Mini-Las Vegas in Atlantic City, New Jersey

I had never heard of Atlantic City in New Jersey until Charlene suggested that we went there for a weekend getaway. After work on Friday evening (Apr 25), we decided to take our dinner before driving to Atlantic City. It was a good decision because we took about 3 hours to reach there around 11pm.

We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel which was located at Miss America Way. We found the street name hilarious till we researched the history of it.

The street got its name from holding The Miss America contest since 1921. Inside the hotel, there were displays of dazzling tiaras, splendid capes and beautiful gowns worn by past winners.

After putting our bags, we headed straight to the casinos. We went to Caesars, Bally's and Trump Plaza. Compared to Las Vegas, the resorts here were less lavished in their designs and glamor. We also checked out the prices of breakfast and lunch buffets which were over $15.

I tried on the slot machines and lost one-eighty. People taught it was one hundred and eighty dollars but it was just cents since I played on the five-cent slot machine. Charlene played the electronic roulette and actually won $5.75. Her strategic was to double the bet upon losing since the chances of winning was 50% each time.

We headed back to our rooms around 2am. I intended to run on the boardwalk early in the morning but skipped it since I had a headache. Instead, I slept in till 9am when we went for breakfast at our hotel.

After being fed, we proceeded to shop at The Atlantic City Mall where I 'lost' $200 to shopping. Then, we went to the boardwalk towards Trump Taj Mahal Casino. There were dilapidated buildings and empty plots along the way which reminded one of its glorious days. We did not stayed long on the boardwalk because the weather was gusty and chilling.

We had late lunch at a Greek restaurant where the walls and every surface conceivable like a football, ceiling fans etc were covered with one dollar bills with messages written on them. We wanted to paste a Singapore $2 bill but the owner said the fire department discouraged them as it could be a fire hazard.

We ended our trip by sitting in the car and sight-see the other end of the boardwalk around the Tropicana Casino before en routing to Baltimore.

More Atlantic City pictures.