Down On The Boardwalk...

The Atlantic City Boardwalk is lovely, it goes on for ages, and is in really good condition. Similarly to the Coney Island boardwalk, it's got some interesting looking people around and some interesting looking establishments, but it's so full of character and history - I loved it.We went back to have a better look at the Taj Mahal, it looked far more glitzy in the sunshine...And our hotel look pretty grand too...I'm not sure, but I think the Resorts Hotel might be one of the original hotels from back in the day, it has a very art-decoy feel and everyone working there wears 1930s-ish clothes, the music in the lobby and lifts is that great 30's swing type music too. They also have Atlantic City's first legalised fruit machine in the lobby, from the 70's when the casinos first opened. I actually thought that there had been casinos there since the beginning, but apparently their a farely new addition, and one that wasn't very welcome to begin with.We walked up and down in the scorching heat, taking in all the funny sights, the tacky gift shops, and the fascinating people - one shop was selling Hermit Crabs in colourfully painted shells...It was getting blummin' hot walking around, so we stopped off for a drink and did some people watching in the shade. New Jersey doesn't exactly have the best reputation, or at least the people of New Jersey don't - and we were starting to notice why...

This guy had one of those ankle tags on!

One of the many traditional things that are still going on the boardwalk, are the basket rides. There are loads of these hand-pushed taxis going up and down the boardwalk, $5 for 5 blocks, sitting in the shade, being pushed by a man, probably puffing and panting right in your ears...

We didn't get a ride, but we were certainly tempted to get one back down to the hotel as it was so hot. We slowly and sluggishly made our way back down towards the hotel, enjoying the view of the beach and the pier...

There was so much great seaside signage around, it was like down at Coney Island, with all the amusement signs and food stalls...

We mooched about in the casino for a wee while longer, and we went to find the spa in the hotel to use our vouchers - unfortunately we'd forgotten to pack any swimming stuff so we had to give it a miss. Abi had managed to get this whole trip as part of a really good Livingsocial deal, we got the transport to Atlantic City, the hotel, the spa admition, a free meal each - all for less than it would have cost us for the bus ticket alone - and as part of our bus ticket we got a $5 playing card for the slots and a $10 meal voucher each... so we ended up getting another free meal out of it. So the whole trip was a blummin' bargain really.

We had a bit of a wait before the bus back to New York, so we went to the bar which was out of the way of the all hustle and bustle of the casino, and had relaxing drink - so relaxing that Miss Turner had a little nap on the comfy sofas!

Then, although we were still pretty full from breakfast, we had out meal vouchers to use... another all-you-can-eat buffet!!! We held back this time, well - I held back, a certain someone took full advantage of the dessert section...

There are SEVEN different puddings there! I have to add that none of them were very good, so only seven spoonfuls were had before we headed to the bus for our journey back.

There was a HUGE storm during our journey back to New York, big lightening, crashing thunder and rain so heavy and fast that you couldn't see the road infront of you. It had felt that the storm had been brewing for the whole time we were there, so I bet the air was a lot lighter afterwards. The air back in New York though was still as heavy as ever when we arrived.

It was a fantastic little break, and it was great that Abi managed to get the whole trip so cheaply. I think we're going to try and do more little get-aways to break up work and stuff. There's just so much around to go and see and so many places to visit. I'm sure we could go somewhere every weekend and still not see everything around us. But I'm so glad we're getting out and exploring as much as we can.