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Let’s play.

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This one should be fun.

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For me it’s an easy choice. The Poconos.

We’d never been… and though we’re long past the heart shaped red velvet mirrored honeymoon beds the area is known for, 6 years ago we decided to take off for the mountains and spend Christmas there.

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I booked a week at an amazing place, full of atmosphere. ( Think the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King’s The Shining, minus Jack, his ax and the twins )

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It was old, built of stone, and so huge I couldn’t get a photo of it in one shot.

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It was an old resort like you see in the movie Dirty Dancing. Rich people would escape summer in the city and live here for months. It had multiple dining facilities, a spa, a theater, game rooms, multiple bars, a library, a stable and even its own post office… complete with a personal hotel zip code.

The best (read weird) part? We had the entire place to ourselves.

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I’m not kidding, we were there for a week and didn’t see another guest until Christmas Day. Talk about eerie.

And while the interior of this grand old dame was impressive…

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It was beyond strange being the only inhabitants.

Have you ever eaten dinner by yourself in a dining room that seats 400?

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Or breakfast in a room that seats 300?

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Trust me, it’s a little creepy.

Thankfully we weren’t murdered in our bed, but in retrospect the odd accommodations turned out to be the highlight of the trip.

For a full week we toured the area and never found anything the least bit scenic. Rows of strip malls, trash lined roads and extremely tacky “family fun resorts”?

There were plenty of those. And in true “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em… we’re going to have a good time if it kills us” fashion… we bar hopped every tacky resort we could find.

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Indoor purple waterfall?

Check!

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Bizarre robotic decorative Santas?

Check!

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Elephant driven sleighs at an African themed resort called Kalahari?

Check!

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Giant topiary squirrels?

Yeah, those too.

And while the husband and I manage to have a good time wherever we go?

The Poconos are definitely at the top of our been there, done that, don’t need to do it again list.

So how about you? To what place are you never returning…

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53 thoughts on “Let’s play.”

      3. Honestly, it can be okay if you go when the pools are open… days poolside and nights at shows. And there are tons of amazing food options. But it’s all expensive now. The days of $1.99 buffets are long gone… they’re now $30+.

        I avoid Fremont Street, the old (read cheap) section of the city but some people love it.

        But a lot of the appeal here is that it’s a fast/easy getaway. The drive only takes about 4.5hrs on non-holidays. By comparison, it used to take me 2hrs just to get to work!

        Liked by 1 person

      4. We tend to like quiet out of the way resorts with scenic views. We love nature and history, not much of that in Vegas. But like I said… we might go once just to check it out. I heard they have a neon sign graveyard.
        🤣

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      5. Yes…I haven’t been to the neon graveyard. I think it’s on the outskirts and I never have a car.

        There’s lots of nice desert outside of the main strips! Loads of outdoor activities but usually too hot or too cold.

        I was there in a flashflood and the amount of water rushing through the parking lot of Imperial Palace was both mesmerizing and terrifying (horrible hotel; water drainage from hills runs under the hotel, through the parking lot, and back underground again).

        Liked by 1 person

  9. Duly noted. I will not put it on my wish list. I have to say that I wasn’t impressed with Vegas. I had to go there on a business trip years ago when I was three months pregnant. It was more than the pregnancy that made me nauseous on that trip.

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  10. I think New Orleans was my biggest disappointment ever. Sleaze, panhandlers, price gouging, tired musicians and barflies. A wrought iron slum. I think I was hoping for something that had died years ago.
    Followed closely by Key West. Too much faux kink, affected liberalism and melanoma scars.
    There isn’t enough liquor in the universe to make those two worn out slatterns pretty again.

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  11. Juarez Mex, it’s just across the border from El Paso. I haven’t been there in over two decades and that’s on purpose. Even as a kid I was told not to cross the border and as an adult I only went TWICE, but that was enough.

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  12. Whistler, BC. If you are not a 20-something bar-hopping ski-bunny-or-ski-bum-chasing gotta-be-cooler-than-cool fake human then leave Whistler off your choice of ski resorts. The things I saw cannot be unseen. Don’t know about the girls washrooms, but in men’s washrooms and integrated washrooms there was more sex on display than people actually using the facilities to wash their hands. Speaking of washing hands, these bum and bunnies just finished what they were doing without washing their hand before returning to the more public bar areas. Are kids these days so horny they can’t wait to get a room?

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      1. Whistler is the “in” spot for the A-list Jet Set crowd from all over the world, but maybe they have private bars and lounges where the riff-raff cannot go. But from what I hear of their habits, they are the riff-raff, and don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks.

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  13. Having been to Timberline Lodge at Mount Hood, you’re right: that place in the Poconos definitely has an Overlook Hotel vibe!

    I’m never goin’ back to Los Angeles. At least not if I can help it.

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  15. you’re really making me think.. Hmm.. I’d have to say my mothers womb.. there was no leg room in there! haha loved the pictures.. it would definitely be a little eerie being in that place by yourself.. wouldn’t need to have table manners during meals!

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      1. I tell people to take friends to Bev Hills and say it’s Hollywood. There and The Grove (a shopping area that’s technically in LA) are the best options for seeing celebs.

        The Walk of Fame (the stars on the sidewalk), particularly the area where they do movie premieres) is extra sucky. But they close Hollywood Blvd and prep for a week (or often more) before those events.

        Liked by 1 person

  17. That hotel is seriously empty . . .

    We had a similar experience at Christmas in Melbourne FL a few years ago. The oceanfront hotel we stayed in was like a ghost town. In fact, the whole town was like a ghost town. I wonder if it’s even more ghostly and ghastly at Halloween?

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