Atlantic City, New Jersey, was the only major city that my friend Bob had yet to visit on his long road of traveling America over the years. So this was a must-do city from his perspective. I had absolutely no qualms about seeing this great town either. I’m not much of a gambler, but there was plenty to see and do and eat for the evening we spent here on Monday, June 15, 2009.
We arrived at our hotel just a little after 3pm that afternoon, having arrived from our travels in Delaware. We opted to stay at one of the more famous hotels in the area, and checked into room 3505 of the Trump Taj Mahal, a combination hotel, casino, and all-inclusive shopping mall. Our accommodations were great (even if I had to pay a fee for the wireless internet), and we had a great view looking out over the neighboring hotels, the beach, and the Atlantic Ocean.
The view from our floor
Our first order of business was to have a late lunch, so naturally we chose the obvious: the Hard Rock Cafe, which was actually located in our hotel. This was my fifth Hard Rock of the year (which if all went well, would be the midway point for 2009). For some strange reason, perhaps because of the rampant unhealthy eating as of late, I went for the more subdued legendary 10 oz. burger rather than one of the specialty burgers. This was naturally followed by the scouting of the Big 7 memorabilia on its walls.
The Taj Mahal casino entrance to the Atlantic City Hard Rock
Bob and me and a very odd man above Bob – with our eats and my medium rare soda
The Hard Rock stained glass
This was cool. This violin was used to play the solo on Don’t Pass Me By on The Beatles (White Album)
Paul Stanley owned, played, and signed guitar, Peter Criss drums used on the Dynasty tour, and Ace Frehley costume used on the KISS Alive tour in 1975. The patch on the leg was covering up a burn caused by his flaming guitar bit
Outside the Hard Rock on the Boardwalk side – with the Taj Mahal just behind it
We finished up at about 5pm and headed out to the famous Atlantic City boardwalk to walk around and take in the sights. We ventured out on the famous Steel Pier, a fixture of the city. It has been around since 1898, and was once the home to many famous performers. Once called the “showplace of the nation,” it served as the location where Miss America was crowned from 1935-38. For the last few years, it has been announced that the Steel Pier (which now mostly contains carnival games and rides), would be permanently closing – but to date still remains open.
Everything was chilly in Atlantic City
Me and Bob with the Steel Pier behind us
Our hotel from the beach
On the Steel Pier
I WIN! And by that I mean that I didn’t lose anything
BOB LOST! But most of it was to the Royal Rolling Chair company
Bob also wanted to take a ride in one of the ‘Royal Rolling Chairs’ – Atlantic City’s version of a Japanese Rickshaw. Although we originally only intended to go a few blocks down the Boardwalk, we ended up having our poor chair-pusher push us around for nearly an hour, resting when we got to the end of the Boardwalk before he pushed us back. We stopped along the way to see a couple of the memorials such as the New Jersey Korean War Memorial and a Memorial to John F. Kennedy. When all was said and down, Bob gave $60 to our pusher. Afterall, he was a nice guy who had flown in for the summer from Asia to make some money pushing during his break from school.
Pals in Atlantic City
Boarding our rolling chair for a seemingly three hour tour, a three hour tour
Bob, me, and our pusher
I wanted to see what this guy went through every day
With the John F. Kennedy Memorial, dedicated the year after his death
Part of the giant New Jersey Korean War Memorial
What was incredible was that by 7pm, we had realized that it was positively freezing out in the middle of June in Atlantic City. We headed up to the room to change into something a bit warmer, which was hard for me since I didn’t bring anything warmer – except for the pants I had been wearing for work the previous Friday.
About an hour later, we headed back down to the Boardwalk, this time to explore a bit more on foot – and eat a whole bunch of junk. We walked around for about two hours in the chilly evening, stopping in some shops to look for taffy, checking out the exteriors of the casinos, and the interiors of some. We each had a hot dog at the famous Nathan’s hot dog eatery, then went into Caesar’s and followed it up with a few orders of sushi (just the simple Philadelphia and spicy tuna rolls) and some white wine for me.
With the Beach Boys’ handprints on the ‘Walk of Fame’ in front of the Resorts casino
With a tribute to W.C. Fields – who used to stage fake drownings at the Boardwalk, be ‘rescued’, and lead the concerned crowds into the beer gardens back in the 1890’s
With the famous Conestoga Wagon outside Bally’s Wild West Casino
An official Nathan’s hot dog. Oh yeah.
Caesar and me, in his Palace
Sushi and wine…feelin’ fine
As I said, I don’t gamble much, but wanted to at least hit a slot machine so I could say that I gambled in Atlantic City. We opted for a Game King Poker machine as we were leaving Caesar’s. Bob put in $5.00 and ended up with $7.25 when he decided to stop. When I asked him if I could gamble his money away, he agreed. But I ended up parlaying it into $20.50 in about less than five minutes.
Gambling all the way to a coronary
During our walk back to the hotel, Bob found something on which to spend our earnings: deep fried Twinkies, Oreos, and Snickers bars. The Twinkies were really good but the other two were so sickeningly sweet that it filled me with the uncontrollable urge to drink a gallon of milk. Still, I had never had any deep friend delicacies like this before and was glad that I got to try them right here in Atlantic City.
The delightful delicacies that are deep-fried goodness
Milk please!
Bob resisted the urge to hire another Royal Rolling Chair as I convinced him that we desperately needed to walk off the deep fried sugar lumps. We got back to the room a little after 11. I was a bit wired so I played on the internet for a bit, then exploded.
The next morning – Tuesday the 16th, I picked up my pieces and we departed the Trump Taj Mahal at about 8:30. There was one additional location that we wanted to see before we left Atlantic City and that was Lucy the Elephant. Actually located in Margate City, two miles south of Atlantic City, Lucy was constructed in 1882 in an effort to attact tourism and sell real estate. Its inventor James V. Lafferty received a patent (good for 17 years) to construct animal-shaped buildings! Lucy was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Although it is possible to tour Lucy, it wasn’t open yet when we visited at 9am on Wednesday morning, so we just enjoyed her noble exterior.
With Lucy the Elephant, who has now survived into her third century
One massive pachyderm, one little tourist
With Atlantic City behind us, we headed toward our next destination – Philadelphia. On the way we stopped at the Harley Dawn Diner in Folsom, New Jersey where we’d review our game plan of attack in Philly over Bob’s Eggs Benedict and my sausage omelet. There would be tons to see so the planning was intense. And by the way, we still weren’t even close to being finished with New Jersey either.
Bob and me in the war room at the Harley Dawn
Our road trip will continue in Philly…
How do you eat so much and stay so thin?
Bev
September 4th, 2009
How do you do such amazing stunts…with such little feet?
chris
September 4th, 2009
I’m sorry I didn’t know you were coming. I would have gladly shown you around town.
Devin
September 8th, 2009