The Cellar - I just drove back from Atlantic City and, boy, is my donkey tired

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I just drove back from Atlantic City and, boy, is my donkey tired

We're back from our trip to Atlantic City, NJ. 7 nights in 'Vegas East' was pretty relaxing. All we did was hit the pool, see a movie, do a little gambling, and try out a bunch of new restaurants.

Somewhere during that time I turned 50.

Along those lines, I did engage in a moment of nostalgia and go back to Rhode Island Ave where my family used to spend summer vacations in something like a brownstone (pale yellow bricks). The place isn't there any more, but past the bulldozed commons I saw somewhat similar buildings a few blocks away.

A.C. is a mixed bag today. It's still nowhere near the feeding frenzy it was back the the 70's when it became the only gambling venue on the East coast and the Resorts casino could force you to wear a jacket and tie.

On the other hand, with fluctuating airfare, there are quite a few people like me who decided to stay close to home. Of course, with Indian casinos and Pennsylvania slot parlors, there is still more competition.

It was pretty relaxing, although since the hotel had no Internet Access in the rooms and only two public terminals for the entire hotel, I was unable to check out the Cellar for a week.

We used our restaurant.com certificates and found 2 excellent, 2 very good, and one fair/poor restaurant. I wrote nice feedback comments for the 2 of the restaurants that the website asked for (which is supposed to happen every time a certificate is used) and let Mrs. Levy vent about the 1 fair/poor restaurant.

BTW, the fair/poor restaurant was mostly a service issue. The food was decent Italian. We have one certificate left for the place and Mrs. Levy is still so peeved at them I doubt we're going to use it. So if anyone wants a free $25 gift certificate to an Italian restaurant in A.C., let me know, seriously.

BTW, we had some weird luck down there. There was a problem with the timeshare and they gave us a free 3 night stay. The IMAX film broke (or some kind of tech issue), so they refunded the movie and gave us a voucher for 2 new tickets and a small popcorn combo. So it looks like we have a free mini vacation that has to be used by the end of the year.

We got back Friday and I'm still recovering. I went down with a sore right knee and a sore left side and then sprained my left ankle during vacation.

Well happy BD anyway. :celebrat:

Glad to see you back in the mix.

I've been reading a fair few novels set on the east coast of the US and have noticed that there seem to be loads of references to the New Jersey Turnpike. For someone who has not spent any significant time in the States (bar 5 hours in the LA and Miami airports respectively) and only knows one New Yorker, this seems to be full of significance, but I'm missing what it actually is. Could someone enlighten me?

The Jersey Pike is the primary connection between New York City and the rest of the country, (except New England) for one. It's also part of the main thoroughfare through the heart of the northeast megalopolis.

It's a pretty good quality road too, but heavily traveled. I think the funds do a good job of keeping it well maintained.

"Heavily traveled", would be the understatement of the year. :lol2:

Exit 8A. 'Nuff said.

Quote:

Originally Posted by casimendocina (Post 585280)

It is a roadmap for the State and people refer to where they are from or going based on exit number. Not worth the time or the aggravation to look.

There are also two roads besides the Expressway and Turnpike leading from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, the Black Horse Pike and the White Horse Pike. I noticed that neither history mentions the origin of the names.

There's even a book about it.

Quote:

The White Horse Road or Pike dates to the eighteenth century when it led to the White Horse Tavern and the small hamlet of White Horse on the old Egg Harbor Road. In January 1854, the state legislature incorporated the White Horse Turnpike Company to convert White Horse Road into a toll road. It remained a turnpike until the early part of the twentieth century, when the state purchased the corporation and removed the toll, rendering it free for all to use. In 1922, the state extended the White Horse Pike to Atlantic City to open the resort community to increased automobile traffic.

The origins of the Black Horse Pike can be traced to 1795 when Surveyors working for Old Gloucester County, laid out a new and straight road to replace the meandering Irish Road. The new roadway carried various names including the Newton Road, Chews Landing-Philadelphia Road, Mount Ephraim-Blackwoodtown Road, etc. During 1855, state legislators incorporated the Camden and Blackwoodtown Turnpike Company, authorizing the new corporation to make this highway a toll road. It remained such until 1903, when the state bought the turnpike and removed the toll. People then referred to the highway as "The Blackwood Pike." In 1925, developers promoting new housing subdivisions along the roadway sought to capitalize on the success of similar residential developments along the White Horse Pike, formed an association to rename the "Blackwood Pike" as the "Black Horse Pike" and to extend the road all the way to Atlantic City. Once completed, promoters advertised the Black Horse Pike as "the second 'White Horse Pike' to the shore." And the rest, as they say, is history.

link

Bruce, you are the king of Internet searches:king:. I spent 10 minutes fact checking and I did not find that link. Thanks.

It may not be true though, that's why I included the link. It's just what some guy on a forum claims, and we know how that goes. ;)