I Green Bean, being of sound mind and sound body, voluntarily chose to live in New Jersey, and if all goes according to plan, I will live here for the rest of my life.
Why? Well, New Jersey is a good place for people who don’t like to be bored.
I thought he lived in Princeton.
I think Princeton is in New Jersey.
Uh, yeah. Unless he is making a joke that totally wooshed me.
Well, it was sort of a joke. But Princeton is often mentioned as a pretty nice place–why that rep doesn’t offset that of the OP, I don’t know.
I live in Lawrenceville, a town right between Princeton and Trenton. Granted, Trenton is a hellhole, but Princeton is beautiful. Lawrenceville is also a great town. And IIRC, New Jersey has more kinds of habitat than any other state. In fact, we have so much variety, the World Series of Birding is held here. I pledged to the Cornell team last year. They were so close! At least the pledges are for a good cause.
Areas that suck in NJ.
- Any area really near Philly or NYC.
- Seaside Heights (not park though).
- Atlantic City (200 yards from the casinos)
- There are exeptions to this rule (exept for seaside heights)
I have lived in NJ for all but about 2.5 years of my life. There are good and bad spots and then there are the pine barrens- the barrens are just freaky.
I thought Einstein lived(or maybe his labs were there?) in Menlo Park, hence the nickname The Wizard of Menlo Park, and the town next door being named Edison.
Cal, I don’t live in South River anymore, I recently moved to CA, though my mother and sisters still live there and I have many friends there. I’m sure I will be visiting in the not-to-distant future.
I think you’re all confusing Edison and Einstein.
Quoth Wood Thrush:
Alaska, perhaps? I’m pretty sure that NJ has neither rain forest nor tundra, nor mountains, etc.
There are some sorta-mountains…My ears actually pop driving to and from my GF’s house. Well, maybe mountain isn’t the right word for a 600 foot bump on the ground, but Jersey isn’t as flat as I expected. And much prettier. Echoing everybody else, there are some really crappy areas, as well as some really beautiful places. I’ve never seen so many trees or so much rain in my life! And I think tundra does grow here in the winter (hahaha). That’s the one part I really really hate about NJ. It’s C-O-L-D in wintertime.
Of course my perspective may be a little biased by 28 years of living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Sandia Peak rises a mile above the city and winter lasts about 2 weeks. 
But I did choose voluntarily to move here, and I like it. I even got to see my first hurricane last year (it passed directly over my town. 
)
ROFL Eve. Uhhhh major duh! Yea sorry, ummm, I think I’ll be going now. Nevermind.
Okay people. I have lived in New Jersey for 18
years. I would not move anywhere else. I am
in Bergen County, just off of Route 4. Expensive,
but I love it. The proximity to NYC (I get there
in 30 minutes for $2.80, can you beat that?), the
lovely neighborhood I live in, and the way people
look after each other.
I am single and could live anywhere. So there.
Perhaps appropriately, our highest point is High Point, and it is 1,803 feet in elevation. The New Jersey Highlands average over 1000 feet. While they aren’t exactly the Himalayas, they are mountains nonetheless.
What’s wrong with Seaside Heights? It’s classic Boardwalk. Of COURSE it’s tacky – that’s part of the charm! A couple of years ago MTV chose it as the site of their Beach House.
When we go down there we stay at Seaside Park, but we ALWAYS visit Seaside Heights.
(Why Seaside HEIGHTS, though? It’s all at sea level – the highest point is where route 37 goes up onto the bridge off Island Beach – and that’s manmade.)
Lived there for a year. Some parts are nice (suburban/rural), whereas others are terrible (Newark). The northeast portion is essentially a suburb of NYC (although they’ll claim otherwise).
New Jersey does have more Superfund (National Priorities List) sites (i.e., hazardous waste sites) than any other state…which is not so good considering its small size. On the other hand, they have some new strict environmental laws in place.
I think that there is one of those cheesey Rainforest Cafes in a mall somewhere.
(ba dum bump)
And there are more and more Toyota Tundras on the road every day.
(I’ll be here all week, folks!)
And we do have real mountains.
There is a positive aspect of New Jersey that hasn’t been mentioned yet: money and jobs. There are, have always been, and probably always will be, good jobs to be had in New Jersey. You wouldn’t believe how many companies are headquartered in Central Jersey. That is a big reason that people move here in the first place. The state also has a huge tax base, which pays for schools, roads, etc.
We do have a lot of superfund sites–but this is because of all of the industry that has been here over the years.
Yes. 
The very best thing about New Jersey:
Cape May Bird Observatory.
'Nuff said.
wait, did I forget to mention my favorite thing about jersey?
mounds-o-superhot-chicks. everywhere you look: babes. Jersey girls rule.