We Continue to See No Horseshoe Crabs
It not only blocked the sun’s rays, but also the cool ocean breeze. I had constructed an impressive convection oven for myself and was steaming up.
Yes, I gave her a nice tip.
The two of us took an
elevator down to have lunch. Then we remembered which elevator it was to avoid
for the rest of the trip. It made many
grinding and clanking noises that sounded suspiciously like a prequel to an
unscheduled Terror o’ Tower imitation.
We loitered around the
Casa Taco Express, which is connected to the place with prepackaged desserts,
sandwiches and wraps, for long enough to realize that neither of us was in
anything resembling a burrito mood.
Instead, we both grabbed buffalo chicken wraps, which, in an unusual
turn of events, were far tastier than the one I had at the acclaimed deli
across the aisle on a previous trip.
Anabelle got a macaron for
dessert, the only remaining side effect from her long since passed obsession
with Miraculous Ladybug.
Rosa stopped by to see us
on the way up to the room, and had another failed attempt at fixing her card.
I took Anabelle to
“gamble” in the family fun room. Covid
stole some family fun from there, similar to how slot machines have been less
fun for a while. Now there were no tokens carried about and no tickets dispensed.
It was all virtual on the card. How sad.
Anabelle tried the old
classic bass fishing wheel. Then played a basketball shoot out that dispensed
no tickets, virtual or otherwise. She was DEVASTATED. 
Once she found the next machine, it was the location she’d spend most of her time at: a Sponge Bob token drop game. This was a place where the virtual switch
helped out. Normally coin games are
designed where you drop a token in, it rolls to where there are a large pile of
other people’s tokens…
And they stay there forever.
In this case, the update
made it a combination of those games, and the games where the token had to be
aimed through a rotating target for points. The target used to dictate ticket
wins.
Now that the coins were
all internal. Swiping the card activated the coin rolling, and the
target would either release extra coins, or cards or provide free games.
In other words, the coins
did drop in this version, granting virtual tickets.
After a long while there,
and a couple classic runs on the pirate spin wheel and the ball drop, she turned in
her virtual tickets.
DEVASTATED AGAIN!
But not for long.
Following a raging
internal debate about color choices, she picked out two little translucent
plastic UNICORNS! Then she selected four
similar material ninjas to protect them.
Winnings (such as they were) in hand, we returned to the room. The three of us once more united, it was time to walk the Boardwalk again.
I noted that one of the
advertised clairvoyants must have been really good, since she made no effort to
entice us into her little shop, unlike most of the others on that stretch. She
must have foreseen I’d say no.
There was a bit of
confusion, as we were learning what would be extremely common, concerning
gluten free selections, in an ice cream shop.
Rosa tried, and failed to explain the highly complex concept of not
using the same scoop on the regular and gluten free selections unless it was
cleaned in between.
They finally understood,
explained that’s what they did…and then clearly did not do it when one vat was
replaced with a fresh one.
Anabelle then explained to
us that Butter Pecan isn’t her favorite, BOARDWALK Butter Pecan is. I’m certain the stale cones make the ice
cream seem better by comparison. However,
her Brooklyn genes from Grandpa showed through when she stated the Coney Island one was the
best.
When we got home, I
learned she made up for any “tiny spoon” deficit on this trip due to the
closing of the Polish Water Ice stand with the pile of tasting spoons she snuck
into her purse here.
We didn’t go the full
length this day, but instead continued past the Tropicana to the quieter
section of Boardwalk when we walked back.
There were still a few open shops selling the same crap all the other
stores had, meaning the stretch didn’t reach “Zombie Apocalypse” levels of
empty this time out. 
Coming in, Rosa finally
got her card fixed by going to the point redemption area, instead of anywhere
else people told us to go.
We had a few places we wanted to tell them to go.
Anabelle watched a bit
more Sabrina on the IPad, and I tried
to read some Marvel King In Black side
stories. I did read a bunch of comics,
but nothing really connected to the big Venom crossover. Marvel’s been getting sneaker with slapping
the crossover title on stuff that is only connected to it by the least of
tangential threads.
I read some cool, if
mislabeled, “Namor” and “Atlas Vs Atlantis” stories by two of my favorite
writers, Kurt Buseik and Greg Pak, therefore I’m not complaining.
Rosa watched some
television and fixed her Mother’s flight details. I may have napped somewhere
between “Atlantis” and “Attacks” because it’s all a bit fuzzy.
Our “fancy night part two”
dinner was the return to P.F. Chang’s.
The elevator was full of the entertaining kind of “dudes.” It was yet
another example of Anabelle’s weird, platonic bond with Frat Boy types that happens
semi-regularly anywhere she goes. They decided to make funny faces at people, and implored the
rest of us in the car to join in, when the doors opened at each level.
When we went down a couple
of floors and an entire family wanted to get in, the gang correctly pointed out there
was no room and apologized.
When we went down a couple
of more floors and one guy wanted to get in, the gang correctly pointed out there was
no room and apologized.
When we went down a couple
of more floors and two young women about the “dudes”’s age wanted to get in, the gang correctly pointed out there was miraculously just enough space for them, and
they should, “Come on in!”
P.F. Chang’s had a varied
and quality gluten free menu.
Rosa was very happy with her soup and fried rice, I was able to get healthy fish, and Anabelle, normally not a Chinese food fan, enjoyed her appetizer selection.
And they stay there forever.
DEVASTATED AGAIN!
Winnings (such as they were) in hand, we returned to the room. The three of us once more united, it was time to walk the Boardwalk again.
We had a few places we wanted to tell them to go.
Rosa was very happy with her soup and fried rice, I was able to get healthy fish, and Anabelle, normally not a Chinese food fan, enjoyed her appetizer selection.
(But not to the one near home that burned both the rice AND the soup. That took talent.
The one near Villanova was great though.)
There was another possible
tornado alarm, just as we went on a run to drop off a suitcase in the parking
garage…
Fun!
However, the rain stopped
and the rest of the night was clear.
I am not, nor do I pretend
to be in great shape anymore, but I think the whole “Mesh pants over a thong”
fashion statement should be contained to the beach and not used as evening wear,
regardless of body type.
And, boy howdy, there were many body types.
We hadn’t been anywhere in
such a long time, and with the restriction of Anabelle’s dance schedule, decided
to stay a Friday night into the weekend. This was something we only did once before, to
prevent me from driving there and back in less than 24 hours twice.
I learned definitively
that while I missed the concept of people while working alone out of my basement for
the over a year, I did not miss actual people.
This was not only due to
the mesh pants, but I feel that was a contributing factor.
Back at the room, Rosa and
Anabelle watched Friends some more, I
read comics, commented that we really needed to watch Coupling again, and enjoyed the weirdly fruity beer I got the day before.
Luckily, Rosa figured out the “odd towel rack” in the bathroom was a bottle
opener, since I lost yet another keychain one.
In other words, a typical
night for us in Atlantic City.
Sleep came easily, closing
out our mini-vacation’s final night.
Fun!
And, boy howdy, there were many body types.
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