Day 3 - Wednesday, July 29

Itinerary

• Spend the day in Atlantic City
  

Our plan for today was pretty much to hang out in the casino a bit and check out the boardwalk.

We started our day by sleeping in. After we got up around 10 we headed downstairs for breakfast. Our room is on the 34th floor which has made for some great views. Last night we were able to see the marina and the strip all lit up, which was neat. And then this morning we were able to get a much better idea of the layout of the city. I have included some pictures showing the view from our room.

Since we had slept in and were having breakfast around 11:00AM, our choices for restaurants still serving breakfast were somewhat limited. So, we settled on the cliché casino fare – buffet. We got in line just in time since they quit serving breakfast at 11:15. The food was actually pretty good. It was nice to have so many choices (I know I sound like an add for Izzy’s) and it was a great place to people watch. Also, the coffee was surprisingly good. We enjoyed our meal and planned our day.

After we finished eating we headed out to the garage to return our rental car. We had to return it to the Harrah’s Casino, which is the next closest casino to the Borgata, so it was a quick drive. There was a little confusion as we tried to figure out where to return the car, the security guard we asked said “I don’t think you can return cars here,” but it turned out we had to take it to the valet station. Overall, we were glad we had chosen to rent the car, our only regret was about 2 minutes after we returned the car, when Brandon stopped mid stride and looked a bit pale and saying “Gas, I forgot to get gas!” So, even though we probably paid $7.89 a gallon (YIKES), it was still a great way to travel, allowing us to leave the airport right away since we would have had to wait 3 hours for the train and we also got to see the scenery in New Jersey.

At the Harrah’s we caught the Jitney down to the boardwalk. A Jitney is the local transportation for Atlantic City. Jitneys are small, blue buses that stop at all of the casinos and several other spots during the city and at $2.25 a ride, they are a cheap way to get around.

We got off our Jitney at the north end of the boardwalk right by the Showboat Casino. Then we headed south. Now, I haven’t said too much about the weather yet, but this day on the boardwalk was hot and extremely muggy. I suppose it was normal weather for a late summer day in Atlantic City, but we poor Oregonians melt in 85 degrees with high humidity. (Although, I suppose I can complain too much since it was 107 in Salem that day!!). Anyway, this weather made all of the casinos even more inviting because of the AC and we stopped often to cool off and wipe the sweat off!

It was neat to walk down the historic boardwalk checking out the tourist shops that all sold the same 27 items (cheap shirts, key chains, postcards, and souvenirs). Brandon did remind me that they only sold the same 27 items when I kept wanting to look around in each one - he was right of course, but I couldn't help it, I am a sucker for both shopping and dorky tourist gifts. But, I didn't buy much just a couple of postcards. We were thankful for these shops though because we had to buy some sunscreen so we didn’t get fried on our first day there. I hadn’t brought any along due to the airline restrictions on liquids.

Along with the tourist shops we noticed that there were a lot of massage places. It seemed every 20 stores or so there was a place offering massages. Many had cool signs, but we thought the one in the picture to the left was the best. In fact, we were thinking our sister April, needs to order this sign and put it up in the upstairs window of her Ikebox office. We are sure she will agree.

We also enjoyed comparing the casinos – they were all very similar, but some were definitely nicer than others, more elegant. Several looked as though they hadn’t been updated since the early eighties. We decided we really did stay at the fanciest and nicest hotel/casino.

There were two casinos that we really wanted to see –one of the Trump Casinos and the Caesar’s. Caesar’s was cool because of the specialty shops (Burberry, Gucci, Tiffany’s, etc.), the décor, and the water show that took place every half hour. We were expecting more gold at the Trump Plaza, but it was still fun to see and walk through. We actually didn't do much gambling (as you can see by the huge amount of cash in my hand at the slots). I think Brandon played one slot. And Kevin this time it was just a $5 pull. We were really just there for the experience, the cool hotel, sightseeing, and the boardwalk.

We also walked down on the beach a little and took the opportunity to put our toes in the Atlantic for the first time. It was interesting to see the differences between our beaches and theirs. It was fairly crowded and of course much warmer than the typical day on our coast. Most everyone was in their bathing suits and quite a few were in the water. The weather made me want to take a dip too – but I wasn’t wearing my swimsuit and the water looked pretty brown. Still, it was a fun experience.

As we continued down the boardwalk we stopped in one arcade to play a little pinball (over favorite game together!). The arcade we went in only had one pinball game – World Poker Tour. So we enjoyed a couple of two player games. We also enjoyed getting out of the sun.

There were many booths selling fried, fattening, fair-type foods. All of them tempting of course. Because of the heat we were looking for shaved ice, but we settled on something called “Water Ice”. It is kind of like an icee except it comes in a barrel like ice cream. It was refreshing, but very sweet, almost too sweet. We also had lunch on the boardwalk, I ordered a wrap and Brandon had pizza.

After walking on the beach we decided to head back to the hotel and shower before dinner. We were down by the Tropicana casino and we had to search for a Jitney stop. It was difficult, we kept seeing Jitney’s drive by, but we couldn’t seem to find a stop. Finally we crossed the street and ran down to a stop. We just caught it and took a seat in the back. Little did we know we were in for quite the Jitney ride. Let’s just say this guy drove his Jitney like Brandon and the boys used to drive in high school. He didn’t believe in braking and he passed every car he could, whether there was room or not! I was very thankful that I had taken my motion sickness medicine that morning! Oh and to top it all of we had gotten on the Jitney going the wrong way causing our driver much frustration and making him say to us “Other drivers make you pay twice!!” All we could do was mumble sorry and wait for him to start the loop again.

For dinner that night we decided to save a bit of money and choose a less fancy place. Our hotel had a place called the “Cafeteria” that offered more casual fare. We headed down there and settled on ordering from Fatburger. We had both heard of it before, but had never eaten there. Dinner was good.

After dinner I wanted to stop at the Ben & Jerry’s I had spotted on the way in. The smell of their waffle cones had been tempting me! So, we got in the line (probably ten people long) and waited to order. Now, remember we are staying at a hotel/casino, were you can get unlimited drinks while you are playing so we had seen our fair share of “happy” people. The lady in front of us in line was very “happy”, in fact she was holding a wine glass and swaying to the music being played over the loudspeaker. There were a few times we thought she might drop her glass or tip over. She was very excited to get her ice cream and I couldn’t blame her, so was I. Anyway, she ordered and disappeared and after Brandon and I had both ordered we headed back through the casino and towards the elevators. As we were walking I felt my foot hit something and thought I kicked something. I looked down to see that I had kicked someone’s ice cream. A scoop of ice cream had fallen off of someone’s cone and was in the middle of the walkway (and I was wearing my crocs – sticky toes, yuck!) Now of course we have no proof, but based on how our friend in front of us was swaying while she ordered, we think it was her ice cream I kicked. In fact, she probably didn’t even notice it was gone or she wondered how she had eaten so quickly!

Oh, one more quick Atlantic City story. Brandon and I had taken several pictures in the casinos and a few of him or me near the floor (where gaming happens). So, I didn't think anything of it when he sat down to play and I took a picture of him. I didn't however, notice there was a casino security guy walking past (you can see him at the edge of the picture, on the right) as I was taking it. Right after that picture was taken he quickly spun around and reprimanded me for taking a picture inside the casino. Apparently, I could be taking pictures and planning how to cheat the casino out of millions and millions of dollars thus ensuring my place in history as the greatest casino villain ever!! Okay sorry I got carried away. I was very embarrassed and quickly apologized, hoping he wouldn't take my camera. Anyway - note to self: You can take pictures on the floor of a casino.

After dessert we headed off to bed to rest up for another busy, fun day. Tomorrow we will spend the morning here and then travel to DC. We are really glad we made the stop in Atlantic City, it was cool to see the casinos, very fun to walk the famous boardwalk, exciting and relaxing to be spoiled by such a fabulous hotel room, delicious to eat at Bobby Flay, awesome to put our feet in Atlantic on the Jersey shore, and best of all to share it with each other. What an awesome trip so far!