When my husband asked if I was interested in going along to a work event in Atlantic City, New Jersey, I replied, “Sure, I’m game!” I didn’t know if there was anything to do in Atlantic City when it’s cold out other than hit the casinos. We’re not much into gambling — I often say if it weren’t for bad luck, we’d have no luck at all — so I knew we’d probably steer clear of the games of chance.

On that cold, blustery Friday evening we attended a dinner at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville inside the Resorts Hotel Casino, ironically dressed in our Hawai’ian best, the theme for the evening. We enjoyed a delicious buffet that included a macaroni and cheese bar with any combination of toppings you could think of. I thought that was an interesting idea and enjoyed it more than I probably should have. We had to walk through the casino on our way out and stopped at a roulette table to watch some friends play, but we didn’t give in to temptation.

The next morning we went for a walk down the boardwalk to find a restaurant to eat breakfast. The boardwalk at 9 a.m. in November is a bit of a ghost town. Most stores are closed for winter, and only a few bundled-up runners and joggers were out braving the wind with us.

We walked down to the beach but stayed only long enough to snap a photo because the wind was relentless. Down the boardwalk we continued, finally deciding on a small breakfast place inside the Tropicana Atlantic City.

With a whole afternoon to ourselves, we grabbed some brochures of local activities and headed out in our car to explore the area. Most of the activities were done for the season, so we ended up at the Atlantic City Aquarium, open year-round. It was a small, quaint aquarium. I frequently visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore, so, in comparison, this was tiny. But it had some nice touch tanks a few kids were enjoying. It was a great opportunity to interact with small sand sharks, sting rays and horseshoe crabs. I enjoyed watching the octopus and seahorses. It didn’t take us long to walk through all three floors, so we took a ride up the coast a bit, just to take in the sights.

We came back to the boardwalk area for lunch, and a coworker of my husband’s recommended a little place just off the boardwalk. We liked the idea of this off-the-beaten-path restaurant, so we stopped into The Irish Pub for a bite to eat. It was as if we had been transported to a pub in Ireland. The bar was lively and the music was blasting. I didn’t find the menu very Irish; I guess they didn’t like to stick to the Irish tradition of serving potatoes with every meal, as they offered Asian or Italian pasta salad with meals. But the food was tasty, and you couldn’t beat the ambience with all the antique paintings and tin ceiling.

On our way back to our hotel we did stop in to the casino just to try our luck at the poker machines. We each sat down and in a new record time lost all the money we decided to gamble, solidifying our original position we should stay away from the casinos.

That night we attended the Mid-Atlantic Food Trades Organization Gala at the Resorts Hotel Casino and enjoyed a wonderful event with great food, drinks and dancing.

All in all, we had a nice time. Sometimes it’s fun to visit places in the off season, as it forces you to check out places you wouldn’t normally go.

— Tracey Cullen, art director