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.
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