Meet You in Atlantic City - Or Then Again, Maybe Not

When I realized that we weren't too far from Atlantic City, NJ, I asked Joe if we could go there. I had heard so much hype that I was expecting Las Vegas in New Jersey. I honestly could not have been more wrong. Oh, you see all the big casino names like Harrah's, Trump, Ceasar's Palace but they are plastered on the ugliest collection of concrete block buildings ever produced and assembled in one place - there is no competition to this cheesy ugliness. Really none. Add to that the fact that there is no strip, you have to be shuttled from casino to casino by bus. However, as we were already there, we decided to go to Harrah's. I swear to God no casino guest was under 75 and the "decoration" was half- assed and really zero competition to Vegas. Funny enough I was recently watching an episode of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" (moving from place to place in an RV definitely impacts your TV viewing selections in a negative way) and they were having a debrief, hair pulling session whatever at a casino in Atlantic City. All I can say is that this show is bs and they obviously filmed somewhere else as the opulence presented is MIA in Atlantic City. After spending our $50 budget at the slot machines, we did have a very nice dinner at McCormick & Schmick's but honestly I couldn't wait to get out of there. You just get the overwhelming feeling you're being played by the casino owners with this poor copy of Las Vegas. Disappointing doesn't begin to cover it. If I want the Vegas experience going forward, I'll go to Vegas.