Dammit, that’s Camden’s job.
The Pine Barrens have their own kind of natural beauty but its no Yosemite. Flat with pines, oaks and sand punctuated by the occasional stream or pond. There’s a reason “Barrens” is in the name. I’ve kayaked several of the steams and rivers (LOTS of turning) and its about as far as you can get, sight and smell wise, from Tony Soprano’s NJ. Pristine and very peaceful.
Gotta say, New Jersey was a much more beautiful place than I would have expected it to be when I moved there. I landed in an apartment that was literally on the edge of a federal nature preserve and it was absolutely breathtaking. I still miss my view.
The problem with New Jersey isn’t the state, it’s the napoleon complex that the people who live there and never moved away develop. 6 out of every 10 New Jersey natives will spend the majority of every day defending New Jersey. They are as jingoistic about NJ as Texans are about Texas, but without the self confidence.
We were pretty happy to leave.
I say this with all respect to the friends I made in New Jersey and the good people on this board who are from New Jersey. (especially What Exit who is one of the genuinely good people in the world. Hal Briston too).
I’ve mostly heard that in relation to the Parkway, sometimes the Turnpike. However, those two roads mostly run on the eastern part of the state. It doesn’t apply to anyone in the central or western part of the state, which tend to be more open/less populated (with the exception of Trenton area)
Thank you.
The Turnpike runs SW to NE and is often used with the question. The Parkway is absolutely Eastern.
“What exit?” is not just a joke, it is also an actual reference used in NJ. I’ve seen it used for 287 & Rt 80 also. Though less frequently. Even 195 occasionally. I used to live off 195, but we would usually say the Howell Exit rather than a number. My niece currently lives off 195 and she uses the exit number.
The Pine Barrens episode of The Sopranos was actually filmed in Harriman State Park, New York. Poor Jersey can’t catch a break!
Nixon retired there rather than coastal CA. Shows he was nuts.
I am from Jersey. I grew up on the Shore (Toms River). I was always a bit peeved that New Yorkers made fun of us all the time, but come every summer millions of them would get in their cars and destroy traffic on the weekends so they could spend time on our beaches.
I still visit once a year. Mostly hang out down the Shore (Seaside Heights, but also Long Beach Island, Atlantic City, or Cape May).
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the film, but I recall it was a fictional quarry uncovered during the construction of a mall or some such thing.
I just don’t see where you could hide something like that here:
A few miles west maybe. In my mind, it would be as bizarre as saying "oh let’s go swim in that old waterhole in the East Village. Patterson would have made more sense. And Zak Braff is from NJ.
I never knew much about Turnpike exits. We would just tell people we were near Netcong.
It’s not enough information to get to where we lived, but most people had heard of Netcong, so they at least had an idea of the area.
Because it’s standing next to New York. It’s Doug Pitt.
It works well for the joke, but if they instead alternated, i.e., charged to leave NJ on half the bridges and charging to enter NJ on the other half, then much less in tolls would be collected; most drivers would choose the “free” bridge in both directions.
San Francisco’s Bay Bridge does same thing
It may be because the areas you first enter from New York are rather wealthy suburbs and not bad looking, in contrast to the industrial wasteland in New Jersey across the river.
You have never smelled my ski boots obviously.
Back in UAW/MF days, my Lower East Side X-flat crashpad sheltered scads of runaways from Morristown NJ. They all seemed glad to be away.
Now Morristown is an artsy-fartsy trendy expensive town to live in. Nice when towns recover. Hopefully this one did it without eminent domain abuse.
as far as the smell on the turnpike near Newark I think there is more than 1 place putting out a bad smell.
Yeah. I used to make this mistake. For 15 years I lived in southern Orange County, New York. When working in the city, I’d mention that I lived Upstate.
To people from Brooklyn, Orange County was a mystical rural paradise. I liked it well enough.
Then I made that small remark and the woman on the crew who objected said this: " You’re not from Upstate. You’re living in a bedroom community 65 miles north of Manhattan. I grew up in Watertown. That’s Upstate. "
Fair statement.
Boy howdy, you can say that again !! Being New Jersey means that felonious titans such as J&J can proudly exist, flaunting the law, flaunting morality and flaunting basic decency.
Perhaps they’re not the best example to hold up as paragons of virtue.
Yeah. Some Garden State…