You know what's cool? The night before we left, TBS was rerunning the episode of Sex and the City where Carrie and the girls head to Atlantic City,
Luck Be an Old Lady. Fate? I thought it was neat. We watched, for luck.
After we landed in Philly, we collected our luggage, hopped in the rental car, and set out on our adventure. We crossed the Walt Whitman bridge into New Jersey and were on our way down the Atlantic City Expressway.
Along the route, we spotted pinks, whites and purples... Wisteria. There were also tolls, everywhere. Don't get off!
Eventually the highway nears the coast and reaches the parking garage at Caesars. The fog was eerie and hanging, and temperatures were in the lower 50s.
After check-in, we found our room and got changed so we could get moving. We hopped on the
Jitney, which was an adventure all its own, and rode to the
Borgata hotel and casino to see Dolly Parton perform!
I snapped photo after photo trying to get a decent shot, but as Dolly is a star...
and radiates... her own light?...
She appeared before us as a glowing, pure white
deity entity. I was convinced that we were in the presence of greatness. Fortunately, Melinda was able to zoom in more closely and get great shots like these...
Hey, we saw Dolly Parton perform live! Can you believe it? The legend herself. The icon? Incredible! The performance itself was darn near perfect as well. She makes it look so easy.
She sang new material to promote her recent CD release
Backwoods Barbie, and to our delight, she sang some old gems as well. Here are some excerpts from the list that Sam kept.
- Two Doors Down
- Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That
- Jolene
- Thank God I'm a Country Girl!
- Backwoods Barbie
- Eagle When She Flies
- Coat of Many Colors
Then she took like a half hour intermission and told us to take a break as well.
- Better Get to Livin'
- Puppy Love (first song she ever recorded, sang it in a high voice)
- 50's - 60's medley
- White Limozeen
- Here You Come Again
- Islands in the Stream
- 9 to 5
- I Will Always Love You
- Jesus & Gravity (encore)
She spoke freely between songs, telling jokes and stories, like how she wrote
Eagle When She Flies for the movie
Steel Magnolias (but they didn't use it in the movie).
I captured a few seconds of
Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That.
Highlight for me was getting to hear
9 to 5 and
Islands in the Stream live. Ah, the soundtrack of my childhood.
After the show, we were starving, since we hadn't really eaten all day. We stopped by a little cafe called
Bread + Butter.
I had a black forest ham, gruyere cheese and tarragon butter griddle sandwich, which I enjoyed. Sam got the wiggly bacon & cheese griddle sandwich. Mmm!
Melinda ordered a sandwich with perperoni -- their word, not ours -- and this cute chocolate on chocolate cupcake which she shared with us.
Afterwards, we spent some time exploring the
Borgata, then we jitney'ed back to Caesars and crashed.
What a night!
