So last week I mentioned we were going on a mini anniversary getaway. We've made somewhat of a tradition of going to the Jersey shore for our anniversary. We had our homey-moon in Cape May, our one year anniversary in Wildwood, and this year we picked Atlantic City. We didn't really do any research, we just picked a place we had heard of and figured it'd be fun. Dan got a good deal on a hotel and we made plans. We left Thursday night after I got home from work and arrived around 10 pm.
Does anyone remember the movie Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken? It's a film from the early 1990s about the true story of Sonora Carver, a girl who ran away from home to be a horse diver. It's a somewhat tragic love story and the bulk of it takes place in 1930s Atlantic City. In the movie the girl sings "On The Boardwalk (in Atlantic City)." It's a cute song, youtube it.
Anyways, I had a romanticized view of Atlantic City because of that movie. If you know anything about AC now, it's kind of a disaster. Overrun with trashy casinos, half of which are closed or closing, and just a town down on it's luck. We made the most of our quick trip and still had fun but Atlantic City has definitely seen better days...like, decades ago. I had been told this by others but not until after we already booked the trip so we forged ahead with hopes that they were wrong. Ha!
We stayed at the Showboat hotel next door to the well-known Trump Taj Mahal Casino. Turns out we got a good deal on the hotel because it had closed in 2014 and then recently reopened (like a month ago). Only half the hotel was open to guests, all the restaurants were closed, and the casino floor was completely vacant and blocked off. But hey, we got a good deal on a nice room and the view was great!
Next door at the Taj, the workers were striking on the boardwalk and the casino floor was open but pretty sparse. We got tickets to see Nik Wallenda's Zirkus on Friday night and had no idea that it was the last show to perform at Xanadu Theater. Ever. The Taj is likely closing for good this month. Isn't that wild? Another casino to add to the several other abandoned hotels on the boardwalk.
Don't get me wrong, we had a good time but the whole place was kind of comical. For example, we got breakfast on the boardwalk and Dan ordered a cheese omelet. This was how it was served:
Classy right? We had a good laugh. Dan and I agreed that the producers of Walking Dead should film in Atlantic City. They wouldn't have to do any staging - everything is already abandoned!
We walked around the boardwalk (typical boardwalk) and then changed to hangout on the beach. We liked the beach. The water was warm, the sand was clean, and there was plenty of people watching to enjoy.
That afternoon we tired our luck at the casino. Now, I've said it before but I am NOT a risk taker. Like, not at all. We came to the casino with a quart-sized Ziploc bag of coin change that we had collected over the year, the plan was to play with only that money (because in my brain, coinage isn't "real" money and therefore easier to part with when gambling). But of course they wouldn't exchange coins so we took $100 and that was our gambling limit. I lost $5 in less than 5 minutes and it near gave me a panic attack.
Once we figured out how the machines worked and I could bet a penny I felt more safe and we bounced around machines. After I had lost $10 I was about ready to give up. Dan had a better attitude and played the money like it was already lost. He ended up winning $50!!
^^ That's his winning machine!
Then we found fun machines that had the old school lever you could pull. I liked that a lot and we both won $11 on those machines. We quit $40 ahead of what we came with and I was super happy about that.
That night we went to the Zirkus! We were super glad we got tickets for the show since it was exactly our type of entertainment (acrobats and tightrope walkers). We were thoroughly entertained. They did their famous seven person pyramid on the high-wire with two bikes and a girl on a chair. Very impressive.
On Saturday morning we woke-up to nasty skies and high winds. So-called hurricane Hermine was causing rough seas and the beaches were closed. Although we had hoped to get another few hours of beach time we weren't too bummed since we were leaving later that day.
In sum, we were gone for exactly 48 hours. A very quick trip. I'm glad we saw Atlantic City but I don't feel like we need to go again. But at least we were there before it completely collapsed in on itself like a dying star.
One other story, on our last day we searched high and low for Christmas ornaments. We always like to get an ornament from the places that we visit. Both Cape May and Wildwood had entire stores dedicated to Christmas ornaments...Atlantic City? When I asked a guy at one of the souvenir shops he gave me a look like he'd never heard of an ornament. Apparently AC shops only specialize in lotto tickets and e-cigarettes. We eventually found a small selection of ornaments (like four to choose from) and we also got two squished pennies from machines we found at the end of a partially abandoned mall. We never did find a photo booth although I swear I saw one somewhere.
Oh, and we saw the Miss America contestants...they will take the stage in AC on Sunday.
Come back tomorrow for another black and white series.
^^ That's his winning machine!
Then we found fun machines that had the old school lever you could pull. I liked that a lot and we both won $11 on those machines. We quit $40 ahead of what we came with and I was super happy about that.
That night we went to the Zirkus! We were super glad we got tickets for the show since it was exactly our type of entertainment (acrobats and tightrope walkers). We were thoroughly entertained. They did their famous seven person pyramid on the high-wire with two bikes and a girl on a chair. Very impressive.
On Saturday morning we woke-up to nasty skies and high winds. So-called hurricane Hermine was causing rough seas and the beaches were closed. Although we had hoped to get another few hours of beach time we weren't too bummed since we were leaving later that day.
We had already planned on doing the outlet mall for our last day and we both got a couple of things for fall. We got lunch a the Melting Pot on the way out of town. Once we drove about an hour away from the shore the skies were blue and sunny. We took advantage of the suburban amenities and went to Hobby Lobby, Target, and Chick-fil-a on the way home.
In sum, we were gone for exactly 48 hours. A very quick trip. I'm glad we saw Atlantic City but I don't feel like we need to go again. But at least we were there before it completely collapsed in on itself like a dying star.
One other story, on our last day we searched high and low for Christmas ornaments. We always like to get an ornament from the places that we visit. Both Cape May and Wildwood had entire stores dedicated to Christmas ornaments...Atlantic City? When I asked a guy at one of the souvenir shops he gave me a look like he'd never heard of an ornament. Apparently AC shops only specialize in lotto tickets and e-cigarettes. We eventually found a small selection of ornaments (like four to choose from) and we also got two squished pennies from machines we found at the end of a partially abandoned mall. We never did find a photo booth although I swear I saw one somewhere.
Oh, and we saw the Miss America contestants...they will take the stage in AC on Sunday.
Come back tomorrow for another black and white series.
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