Meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Magnet #125 - Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ

Today in 1870, they opened the first section of the Atlantic City Boardwalk. That stretch of beach developed pretty rapidly, with luxurious hotels, retail shops and fine restaurants and other attractions, making AC the coolest thing on the eastern seaboard - a turn-of-the-century playground for the rich and famous.

Now, that same boardwalk is still there - the hotels, shops and restaurants have all come and gone and come again, and people still make their way to AC with the sole purpose of having fun.

Well, that, and to win their fortune at the slots, I suppose. Of course, AC is trying to make itself a little more family friendly, but to me, it just feels a little seedier now, and when compared to Vegas, it seems to give off an air of desperation.

What's funny is that the last time we went, I made my sister traipse up and down the boardwalk, following the trail that Danny Ocean followed inside the Trump casino, buying saltwater taffy, visiting the mall with the requisite (and a little sad) water fountain show. After that, I took her off the boardwalk, and over to the Borgata.

It was like watching a heavenly chorus of angels, the way she lit up at the happy place that IS the Borgata. Why? Well, for starters, it's the sister hotel to my beloved Vegas Bellagio. And, the majority, if not all, of the glasswork is done by my beloved Chihuly. And, honestly? It just feels nicer than anything on the boardwalk.

Well, at least until their slots eats all your money.

Peep show at Bellagio

Magnet #114 - Bellagio, Las Vegas

Yep. I've done a Bellagio magnet before, and I've mentioned it on joy magnetism quite a few times. What can I say, it might be my most favorite hotel in the world.

And, one can't say enough about the fabulous water fountains out front. Well, I guess you can if you've seen them do Hey, Big Spender! Which is a touch scarring. Plus, who can forget the Claire de Lune scene at the end of Ocean's 11, with my boy Clooney and the rest of the O11 gang.

But, the real reason I'm using it for today's magnet, is because one of my fellow bloggers and poster to this site, goldengait, has shared the funniest damn story about the Bellagio water fountains that I've ever heard.

Hope my sister's fiance reads this and takes note. Heh.

And, by the way, if you're hanging around GG's blog, take note of the fun show recaps she does - they're fun, concise, and has a way of making you think Hey! Me, too!

There's a surprise inside every...egg

Magnet #104 - Fabergé Egg #1, Moscow Kremlin

You don't know this yet, but I also have a thing for Fabergé eggs. I love them. I want one of my very own. I don't suppose anyone has a spare they can give me, do they? No, I suppose not. That's ok, I have one of those magnet sets of 10 eggs that I got at the Bellagio's Treasures from the Kremlin exhibit many years ago.

Once, at a do on the Forbes yacht, rather than networking, I had a whale of a time tucked away reading one of their massive self-published, cloth hard-backed tomes on the eggs - both in their collection and not. I used to visit their nine-egg collection all the time at the awesome Forbes Gallery. Well, that is until Steve Forbes decided that the collection should go back to its motherland. Sad for me.

The last egg was produced back in 1917, and apparently there are now plans to revive them. Not sure how I feel about that.

This one's the Moscow Kremlin, or the Uspenski Cathedral Egg. There's always a secret fun thing inside each egg, and this one's no different - apparently, you can open it up to see the inside of the Cathedral... and, it's a music box, that sings hymns. There's a whole story about the egg, about how it's important, because this cathedral is where all the Tsars were crowned, and how the presentation of the egg was delayed a few years because of political issues, but that's more than one little magnet should explain. But, the full story's here.

Just enjoy the pretty, because I swear, the design on these things are so damned intricate, it's like Fabergé had tiny fairies to actually manufacture them! Twould be fitting, since honestly, these eggs are like bits of magic when you see them up close.

Viva Las Vegas - GAR Day #11

Magnet #94 - Bellagio, Las Vegas

As our second day in Vegas, today was supposed to be a full day of Las Vegas hi jinx. The oddest thing about Las Vegas is the fact that once you get inside one of their monolithic hotels, you can't tell if it's day or night. It's insane. And the exits/entrances are like miles away from wherever you are, so leaving the grounds just seems harder than just plopping down in front of the nearest slot machine.

We were booked for a few nights at the Wynn hotel for the GAR, probably the only hotel that could beat out the Bellagio. Because the Bellagio? Heaven. No, seriously. This hotel is just. heaven. From the Chihuly glass entryway to the rooms, to the buffet, to the art gallery, to the conservatory gardens. Loved. This. Hotel. It just makes you feel wealthy, and transported off the strip. The dancing waters in front of the hotel are just as Clair-de-lune-y as Ocean's 11 makes it out to be.

Last time around, after checking out of our beloved Bellagio, roadtripped out to Utah, and on our way back to fly out of McCarran, baby sister forgot that she'd left her stuffed moose Napi back in the Bellagio. After much, much upset and pouting, she called the Bellagio, so that we could pick it up our way out.

Dudes, it was just a stuffed moose, not the Hope Diamond...but when she got to the front desk, she was told to wait - as the front desk attendant went to go retrieve the stuffed moose. From an undisclosed location. Freaky.

GAR Track of the Day: Viva Las Vegas

Joy and sisterhood in Las Vegas

Magnet #75 - Las Vegas
Pictured left to right: baby sister, me, middle sister

So, a few years ago, for my baby sister's 21st birthday, middle sister and I decided to take her to Vegas. She was finally of legal age to drink and debauch!

It wasn't til we got there that we found out that she doesn't like to really do either.

So what do three of-age girls do in Vegas?

Gamble. That's when we realized we weren't so much table gamblers. Still aren't. But we do like to play the slots. And, man, did we play them. At almost every casino along the strip. Middle sister has a history of winning a couple hundred...so any kitty we managed to accumulate went to the next thing on this list:

Eat. Buffets. At Excalibur. At the Bellagio. I'm sure I'm forgetting somewhere else. Plus, we also used our casino winnings to eat at the nicer restaurants...nothing more decadent than blowing money you didn't earn on a 5-star meal.

Pamper ourselves. Yeah. No spas here. But, we did opt to stay in the Bellagio for two nights. And, there's nothing like being on the casino floor, needing to use the restroom, going to one and seeing the line...and then saying to yourself - Wait a minute!!! I'm a guest! - and running upstairs with your keycard. Awesome. Plus, props to the Bellagio for making us feel like we were superduperwealthy...even though we totally aren't.

Sightsee. I know, feels like all there is to do in Vegas is get drunk and gamble. But, honestly? We managed to do quite a bit of sightseeing. In town, we went to most of the major casino shows (the freakish animatronics at Caesar's, the weird pirate show at Treasure Island, the tigers exhibit at MGM?), and we of course did M&M World, and that weird gaming complex (baby sister climbed the rock wall like a little spider monkey). We even had time for a little art - there was a Fabergé Egg exhibit at the Bellagio art gallery. I know! It's like Julia's art gallery in Ocean's 11!

Roadtrip. We went to Hoover Dam and did the tour. We went to Lake Mead (pictured here), and just roamed around. Then, we also did a side trip out to Utah, to assuage the outdoorsiness of baby sister. Bryce Canyon and Zion, and a couple of state parks...lots of early mornings and late nights.

Ride horses. Well, ok, technically, that was in Utah, at Bryce Canyon National Park. And even more technically, only two of the three of us actually liked it. Baby sister loved it, I liked it (even though I've never been in so much pain in my life), and middle sister nearly passed out. (Yep, there's a magnet for that story later on.)

There are definitely more silly stories...but there's more silly magnets. Wait til you hear about Napi the moose.