Sunday, September 14, 2003

Welcome to the AC...

I know that you've been waiting on pins and needles for the recap of the trip to Atlantic City. Don't try to deny it.

Okay, so after an ear-ly morning flight in and a quick nap, we got started with the birthday celebrations...this involved a little shopping, lunch, plans for the trip, and subsequently dinner (Chinese food and beer) and an educational video (Ocean's Eleven - because if you can't win in casinos, it's good to have a backup plan) - man, do we know how to party or what?

We got up the next morning and got ready to go. We made a stop for money, coffee, and food and set on our way to the East Coast version of sin city. We spent approximately $12 on tolls just to get there, which we complained about profusely until we realized that it was entirely possible to drop twice that amount of money in less than 2 hours once we got there. At that point, we made a pact to quit complaining about money. We broke that pact many, many times.

We got to our hotel, which was crazy cool (thanks mommy and daddy) and promptly checked in to our room with a view. The bathroom was roughly the size of the bedroom I inhabited in NYC. After spending a little time in the sun and then the gym (aren't we good?), we decided it was time to go to the casino. We promptly declared our status as "low rollers" by 1) not knowing how to work the coinless slot machines; 2) embarrassing ourselves at the cashier's window by trying to change money into, well, money; and 3) looking like squirrels trying to cross a highway while looking at the blackjack, craps, and roulette tables. Sadly, there are no pictures of this. We also learned the lesson that the casino will give free watered down drinks as long as you sit at a slot machine long enough for the waitress to come back, which is roughly the amount of time it takes the lose the cost of the drink in the machine. But hey, its fun, right?

The second day, we woke up, got some coffee, and decided to hit the boardwalk. The weather was beautiful, and we tried to see the highlights, including the steel pier. We also stopped into some of the other casinos, shops, and restaurants along the way. At the Tropicana, we bought tickets for a comedy show later that night. After another day in the sun, we went back to rest up for the rest of the night.

The evening included dinner at the noodle bar, where it turns out that broth noodles are quite like salad (in that you eat and eat and eat and yet nothing disappears). Then we headed back over to "The Comedy Stop at the Trop" for an evening of drinks and giggles. Of course, we were early getting there, which left us sufficient amounts of time to lose some money at the casino - and get really freaked out by the old (and obviously well-seasoned) guy sitting next to Lo at the video poker machines.

Then the fun really started. During the course of the comedy show, the main act decided to make Laura part of the show - and he didn't even know it was her birthday celebration. This involved some harmless comments at first, and quickly escalated to a serenade and a trip to the stage for Laura (she was mortified, I was merely angry about the "no flash photography" rule). All in all, it was good fun and lots of laughs. We left the next day a little lighter in the pockets and the heart, with some solid sister bonding completed before Laura's semester in London.

Maybe next time, we'll be brave enough to try the table games...

Pre AC.JPG
The room 2.JPG
The view.JPG
The bathroom.JPG
The Boardwalk.JPG
Steel Pier.JPG

(just so you know, i tried to be cool and put the pictures in as links from the words. but apparently, i'm not that cool...)

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