My wife and I just returned from a @2 week road trip to the east coast. We spent several days in Northern Virginia visiting with family. Afterwards, we took a leisurely, indirect route back home. Okay, we had to make sure there was a Donatos Pizza, Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken or significant railroad attraction along the way. Even though this trip definitely wasn't a gambling junket, we managed to visit a few casinos along the way in Atlantic City, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Still, we skipped many of the casinos we had visited in years past even though we were often very close and could have easily stopped. After leaving NoVA, we drove to Atlantic City so I could collect $1 chips from rebranded Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (formerly Trump Taj Mahal) and Ocean Resort Casino (formerly Revel Casino Hotel). AC still has a great beach & boardwalk, but it's a shame the city officials/planners and community really dropped the ball during years it had a monopoly on east coast gambling. This place could have been so much more. Overall, Ocean Resort Casino is a very nice facility. Unfortunately, it is somewhat hampered by a poorly designed casino floor that is far off the boardwalk. We didn't spend much time in Atlantic City, as we had hotel reservations in Philadelphia that night. Before leaving, we had dinner at Fresh Harvest Buffet (Hard Rock Hotel & Casino). Not the best buffet experience I've ever had -- not even close. Whoever designed the serving stations did a very poor job of staging food items. As a result, the line for one serving station was absurdly long while the others were short. Yeah, you know which line had the food items that most wanted. At least our server was excellent (drink refills, clearing plates). We stayed in Philadelphia for three nights, I think. The highlight was a tour of Eastern State Penitentiary, the prison that served as a model for many others in the US (and ROW) that followed. Al Capone was an inmate there for a year. Highly recommended if you visit the City of Brotherly Love. Reading Terminal -- with its numerous different restaurants -- is a great place to have lunch. We tried the pork sandwich, with and without broccoli. Not bad, but the turkey sandwich at Jaffa Bagels in Chicago blows it away. One evening I took the Broad Street Line subway from Midtown to NRG Station. Live! Casino & Hotel is about a 15 minute walk from NRG Station. The Phillies had an evening game in nearby Citizens Bank Stadium so there were lots of people walking around the area. Very nice facility. There were 3 craps tables in operation when I stopped by. I made sure I left well before the game ended, as I didn't want to get caught up in the mass of humanity leaving the stadium -- but not before I ordered a large pepperoni pizza from Lorenzo & Sons. Took a cab back to the hotel. My wife was quite happy I had brought back a pepperoni pizza. We stopped by Rivers Casino (Philadelphia) early in the morning on our way out of town. It was basically deserted. I was the only one at the craps table, so I played for @20 minutes or so. All of the Rivers Casinos (Des Plaines, IL; Pittsburgh, PA; Philadelphia, PA; Schenectady, NY; and soon Portsmouth, VA) need to get their act together and come up with a single players card that is valid at all of their branded casinos. To be continued...
One of the highlights of the trip was meeting up with Liman and kokojoe4 at Rivers Casino (Pittsburgh, PA). After a couple of days in Lancaster / Strasburg (Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania), my wife and I arrived in Pittsburgh around 6:30pm. I managed to get to Rivers by 7:15pm and played craps with them for a little while. Koko had to work the next day so he left shortly after I arrived. Later on, Liman claimed he was too tired to play until 4am; lol, I think he wisely decided to color up while ahead. It was great to see Liman and kokojoe4 again even if we weren't able to play craps long into the night. Perhaps another time. The Landing Hotel, an attached hotel under construction at Rivers Casino (Pittsburgh, PA), is currently projected to open sometime October 2022. Right now the closest "name" hotels on the North Shore are just under a mile away from the casino. The dealers at Rivers Casino (Pittsburgh, PA) will *not* book an improper bet. So, for example, no $5 Horn or $10 Place 6/8 bets are allowed. I found this out after I attempted to make a $3 Hop 5 bet (pays $21 if it hits at most casinos that allow Hop bets). Not allowed at this Rivers Casino. The explanation offered was improper bets shortchanged the bettor. Sometimes that is true, but how would a $3 Hop 5 bet shortchange me (vs. a $2 or $4 Hop 5 bet)? LMAO. At least the Buy 4/10 at this casino is automatic at $20 and the vig is delayed (after win). It appears Rivers has attempted to have some degree of consistency among the dining options at its casinos, but there are still differences. For instance, no tater tots at Flipt (Pittsburgh). WTF??? And the Mian menu at the Pittsburgh location is noticeably smaller than Des Plaines. ARGH... Pittsburgh has a storied steel-making history. We booked a @2 hour tour at Rivers of Steel: Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark. Very cool. Our guide was very knowledgeable. The Carrie facility is one of the last surviving examples of its kind in the US. It made iron, which was then shipped across the Monongahela River to the US Steel Homestead Works. Because of time constraints, we didn't stop by Live! Casino Pittsburgh on our way in. It was too far out of the way for us to stop by on our way out of town. Same goes for Hollywood Casino at The Meadows in nearby Washington, PA (rebranded in October 2021; formerly The Meadows Racetrack and Casino). Another trip.
I think the bulk of the steel making for WW2 ships and guns came out of the allentown/bethllehem area of PA. once the industry went kaput so did the area. but wind creek formerly sands is built on a steel mill site.....I know last time we were there the old mill was still standing'
Sorry to hear I missed a get together at The Rivers. I've met Kokojoe4 once. Sadly I haven't been to the casinos as often as I used to. Sounds like you had a great trip though, with lots of history taken in.
