The 7th Annual Sin City, Jr. Gala: Recap

This year started off lucky for me, for two reasons: 1) my birthday fell on a Saturday, and 2) I got to spend it taking a roadtrip with friends!

As I said in my previous post, every January my friend Colby organizes a trip to Atlantic City—a tradition he started back in 2000, though I didn't make my first trip there until the following year. Usually it's been me, Colby, and our friend Dennis who serve as the core group of travellers, but this year Dennis couldn't make it, so it was just me, Colby, and his fiancée Mary venturing to Sin City, Jr. And as luck would have it, this trip fell right on my birthday!

We started off earlier than expected, leaving Colby's house in Hershey, PA, around 11:00 on Saturday morning, and pulling up into Absecon, NJ (only 5 miles from Atlantic City) in the early afternoon. The drive from there over to the casinos requires a certain soundtrack: Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler". Reason? It's good mood music!

The weather in Atlantic City proved unseasonably warm on Saturday—with a strong invitation to roam the boardwalk not only because it was so nice out, but also because it was still daylight! You see, every year we've gone to Atlantic City, it's been bitchin' cold! Like 20 degrees cold, coupled with a freezing wet wind often blowing off the dark ocean. And by the time we get to the casinos, it's always been well after dark. Suffice it to say, with this combination, we've often been the only ones roaming the boardwalk in previous years. So with it being daylight and about 60 degrees this year, this was an opportunity we knew we couldn't pass up.

As soon as we arrived, we could see that others were following our example—out and about walking the boardwalk, browsing the shops, ambling along the beach, just soaking up this lovely weather. It's rare that I go for a walk on the beach in January, but I did this year. The waves were really high, too!

(Photos by Colby Lark)

After we had our fill of the beach, we decided to finally hit the casinos. We tried getting into The Sands, but found it to be closed. I forget the name of the casino next door, but we weren't too impressed with it (and it was a maze just trying to find the exit, too). Ultimately we ended up at Caesar's Palace, where Colby and Mary opted for the slots while I tried to make my way to the roulette wheel. Though for the third year in a row, the minimum bet was too high by the time I got there, so I made my way to the "Wheel of Fortune", as I call it. Honestly, I don't know the name of this game, but it's basically a wall-mounted spinwheel with various denominations of dollar bills rounding out the wheel. How you bet is you put chips down on whichever bills come up, and the odds are based on that denomination—i.e., a $20 gives you 20-to-1 odds, a $5 gives you 5-to-1 odds. There are two jokers/wild cards on the wheel, too, both running at 45-to-1. Anyway, I dropped a few bucks on this game for a while, but sadly didn't come away on the winning side. Texas Hold 'Em was at one point considered, but ultimately abandoned. Colby did have a good point about that, though—it's much more fun playing Texas Hold 'Em with a group of your friends than it is to play it in the casinos. One of these days, though, I'll get to that elusive roulette wheel!

One thing I learned during my first trip in 2001 was that your money can disappear very fast in these casinos. And once you start to win, it genuinely requires effort to quit while ahead, because gambling fever is very real! I've only twice come away with winnings, in 2001 and 2006, but both times I managed to stop while ahead and keep my winnings. I often shudder to think, though, how much money changes hands on a given night. If I had to guess, I'd say several million dollars a night, easy.

Since it was my birthday, dinner was left up to me (i.e., where to go). Some of the spots we've hit in previous years included Bill's Gyros, Hooters, Denny's (actually, that's more a late-night stop than a dinner stop), and a pizza shop whose name escapes me. After a long walk down the boardwalk, we eventually settled on the Hooters inside the Tropicana—which was packed to the gills with football fans!!! (Because there's no other reason to go to Hooters than to watch football, right?) It was here that we watched much of the Colts-Ravens game, with quite a number of Ravens fans in attendance, while I dined on Hooters' delicious wings. I debated ordering a key lime pie for dessert, to serve as a birthday cake of sorts, but ultimately decided against it since I was full.

By the time 7:00 rolled around, we were beginning to feel tired, so we made our way back to the motel to watch the last of the Colts-Ravens game, plus catch the Saints-Eagles matchup (with a pit stop at the friendly neighborhood ghetto Shop Rite for some game-time snacks). Colby, for the record, is a huge Saints fan, so he was on pins and needles all night long with their on-field performance . . . though he went to bed a much happier man.

During halftime, though, I received a nice surprise from Colby and Mary: a large slice of caramel chocolate cake, my birthday cake! 'Twas quite good, too. Thank you, Colby and Mary! And I met up with my family for lunch on my way back to Arlington yesterday. So overall, it was a very nice birthday, and it was a real pleasure getting to spend it with friends.

A few quick observations before I close:

• The city of Baltimore received a huge black eye this weekend. Of all the teams to lose to!
• On the way home from Atlantic City, Philly was shrouded in dense fog when we drove through. Perhaps the fog symbolized the sense of loss felt by so many there?
• Left turns in New Jersey still make no sense to me.
• Gas is actually $1.99 along Route 30 in Absecon, NJ! And here I thought I’d never see gas under $2 again in my lifetime.
• If you ever shop at a store where a sign reading "Park at your own risk" is posted outside the parking lot, shop elsewhere.