On the boardwalk in Atlantic City....Come on, sing along! Yes, we made it to Atlantic City and back safely although that was iffy for a while. As you can see in this photo, the day was brilliant. The weather was perfect. This is the boardwalk from outside of Bally's casino looking down the walk. The scaffolding on the left is part of the seemingly everpresent construction. They are putting in some upscale designer shops. On the right is the facade that makes up the Golden Nugget casino. It's made to look like an old western town, if old western towns went in for pastel shades of paint. The next photo is a shot of the inside of a store called It'Sugar. And it is. All of it. It is a candy store with three floors. I loved these candy buttons when I was a kid, although I remember eating a lot of paper when the candy didn't come off. And here is a photo of my almost finished sock resting on a bench in the shade. I won't describe the look on the face of my group member as I took photos of my knitting. Suffice it to say, she thought I was a little strange. I tried to take a photo in front of the Welcome to Atlantic City sign but there was a large bag of trash in front of it and I just didn't want to touch it and move it.

We got to the bus station in time and waited in line for the bus. It is first come first served when you ride Greyhound. This is an important point to remember. We got there in an hour and the group broke up and went our separate ways. Some folks gambled but I decided to walk outside in the perfect day. We shopped in kitchy souvenir shops and had lunch outside. By 2 pm we were waiting in line for the scheduled 2:45 bus to take us home. We were waiting with about 80 other folks for the same bus. Well, it came and of course only about 50 people fit on the bus, leaving 30 or so left stranded. Greyhound doesn't guarantee anyone a seat on any bus at any time. After standing in line for over an hour, waiting for a bus we were assured "was on its way", a police officer told us that they were having "problems down the line and no buses were on their way". He then advised us to walk to the bus terminal, 2 blocks away and see if they could help us. To make this long story short, they couldn't.

There we were, 30 people waiting for a ride home. We were tired, dirty (a seagull decided I was his target for the day) and grumpy. When a Greyhound employee walked down through the crowd and people started to complain, she gave them the "pity violin gesture". You know the one, where you pretend to play the violin? Well, I thought the crowd was going to tear her apart. These were some tired people and she was dissing them big time. In the end, we waited until 5 o'clock for a bus to take us home. Three hours of standing in line. Damn my feet hurt.

So, if you are contemplating a bus trip, my advice is DON'T TAKE GREYHOUND. As Harry Chapin said "It's a dog of a way to get around".