In my continuing month-long series on the Jersey Shore, this week I reminisce about my trip to AC last fall to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday. The stylish new Borgata was booked solid, so the group of us decided to go old-school and shack up at the Trump Marina, which is in desperate need of, well, everything. Stuck in 1985 (the year it opened), the lobby was tacky, loud and reeked of smoke. The rooms were fine, but it didn't really matter — we were only there for one night on the town.

After an afternoon warming up on the slots, we headed to the Tun Tavern Brewery for tasty seafood and drinks. Next stop was Harrah's, where the birthday girl headed straight for the craps table. I'm not much of a gambler (although I love watching others) so after everyone started losing I headed to the bar to check out the live music. Lucky me, it was a popular Springsteen cover band who I enjoyed thoroughly. (They're on the bill at Harrah's for next Saturday night too.)

Last stop of the night was, of course, the posh Borgata for a little late night roulette, always a smart thing to do after a few rounds of drinks. We didn't bother trying to get into MIXX, choosing instead to do our pretty people watching from the casino floor. The hotel even has it's very own style website for keeping up with the "it" crowd of AC.

So, there's really nothing beachy included in this recap, because well, we never even saw the beach. But heck it was fun and I'm kinda jonesing for another. Road trip anyone?

[Last week: Bay Head; Next Week: Asbury Park]

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