Atlantic City lies an hour south of Philadelphia - a beach resort from which the bloom of youth has long since faded. According to Wikipedia "by the late 1960s, the typical Atlantic City tourist was invariably poor, elderly, or both."

Casinos came in the late 70s, when, in an effort to revitalize the city, New Jersey voters approved casino gambling in the city in 1976. Thus the once-fashionable Atlantic City became the first city on the East Coast to allow legalized gambling.

Now, the typical Atlantic City tourist is poor, elderly and can be found in front of one of the thousands of the city's slot machines.

Wandering through the halls of Tropicana, the self-proclaimed "most exciting casino" in Atlantic City, one cannot help but feel that Atlantic City is a giant playground for senior citizens, much like Cancun is for 20-somethings and college students. Instead of smoking weed until dawn, the Atlantic City party-goer wakes up at 6 am to have some breakfast and dines at 5 pm - along the way he or she  drinks a pitcher of beer, spiked with Aleve or arthritis medication.

One 62-year-old woman bumped into me while I was walking on the famous Boardwalk at 2 pm. She giggled, excused herself and said to her girlfriend (which turned out to be her sister-in-law) "oops, I may have had too many beers already."

She and her 76-year-old husband (both based in Minnesota) told me they come to Atlantic City at least once a year. "It's nice here. You can do a little bit of gambling, and shopping and you can do some sightseeing." Okay. Her favorite sights? 

"Well, ya know. The beach. The other casinos."