April 5, 2012
Expecting a non-eventful trip home. After all, we really did not have much planned any more. As with yesterday, most of our group weren't ready to go until it was "Brunch" time, which was fine. I for one did not want to end up eating at the same place we had lunch on April 4, 2012. I had nothing against Chinese food but you just can't have that everyday. We decided on IHOP, but the GPS was not much help. When we got to the place indicated, it was empty. IHOP must have either closed or moved. So we just started the drive home for we knew that we would find something along the way. And we actually did, a small Italian diner that was situated next to an Asian Grocery and Food Mart (That was a close call).
Other than the heavy traffic along I-95, the rest of the trip went by without a hitch. It was a good thing my wife had very good direction memory (most women seem to be) and we were able to take short-cuts to avoid most of the heavy traffic.
Is there a lesson to all this? I would say, you need to decide whose direction to follow. Either you depend on human direction, or GPS. I really believe we missed most of the turns, and extended our travel time simply because we were depending on both at the same time. It is no different than having a backseat driver.
April 21, 2012
Spring Break 2012, Day 2
April 5, 2012
This is the day! This was planned to be a very short vacation of sorts. Just drop by Atlantic City yesterday ( Which we did that is why we are here), go around the city, pools for the kids, casino for the adults. Tomorrow, April 5, we would make the short trip back home and hopefully have experiences worth remembering.
We started the day with an early stroll on the boardwalk, mainly to get the blood warmed up and ready for the days challenges. When I mean we, it was me and kids . 6 a.m. is much too early for everybody else. When we got back to the"Taj" and everybody had finally gotten out of their and ready, it was already close to noon. To late for breakfast but good enough for Brunch. (a tip for some penny pinching money savers). We decided that the in-house restaurants are much too expensive so we would check the boardwalk for a place.
After brunch we continued to explore the boardwalk. We expected to get through this pretty quickly, I mean, how long can this place be? ( You can tell we have never really tried walking on one end-to-end). Between the window shopping, actual shopping for hoodies (A daughters obsession), Lacrosse practice catch and throw, we finally made it to Ceasar's Palace. I have no idea if this is even halfway across or not but we were tired, it was close to 2pm and the kids had to be at the pool by 4pm. So after resting for a few minutes we split the group into two. Those who wanted to continue to the Outlet mall, and those who were in favor of going back. I went with those going back.
Apparently all of us, kids included, needed more exercise. Back at the Hotel we just had to lie in bed for a good 1 hour before anybody had the strength to do anything else. The kids headed for the pool, adults to the casino. Kids left the pool early , adults lost their money earlier. I guess it is time for bed.
This is the day! This was planned to be a very short vacation of sorts. Just drop by Atlantic City yesterday ( Which we did that is why we are here), go around the city, pools for the kids, casino for the adults. Tomorrow, April 5, we would make the short trip back home and hopefully have experiences worth remembering.
We started the day with an early stroll on the boardwalk, mainly to get the blood warmed up and ready for the days challenges. When I mean we, it was me and kids . 6 a.m. is much too early for everybody else. When we got back to the"Taj" and everybody had finally gotten out of their and ready, it was already close to noon. To late for breakfast but good enough for Brunch. (a tip for some penny pinching money savers). We decided that the in-house restaurants are much too expensive so we would check the boardwalk for a place.
After brunch we continued to explore the boardwalk. We expected to get through this pretty quickly, I mean, how long can this place be? ( You can tell we have never really tried walking on one end-to-end). Between the window shopping, actual shopping for hoodies (A daughters obsession), Lacrosse practice catch and throw, we finally made it to Ceasar's Palace. I have no idea if this is even halfway across or not but we were tired, it was close to 2pm and the kids had to be at the pool by 4pm. So after resting for a few minutes we split the group into two. Those who wanted to continue to the Outlet mall, and those who were in favor of going back. I went with those going back.
Apparently all of us, kids included, needed more exercise. Back at the Hotel we just had to lie in bed for a good 1 hour before anybody had the strength to do anything else. The kids headed for the pool, adults to the casino. Kids left the pool early , adults lost their money earlier. I guess it is time for bed.
April 18, 2012
Spring Break 2012, Day 1
April 4, 2012
The first surprise of the day was when we realized it was going to be a 4 hour trip to Atlantic City rather than 2-1/2. That meant that we had a need to hurry up if we were to take advantage of this being the warmest day of the week. Then there was the issue of toll.
It has been a while since we have traveled 95 to New Jersey, all in the name of avoiding those very expensive toll charges. We tried but unless you are willing to accept an unreasonably long traveler time, you have to at least accept a partial toll on the Maryland side of the trip.
The trip itself was uneventful. We of course started the trip after morning rush hour and tried to make as little stop a long the way. We had Chinese food, the find-it-everywhere international cuisine for both lunch and dinner. This is not something you want to have on a daily basis.
THE TRUMP TAJ MAHAL
We are to stay at the Taj Mahal. Heard a lot about it from the news and had great expectations. It was the closest to Las Vegas I have ever been. The lobby and reception area did not disappoint me. The ballrooms, shops, restaurants and casinos were as I was expecting. Of course I had nothing to compare to, I did hint that I have never been to Las Vegas. The room has a nice view of the beach but the room itself was average for a hotel. In some ways, it was actually a little disappointing. Why? Well for one thing, there was no soap and not enough towels, had creamer and sugar but no coffee, and the pillows stank with the stench of cigarette smoke. A nice bonus for the day occurred in one of the shops, while I was busy loosing money in the casino. My daughter, who is really petite, had been finding it hard to find a decent prom dress her size. Of all places, she finds one in one of the shops, in Cache. A little expensive I think but you only, hopefully, go to prom only once.
THE BOARDWALK
This was to be the highlight of the kid friendly portion of the trip. It was....ok. Situated next to the beach, there was the usual fare of arcade, food stands and weirdo stores like Ripley's. No skating is allowed which disappointed my budding long-boarding daughter. There was a ride wherein a person pushed a cart that the passenger took a ride on, like a rickshaw in reverse. Personally, can't find anything exciting about that. So, how about the beach. The beach. We know it was going to be too cold to actually get into the water unless you were a surfer, and there a number of them out and about. But it was a dirty beach, not one you would take a family to a picnic to, at least in my opinion. There were too many shells (probably from reconstructing the beach after a hurricane), and worse, trash. There was more construction material than I cared for, bottles, plastic utensils, styrofoam and more waste than there should be. I had to ask my kids to walk around with their sandals on for fear of what they may step on...needles perhaps? I guess it was good there was a 'no swimming' sign posted along the beach.
The first surprise of the day was when we realized it was going to be a 4 hour trip to Atlantic City rather than 2-1/2. That meant that we had a need to hurry up if we were to take advantage of this being the warmest day of the week. Then there was the issue of toll.
It has been a while since we have traveled 95 to New Jersey, all in the name of avoiding those very expensive toll charges. We tried but unless you are willing to accept an unreasonably long traveler time, you have to at least accept a partial toll on the Maryland side of the trip.
The trip itself was uneventful. We of course started the trip after morning rush hour and tried to make as little stop a long the way. We had Chinese food, the find-it-everywhere international cuisine for both lunch and dinner. This is not something you want to have on a daily basis.
THE TRUMP TAJ MAHAL
We are to stay at the Taj Mahal. Heard a lot about it from the news and had great expectations. It was the closest to Las Vegas I have ever been. The lobby and reception area did not disappoint me. The ballrooms, shops, restaurants and casinos were as I was expecting. Of course I had nothing to compare to, I did hint that I have never been to Las Vegas. The room has a nice view of the beach but the room itself was average for a hotel. In some ways, it was actually a little disappointing. Why? Well for one thing, there was no soap and not enough towels, had creamer and sugar but no coffee, and the pillows stank with the stench of cigarette smoke. A nice bonus for the day occurred in one of the shops, while I was busy loosing money in the casino. My daughter, who is really petite, had been finding it hard to find a decent prom dress her size. Of all places, she finds one in one of the shops, in Cache. A little expensive I think but you only, hopefully, go to prom only once.
THE BOARDWALK
This was to be the highlight of the kid friendly portion of the trip. It was....ok. Situated next to the beach, there was the usual fare of arcade, food stands and weirdo stores like Ripley's. No skating is allowed which disappointed my budding long-boarding daughter. There was a ride wherein a person pushed a cart that the passenger took a ride on, like a rickshaw in reverse. Personally, can't find anything exciting about that. So, how about the beach. The beach. We know it was going to be too cold to actually get into the water unless you were a surfer, and there a number of them out and about. But it was a dirty beach, not one you would take a family to a picnic to, at least in my opinion. There were too many shells (probably from reconstructing the beach after a hurricane), and worse, trash. There was more construction material than I cared for, bottles, plastic utensils, styrofoam and more waste than there should be. I had to ask my kids to walk around with their sandals on for fear of what they may step on...needles perhaps? I guess it was good there was a 'no swimming' sign posted along the beach.
April 03, 2012
Spring Break 2012
It is April 3 and we are about to start on a somewhat semi-planned vacation. Initially we had planned to meet with an Aunt and my brother for a mini-family reunion. But like so many things in life, things did not work out. As a result we are instead heading to Atlantic City NJ for a short trip. I have never been to Atlantic City. We will be staying at the Trump Taj Mahal. While people would not normally equate Atlantic City with kid friendly family entertainment, we are willing toto give things a try. There is always the beach although the forecast does not call for great beach weather. I guess we will find out tomorrow.
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