the WILD WILD WEST

In the Nineteenth Century (1800 to 1900) there was a major expansion in the United States. People moved west of the Mississippi River to the prairies, mountains, forests, deserts, etc. all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

It was a wilderness. A place that needed to be tamed to the White people's way of life. It was a hard life, very cold in winter and extremely hot in the summer and in the deserts. Not a place for the faint of heart. It brought miners, cowboys, farmers, merchants, bartenders, ladies of the night, sheriffs, rustlers, land barons, bank robbers, buffalo hunters, highway men and of course the gun men.

In the wild west, many times things were settled with Colts and Winchesters. Wagon trains would completely disappear. People would leave on wagon trains and never be heard from again. The snakes on the ground, the bears, the wolves and even the eagles in the air could kill.

The Native American were at home in this land. They were one with Mother Earth. They knew how to survive and prosper in this land. It was their home. How ironic, that one race had come to drive another race away from their home.

However, this is not the Wild, Wild West, I want to talk about. The Wild, Wild West, is a casino on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is located between Bally's Casino and Caesars Casino. In fact Caesars, Ballys, the Showboat and the Wild, Wild West casinos are all owned by the same company.

Out front on the east side of the casino was a covered wagon. You can enter through doors on the east and west side from the Boardwalk. When you enter it is dark, and extremely warm giving you the feel of a desert. In front of you are sandstone cliffs, with a miner and his mule panning for gold in the stream in front of you. Behind you in the air is a talking buzzard. To either side of the Miner and his mule are two entrances ways leading into the casinos with little waterfalls coming down from the bluffs.

To the left (west side) is a bar and behind the bar is a large slot parlor that leads off to Caesar's Casino. In front of you is slots. To the left as you walk in are old fashion tellers cages, like you would find in a bank in the 1800's with brass or gold colored bars on the windows. Behind the slots were the table games. Above the table games were a wooden trestle with two ore cars sitting on tracks (the real thing). Behind the table games were bathrooms that were done in an old west motive. In the very back was the food buffet. You paid on the first floor and then took an escalator up to the buffet. Although, we didn't try the buffet, it is rated very well and the patrons who tried it, were raving about how good the food was.

The bar that we had passed on the way in had a special $2.00 beers and $3.00 mixed drinks 24 hours a day. We went in ordered a Coors Light draft beer and a White Russian. The bartender said that a White Russian would be $9.50 so we said how about a vodka and cranberry. That was $3.00. We appreciated the bartender trying to take care of us and not taking advantage of us. A man sitting at the bar between two empty seats moved over to give us two spaces together. It was a nice gesture. We however opted to sit at a table and watch the large toy train moving above us on the trestle. In front of us were flat screen televisions, with different sporting events being shown on the the different televisions, and a view of the slot machines.

I would highly recommend, that if you go to Atlantic City, you check out the Wild, Wild West. It really wasn't wild. It is a classy smaller casino. A really nice experience. What do you think?