west coast time, but that is the beauty of staying at a casino…everything is open super late – or never closes at all. Anyway after a quick walk around the floor scoping our the restaurants we settled on Bobby 
Flay Steak. We sat down to dinner at about 10:00PM EST. At first we were worried we would be underdressed, but we saw all manner of dress codes around – fancy dresses with plunging necklines right next to t-shirts and shorts. So, we fit right in (you know Brandon w/his plunging neckline & me w/my shorts J)
We had a delightful dinner. Brandon had a delicious NY strip steak and I had some yummy halibut. Our waiter was great – we even got him to take a picture of us. 
I know how very touristy! Oh, and of course we took the dorky pictures out front too!
After dinner we headed back up to the room and hit the sack. We were very tired! Tomorrow it is off to the boardwalk – yeah!
No comments:
Post a Comment