^
Jersey is beautiful once you get past the very northern tip.

I'm in LA and 2 people I've known my whole life have told me Reno is a giant steaming pile of omg-I'm-in-a-3rd-world-slum... and that everyone you meet is a scam artist. so the story posted by the guy who kicks it in reno was a little frightening. I'm a big guy so it sounds like I'd be fine in AC though.

as for the long-term viability of vegas, it's not going anywhere. it's massively overbuilt right now; the number of hotel rooms surpassed cumulative incoming flight capacity for an entire weekend 4-5 years ago. I mean, no **** you cant support a city of 2 million in a ****ing desert, but there will always be room for destination gambling in american life

lolwut? The only ugly parts are the ones near NY and Philly. The northern tip is a really nice state park up in the Appalachians, it's great up there.

I took a trip to the east coast recently (DC, Philly, NYC)

I had vacationed on the east coast before, but it was with my parents when I was a teenager. So this trip was sightseeing, drinking, women, poker, etc. (with friends)

I had plans to play an event or two at Harrah's and Parx as I have a buddy who plays poker and lives in Philly, but the trip turned into more of a sightseeing and historical vacation than anything which was cool.

Before I booked the trip, one of my buddies from home that went with me talked me into booking two nights in AC. Now, I knew prior to booking the rooms (which were actually very cheap) that AC had seen better days...I knew this.

I felt AC was dumpy and busto with a creepy vibe. I played $2-5 at the Borgata and had fun there, booked a small win. Barbara Enright sat in that game; at leat I think it was her. I was super impressed with the Borgata, and Bally's poker room was run very well. I didn't have to ask to get a new players card. Mine was worn and the dealer had another one made right away. They held a daily $60 ish NLHE tourny that didn't have too filthy of a structure.

Overall, the only way I would go back is if I happened to be hanging out on the east coast and Borgata was running a series/deepstack tournies/etc. The drive from Philly to AC was pretty though, through a National Forest I believe…?

Hahahah. That made me laugh. No, that's just the Atlantic City expressway. All those trees were planted there on purpose to block the view to the rest of New Jersey, which is a dump.

Heh. Just kidding. It actually does look like a forest, but it's just a ton of trees along the sides.

Those bastards!

The Expressway runs along the southern edge of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, which is indeed a National Forest.

But everyone knows it's the Cambodia of National Forests.