up at Newark airport (We now use Atlantic City, nice ride and faster in and out). We took her for rides through all of the shore towns and then into the beautiful rural and horse farms. She stated one had to see it for themselves and understood why it was called the Garden State. The best tomatoes ever. Bruce Springsteen and I are both from Freehold, he in school with my younger brother and Danny DiVito used to cut my hair when he was doing standup in the Village. Ive always felt Jersey had an un-deserved bad rep, "Jersey Shore" didn't help....LOL..

good tomatoes.

based on a couple of trips through it where we passed by Newark. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Or, at least it was back in the 70s.

However, second hubby had an older brother who lived in Toms River and when we visited, I thought it was a lovely place.

...A tourist.

Just kidding of course, Ms.1620rock is a Jersey girl, although we have lived in Michigan now for many years.

Beautiful beaches and boardwalks "down the shore" as we say in Jersey. And the pizzas "Tomato Pies" again as we say in Jersey, are the best on earth. They are to die for. The best pizza I ever had in Michigan is not as good as the worst pizza in Jersey.

It typically has tomatoes, basil, garlic, and not as much cheese.

I prefer regular pizza, but I love a lot of cheese.


As for my state, love living here, hate the governor and the reputation that reality TV shows (Jersey Shore, Real Housewives) give the state.

probably not representative but the historical Boardwalk Empire set in Atlantic City and also Jersey Shore with Snookie et al.

and i love my home state. it displays the best (the natural beauty) and worst (overconsumption, 2 second attention spans) of the USA.
Those of us from Jersey don't take any grief from anyone. And we really can't completely lose our accents.

And that is saying a lot. Must be all the toll roads (the Jersey Turnpike kills me!). But I like Jersey. Been there many times and vacationed in Ocean City NJ a lot. One of my greatest and craziest memories is going to Wild Safari at Six Flags as a kid. Now I think back and realize that zoos like that we you drive through are probably not very good for the animals.

It appeared to be a real family first type State.

We were impressed.

The Tikkis

And Cape May proper, too.

Many happy vacation memories there!

Rolling hills and horse, blueberry, tomato farms.