With nothing better to do on our President’s Day off, Mark and I hopped in the car and drove down to Atlantic City and found it to be so much like Coney Island with Las Vegas casinos. I had a lot of fun but found it to be a little sad knowing that this was one of our last adventures together for quite a while.. Mark has a new baby on the way and I’ll be moving off to Chicago.

We have arrived.

We parked the car at Bally’s and then made our way towards the boardwalk that all the casinos face out towards. On the way there we passed by the New Jersey Korean War Memorial which felt terribly out of place.

Another statue in the war memorial. No disrespect, but he reminded me of Paul Bunyan.

Along one side of the Coney Island-style boardwalk are entrances to the casinos (like Trump Plaza), stores, and restaurants. Along the other side is the beach.

Some parts of the beach were getting worked on. I think they were dredging and adding more sand, but I’m not exactly sure what all was going on.

Most of the shells on the beach were clam shells.

Strolling along the beach for a bit. I miss living by a beach a lot.

“Comfort Station” must have been the polite way to say “Restroom” in the old days. This Comfort Station didn’t look nearly as inviting as the Women’s Comfort Station I saw in Central Park a couple years ago. That was the first Comfort Station I’d ever seen.

We ate at the Virginia City Buffet inside Bally’s Wild Wild West Casino. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet, of course. Atlantic City is all the cheesiness from Coney Island and Las Vegas and is missing any of the grittiness from either place. It’s filled with elderly people and Jersey/Long Island types.

A fake tree strung with lights inside the buffet. A couple from Long Island chatted us up in the buffet. Especially the wife. She would not stop talking about Vegas vs. Atlantic City vs. Reno vs. Tahoe. Even when we said “thanks” and turned completely around about 5 times.

Next we hit up some slot machines. Mark & I both agreed that we would spend no more than $20. While I quickly lost all of my money, Mark won $40.

Back out on the boardwalk. It’s time to go home but we walk down to see Trump’s Taj Mahal casino before leaving. The boardwalk is filled with these guys with pushcars that you can hire to take you back to your hotel/casino.

The super cheesy Bally’s Wild Wild West Casino is on the left of the boardwalk here.

Sunset on the 99 Cents Or Less store.

Amusement rides out on a pier that extends from Trump’s Taj Mahal.

Trump’s Taj Mahal was less tacky than some of the other casinos we were in… but it’s still basically the same thing.

Lights overhead as we walk back towards the car. It should be noted that Mark art directed this shot!

One last sunset shot. It seems like I havent seen the sun set for so long.

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