After the completion of the Coolest Road Trip, I had just enough energy to make it over to Atlantic City for the Fourth of July celebration, the crown jewel of all beach days. I’ll be honest and tell you that I was quite fatigued from my long journey, but there was no way I could pass up the opportunity. I love holidays at the beach, despite the crowds. The sun and the sand, the breeze and the smell of the salt air, the water and the sound of the boats – there’s just something about the energy. I was in town to investigate the non-gambling side of Atlantic City – which the beach culture is a large part of – but we’ll get into all that in the next post.

On the night of the 4th, I sat on the beach beside the Atlantic City boardwalk and watched fireworks. They were big and bright and beautiful, but the real show was to follow: The debut of Duality, a three dimensional light show developed by Moment Factory – the same group that created the effects for Madonna’s Super Bowl Halftime performance. It’s by no means your run of the mill light show – the city certainly ponied up for it.

Projected onto the historic Boardwalk Hall and running every half hour, Duality starts at 9:30 p.m., is free to the public, and is eight and a half minutes in duration. I was impressed – they did a really nice job with it – and I think my favorite part was when they made it seem like the building was crashing down.

Check out the video below to get a sense of the special effects: