This weekend I took Awesome Girlfriend Megan to Atlantic City for her first time and we loved it, making many wonderful memories. We started off making the nearly 3 hour trek to AC, then came back to spend time with some of our amazing friends for the rest of our weekend. This weekend included a great time in AC, us accidentally ending up at the same bar two days in a row, a technology fail, flowers in a beer pint glass, many huge laughs with our hilarious friends, lots of yummy drinks, some decent food, NFL Playoff Football (thank god for Dallas winning, it makes my weekends much better when Awesome Girlfriend Megan is happy after a Cowboys victory,) an overall epic time.
Awesome Girlfriend Megan and I have been planning our Atlantic City night for several months. I couldn't believe that Meg had never been, when even I've enjoyed it several times in 5 years. Meg took a full day off from Rutgers University and I took a half day off from the radio station so we could leave early Friday afternoon. By staying Friday night instead of a Saturday night, our hotel rate went down over 50%, big victory. We ventured our to Hard Rock Casino, formerly the Trump Taj Mahal. My first time in AC 4 years ago was one of the very last weeks Trump Taj Mahal was open, and it was just sadness everywhere. To see the casino be new and gorgeous was so rewarding. I'll never forget seeing Meg's eyes light up when she got to see the big casino buildings in person for her first time.
While checking in, I made it a point to tell the front desk girl that this was Meg's first ever time in AC. She asked if we wanted a low room or high room and I immediately yelled "HIGH PLEASE!" She came through in the clutch. Our room was 28th floor, with a beautiful view of the ocean. We then explored and enjoyed so many displays. When it's a casino meeting a glorified music museum, you're never bored. I couldn't have picked a better spot for Meg's first Atlantic City Adventure. We enjoyed the MANY Bruce Springsteen tribute displays, Lady Gaga displays, and so much more. They did a great job honoring both classic and modern artists. Even the bathrooms have some comedy gold which you can see in our pictures. Putting a B-Sides sign on a toilet I think is hilarious.
Meg and I originally tried going to Hard Rock Cafe, figuring it would be similar to the others. We were wrong. Much smaller menu, with much higher prices, and we walked out after being seated. We then went upstairs to another restaurant option, I think called "Burgers and Hops," or something along those lines and had a glorified chicken finger with french fry meal for a lower cost than the Cafe would have been.
Onto the gambling! Meg had never gambled, so I tried to teach her but it can be confusing with all of the sensory overload happening. We did some slot machines, but Meg wasn't impressed with how confusing they were. I don't blame her at all, we like classic slot machines where you easily can tell how you won or lost and why. These ones had faint pink lines zig zagging all over the place, so it was tough to tell which outcomes would be best for us. We then went over to Roulette, my favorite, or as I like to call it "the fancy word for pick a color or a number!" We bet $60, and ended up at $140 when Meg made me cash out. Being a proud degenerate gambler, I was miffed because this was ending my hot streak. LOL. Thank you to Meg for helping protect me from myself.
After our short gambling stint, we then found a couch at the lobby bar where they had a tremendous live cover band playing. Meg and I enjoyed our wine, and their three sets. They were that good, playing songs from the 60s through today. Their name was The Benders, which Meg and I kept missing every single time they introduced themselves until the end of their set. The wine may have played a minor role in that. Trying to teach a slightly wined up Awesome Girlfriend Megan sports betting didn't last too long, because Dallas was favored over Seattle by 2 points, which shows up on a sports line as -2 Dallas. Meg was ticked to see a negative number beside her Cowboys. Overall, amazing night.
1 of 13 2 of 13 3 of 13 4 of 13 5 of 13 6 of 13 7 of 13 8 of 13 9 of 13 10 of 13 11 of 13 12 of 13 13 of 13
Saturday morning, time to hit the road. Even though the traffic wasn't bad, a long drive in the rain just wears you down I think. We stopped in Middlesex on our way back to try out a bar, and the Demented Brewery. The brewery was an absolutely gorgeous setting, even if the beers didn't quite hit us. Still a victory. Meg and I absolutely love exploring breweries, and if you don't like your flight sample, it feels like less of a loss because the beers are so tiny. We're still psyched to try new things.
By Saturday afternoon, we were able to hang with our besties, Mark, Shawn and Kim at Krogh's in Sparta. We realized we tend to go to Krogh's probably once every 6 months, parking is a challenge but we have fun when in there if we get a good spot. With amazing and hilarious friends like Mark, and my dynamic duo of Shawn and Kim from our radio stations, location doesn't even matter anyway. Yummy beers with great friends filled with tons of laughs all night is a huge victory anytime.
Saturday night, Meg and I were able to swing by and see our besties Jasen and Brendan. It's great to have the holidays over, have all of us start to return in our routines and see so many friends. I forgot to take a picture of my nephew Spot, but that's okay I'm sure he'll make his return to my Weekend In Pictures soon. On our way to see Jasen and Brendan, I surprised Meg with her favorite yellow roses. Some minor victories! Even though I don't have a vase in my bachelor pad, I do have a TON of beer pint glasses! We were able to improvise and use one of them.
We then were able to chill at my place and enjoy the Cowboys winning. Happy Wife, Happy Life! Thoughts and well wishes to Allen Hurns who had that gruesome leg injury that has everyone talking.
1 of 4 2 of 4 3 of 4 4 of 4
Sunday Funday! Our bestie Sally texted us saying we should all hang out, and suggested Alice's by Lake Hopatcong. When I put it in my Google Maps, I saw an odd, odd warning saying that "Your ETA is 1:03pm, but it may be closed when you arrive." Well, Google Maps was right. They're apparently closed in January for renovations. I kept regretting that we didn't go old school and call to see if they were open. Ah well. Sally's backup option was Krogh's in Sparta. Go figure. Meg and I go 6 months without going there, then we somehow end up there on back to back days and were able to get the same table. Complete comedy gold. Great laughs with friends while we were scouting my Patriots future competition, The LA Chargers.
1 of 5 2 of 5 3 of 5 4 of 5 5 of 5
Sunday night, I was able to round up and recap my weekend at Kite's. It was great to get the band back together and show off my Atlantic City pictures to my besties JG, Brad and Steve. They were impressed with our AC pictures. Success. We were frustrated by Philadelphia Eagles winning AGAIN UGH, and then enjoyed a little of The Golden Globes.
We had a fantastic weekend with many terrific memories that we will never forget, while getting much needed laughs with our friends. I hope your weekend was wonderful too. Time to start planning next weekend!