Philly & Atlantic City

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Yesterday we felt as if we had another history lesson! It was a fairly short drive from our hotel here in Atlantic City to Philadelphia, about 1 1/4 hours, although we paid a total of $7.75 in tolls. Tom was so excited that he got off one exit early, and as we circling in order to get back on the highway, he spied a sign that indicated a house as the birthplace of Edgar Allan Poe. Of course he had to get a picture, so he parked the car and hopped out. As he approached the sign, a police car turned the corner and stopped. The officer asked Tom what he was doing, and Tom told him. The officer told him told him to get his picture, and then get the heck out of there, and the cruiser idled next to our car until Tom came back and we left. Kind of an exciting way to begin our Philadelphia experience, to be sure. We enjoyed our tours of the various historic buildings very much, in large part because of the narrative of the volunteer docents. In 1964 when my family was in Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell was out in the open; now you have to go through a security checkpoint to see it. Of course we had to have a Philly cheesesteak. The one pictured is Tom's. I wimped out and had mine "witout" onions and with provolone cheese instead of wiz. The day we got here we headed to the Diamond Lounge in the casino to get a soda and a snack. This Diamond Lounge was amazing compared to the one in Las Vegas; instead of just chips & dips, nuts and come cookies, they had wood-fired pizza, hot entrees, salads, and a whole dessert bar. The couple sitting at the table next to ours knew from our reaction that we were from out of town, and struck up a conversation. They live in Philadelphia, so gave us some good information about the city. The couple, Fred and Sandy, were so nice and we really enjoyed talking to them. A few minutes after they left, Fred came back, and said that they had two free buffets each, so could they treat us to dinner. How nice was that! So we met them later and continued our conversation over dinner. Just another example of some of the great people we've met on this trip! Today was kind of a lazy day. We took the shuttle over to the other casinos on the boardwalk so we could see that. It goes on for miles and miles! Tom learned that the street names in Monopoly are copied from the ones in Atlantic City. Can you believe that we are halfway done with our trip? Headed south tomorrow, working our way toward Hilton Head. Love, Tom & Nancy

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Photos

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Hotel in Atlantic City

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Edgar Allan Poe House-with a Police escort-Tom took the wrong turn into a ruff neighborhood