Not a Park

I just wanted to throw this post out there after visiting Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal for the past 2 days. Casinos of this caliber, or probably any caliber really, are in a lot of ways the antithesis of any sort of "natural" place I'd be writing about on this blog. They are noisy, distracting, can almost totally make you lose sense of day/time, and can seriously produce anxiety if you are losing your money in high-stakes games. There are only two ways I can see parks and casinos being similar.

For one, parks, particularly obviously designed ones, guide you using a series of tricks such as paths, signage, and strategic plantings to get you to go where the designer wants you to go. This could be a view or, depending on the priorities of the stakeholders, could be something like stores or a food court. Casinos seem to do this too, except, personally, it always seemed to end with me on the casino floor playing the slots, even though I wasn't necessarily there to gamble. (There is a good reason for this.) The second similarity is a stretch. Casino's are jam packed with color and lights. Parks, particularly ones that seem to be popular with a wide array of people (not just special groups like birdwatchers) are filled with a vibrant color and textural palette through extensive use of flowers, shrubs, and even sculptures. Really, though, that is about all I can think of at the moment for similarities of the two.

Between you and me, I'd take the park over a casino any day. Then again, I probably wouldn't end up $20 down from gambling in a park.