Atlantic City, NJ - NEVER AGAIN

I hated NJ and specifically Atlantic City so much that I hate to even write about it.

The RV park was deplorable. Apparently most of the people at the Pomona RV park are permanent or long term seasonal residents who in turn treat it as their own personal backyard. Several people had no qualms about letting their large dogs run around freely off leash. I really detest irresponsible pet ownership. The display of confederate flags left me confused since NJ soldiers fought on the side of the Union. Transplant racist from the south, maybe?

The drive into Atlantic City, about 15 minutes away, was disturbing, sad... I'm not sure how to properly articulate what it was. Poverty everywhere, abandoned buildings, dilapidated apartments where people actually live, people loitering on street corners.

The first thing we saw approaching the boardwalk area was what was once a giant hotel / casino that had been shut down and abandoned. We made our way to the Tropicana to eat lunch at a burger place inside the hotel. The hotel was very dated but nice enough inside. It was exactly like an old cruise ship, restaurants, shopping and a casino.

We went in fully prepared to gamble, itching to play roulette and blackjack but once the smell of cigarette smoke hit us we decided it wasn't worth enduring the smell. You couldn't escape it, the smell of years of stale cigarette smoke, in every part of the hotel. And, the sight of old people on oxygen pumping coins into the slot machines was beyond depressing.

We decided instead to walk the boardwalk. Several of the store fronts were closed down. The ones that were open had little business. Oddly palm reading seems to be a big deal in the area. Perhaps the gamblers want to know their luck before they leverage that weeks pay in search of a win.

After walking the boardwalk we drove past Trump's Taj Mahal and saw the signs the on strike employees had posted and the giant signs everywhere saying it was closing permanently on Oct 10th at 5:59AM. The building itself was in shambles and looked as if it hadn't had proper upkeep in decades.

Neither of us could wait to get the hell out of NJ, so I phoned the park in Old Mystic, CT where we were due to be in 2 days to see if we could come early. Thankfully our space was available, so we got up early this morning and hauled ass out of NJ.

Maybe Atlantic City is better in the summer, I'll never know.

I've never been so happy to leave someplace.

NJ, not my state. Never need to go back.