I made my first trip to Atlantic City this past weekend. Technically, I’ve been there before. I was eight or so years old, and I went with my grandparents and my grandfather’s brother and wife. A group of grown ups with a third-grader. They all took turns entertaining me for a few hours while they went into the casinos.
The Atlantic City field trip was the brainchild of Delta G, fun college friend whom I saw at the end of last year during the random trip to New York City. DG is the ultimate adventuring friend. She is so laid back, flexible and spontaneous. She always makes sure that her companions get to see what they want to see and do.
So I drove to New Jersey Saturday morning and met up with them at about 3 p.m. (Never take Route 40 to Atlantic City; they built an expressway for a reason.) We grabbed hoagies at White House for lunch. Good enough sandwiches, but actually kinda underwhelming. I’m learning that it’s tough to beat the sandwiches from The Italian Store in Arlington.
So the rest of the girl posse go outlet shopping while DG and I go back to the hotel and start having some tasty gin and tonics.
The Borgata. Wow. I don’t think the room was worth $400 for the night, but I’m kinda a frugal gal. I’m sure the $200/night places closer to the Boardwalk were just plain crappy. The hotel was really nice and I loved the food. The girl posse seemed to have a little sticker shock with food prices, but coming from DC, I wasn’t too surprised to see cheeseburgers cost $6. Although no one should charge $3 for a bottle of Diet Coke no matter the location.
Now, maybe this is because I’ve never been into a hotel casino before. So my little eyes were just amazed that one could walk into the hotel lobby, turn to the left and see rows and rows of flashing, dazzling technicolor slot machines.
I brought with me about $7 worth of pennies. Some rolled in wrappers, others just in a big change purse. DG said I could play the penny slots. She laughed at my stack of pennies. Five dollar bills are the smallest currency accepted in the machines. Sure, I could’ve exchanged the penny rolls for a voucher to play in the machine, but what fun is that?
The girl posse went to the club in the hotel, Mixx, where we drank overpriced beer, danced with guys attending a friends bachelor party. (Yours truly unknowingly danced and fell in love with the bachelor — I quickly broke up with him after hearing it was his party.) Oh, and Danity Kane made an appearance there after their earlier evening concert with Christina Aguilera.
I lost only $60 on roulette, slots and video poker. Of course, I only played $60 too.
I know AC isn’t LV. I know it’s got major redevelopment issues to face. I know it’s even a little cheesey. But it’s the perfect place to visit with a bunch of gal friends for a fun, spontaneous weekend.
