Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Day 15 - August 11th

We had a long drive down to Atlantic City today so left the hotel early and headed for the US border at Niagara Falls. Before we crossed the border we'd intended to stop and view the falls from the Canadian side but the parking was either $20 or involved a lengthy park-and-ride so we skipped it and went straight over the border to the US, where

there was a $10 car park right next to the falls. We started with the Lady of the Mist boat tour which goes close to the bottom of the waterfall. We were given rainproof ponchos to wear and when we got close it was clear why, even though we were probably never closer than 50-100m from the waterfall it was like being in a torrential rainstorm - we couldn't really see anything up that close but it was good fun and the views are still very dramatic when you get a bit further away. Next up we walked over the bridge to the small island that separates the two main halves of the falls (the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls) where there's another attraction called Cave of the Winds. This time we had to wear not just a poncho but sandals too, and with good reason. Once we were kitted out we walked out onto the decking which takes you right up to part of the waterfall, including standing under the edge of it. It was only really a splash compared to the main waterfall but still felt like being pelted with stones and gives a real sense of how powerful the waterfall is.

Coincidentally, as we were leaving we bumped into Tom Adams, who used to work at the same company as me. He was doing a similar road trip to us but in the opposite order. It's a small world.

So, soaking wet we got back into the car and headed for Atlantic City - an 8 hour drive through the states of New York and Pennsylvania. Despite being smaller and more densely populated than the west these states are still vast, with an amazing amount of greenery. Pennsylvania in particular seemed to be nothing but dense forest all the way to Philadelphia (Which the sat-nav took us straight through the middle of, luckily after rush hour had finished).

We approached Atlantic City about 9pm, it's not as big as Las Vegas but still looks the part at night with flashing neon signs and giant billboards adorning the hotels. We checked into the Trump Taj Mahal, one of the biggest casinos and with it being midweek we were lucky enough to be given a free room upgrade. And what an upgrade it was - the suite had a lounge with sofa, armchairs, dining table and a huge flatscreen TV, and another big TV arm chair and writing desk in the bedroom for good measure, and the bathroom had two sinks, a huge shower and a separate jacuzzi. I thought the room at the Trapp Lodge had been big but this was at least twice the size!

It was pretty late by the time we'd checked in and explored the room so we had a quick dinner at the casino's steak house then hit the sack.