Day #28- Under the Boardwalk

Ok, I know I am weird, but there are certain places on my bucket list for travel.  These places might have some people scratching their heads wondering why I would want to visit.  Some of those places are to drive old route 66 (done), visit Coney Island (done), Astoria OR (not done), Savannah GA (not done), and Atlantic City NJ.  Well, today was the day to scratch Atlantic City off my list. 
The original plan was to move into Philly from our hotel on the outskirts.  We had a hop on hop off tour scheduled.  It was a last second decision, but we decided to get a refund on the tour, head to Atlantic City, and just book the tour for another day if we decided to go back to Philly.  Knowing how close Atlantic City is to where we were, I just couldn't miss it. 
If you watch Boardwalk Empire, you probably would understand why this Boardwalk holds so much interest to me.  I know it is not the prohibition era.  I know Lucky Luciano and other gangsters won't be roaming around, but I just wanted to see it. 
We found our trusty Econo Lodge right across from the huge Tropicana casino.  Check in was not until 3, so we set off to entertain ourselves until then.  We walked across to the Tropicana and first had their lunch buffet.  Casino buffets are far from CHEAP, but this one was great!  I guess that's why people pay the big bucks for them. 
We were walking through the casino looking for Roulette when we saw a sign for the arcade.  No surprise, this turned into our first stop in the casino.  Most people would hit the slots, but not us.  We walked around looking for the one game that I play- and play well!  Pop-a-Shot.  This one was different from others we had played.  It was one person at a time.  If you got a certain number of points, you move on to the next round where the basket moves.  I made it to the second round, but sadly, not the 3rd.  In total I scored 69 points in a matter of like 2 minutes.  Then it was Loren's turn.  He didn't, and never will beat me at this game.  Maybe it is because he is so tall and wastes time bending over to retrieve the basketballs.  Who knows.  I'll have to pay attention to his form next time and give some pointers.  Haha.  I'm kidding.  He is great.  His shots are more accurate.  I think maybe I just move faster being more compact.
We found the Roulette machine and sat down to play.  This one was much better than the game in Lake Charles.  It was still a $3 minimum, but the $3 could be spread out across the board.  After playing for awhile, we decided to max bet the money we still had.  I picked simply, black odd.  It hit and we made up the money we had lost, plus $3 more.  Ya, I know.  Not a huge cash out, but we are conservative gamblers. 
There were doors marked exit on the gaming floor.  I knew they were on the boardwalk side of the building.  So, it would make sense to walk out these doors.  Nope.  As soon as I pushed the door open, alarms started going off all over the casino.  I may have said 'oh shit' and we ran away.  We finally found the actual beach exit doors and walked out into the gleaming sun and the board walk!  It was packed with shops, restaurants, and people.  We walked around a little, but really wanted to wait until the evening to see everything lit up.  It was check in time, so we went back to our hotel. 
There were several groups checking in, so we had to wait.  A young girl walked in, obviously messed up on something.  The guy refused to let her get a room.  She argued saying she had money and was paying cash.  The man still refused.  He told her of another hotel that might rent to her.  She left all of her stuff (it looked like everything she owned) and went out the door.  It was our turn to check in.  Everything went smoothly.  Our room was on the bottom floor and we could park right outside.  Win win.  We get into the room and are greeted with something similar to the room we ran away from a few years ago in Hollywood.  This place was so old that the bathroom had mint green tiles and a pink toilet.  I pulled the covers back (I don't ever sit on the comforter because I assume they don't wash them) and there were stains and sand on the sheets.  Like I have said before, we are not hotel snobs.  We just need clean and safe.  This was appearing to be neither.  Loren went to the desk to ask for our money back.  The place refused, but gave us a key to a new room.  Loren noticed the sketchy people hanging around and made the decision that even if we couldn't get our money back, we were NOT staying there.  We found a nice hotel and were relieved to have been out of the drug den. 
When looking at what all the boardwalk had to offer, I saw an arcade.  I knew Loren would love that, so we had a starting point for our evening.  Just as we walked out of our hotel room, the sky opened up.  Great.  So much for a nice walk.  We drove to the arcade (glad we did because it was 1.6 miles away).  The rain had stopped as quickly as it started and it was a beautiful night.  The lights and sounds and shops of the boardwalk did not disappoint.  We took pictures on the beach and poked around the stores.  We chose Hard Rock Cafe for our dinner. 
As of now, our plan is to start our journey back home tomorrow.  However, the trek will be exciting as we plan to go home via Savannah!!!  Another place to mark off my bucket list.  Stay tuned!