Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The Gorgeous Garden State

"The Armpit of America" is, unfortunately, what a lot of people like to think of New Jersey as. It's sad but so true: there are a lot of (to say this nicely) foolish people out there who don't know any better...

Great Falls, Passaic River, Patterson, New Jersey... if you think New Jersey is the armpit of America then you are worse than Hitler.

Great Falls, Passaic River, Patterson, NEW JERSEY

Gorgeous, ain't it?
(borrowed from here.)


I'm not actually in New Jersey right now, only from there.

7 comments:

Sugarmag said...

It's lovely, Zoooma. I guess there's a reason it's called the Garden State.

Anonymous said...

How beautiful! When I lived in North Wales PA I used to drive around the southern part of New Jersey, from Lambertville all the way over to the shore and thought it was lovely. Of course, I stuck to the more rural parts of the state, but it was actually easier to do than I'd been led to believe. Thanks for the picture.

Anonymous said...

sssshhhhhhhhhhsssshhhhhh, don't tell anyone about America's best kept secret, New Jersey, it's crowded enough as it is.

Whenever I tell someone I'm from NJ, and I get the standard "What Exit?" crack, I just smile and move away.

Did you live here?

By the way, I live about three miles down river from the falls in the picture.

As always, thanks for the tunes.

Zoooma said...

Not one I took but I'm glad y'all liked the picture.

Past few days I've seen a couple things where people completely ridiculed New Jersey so I thought I'd start showing some folks that it really ain't all bad.

Sean -- I think you asked me in comments on another post if I'm from Jersey... sorry I never answered.

I grew up in Oakland/Franklin Lakes, a couple towns under the New York state line, right on 287. I remember when 287 wasn't even there and the town had a more peaceful, charming quality to it. Ahh well...

used to hike the Ramapo Mountains and fish in the Ramapo River, hung out in the malls in Paramus and Wayne, worked in Ridgewood, skied up at Vernon Valley. I moved out west for college but I came back for three summers after that and then that was it, my time living in NJ had come to an end. I almost moved back but one thing that sucks is Bergen County is soooooooooo expensive.

Since I've been gone, I actually miss NJ. (That kind of boggles my mind.) And since it has quite a horrible reputation from people who've never experienced what's great about the place, I find myself sticking up for the state from time to time. Being so relatively close to NYC, there's no place I'd rather've grown up!

Anyway, thanks for askin' so I could ramble a little bit and thanks for your comments around here. As always, you're welcome for the tunes! Happy to spread them around... and if there's anything in particular you'd dig gettin' your ears on, just let me know and I'll see what I can do! Happy to help!

Anonymous said...

I grew up in West Orange, moved around the country a bit as an adult, nd I am now living in Lincoln Park which is just a short run down 287 from your old stomping grounds. I just had my dogs for a hike around Ramapo Valley a few weeks ago. Long story short, we got lost, it started to snow, and my older dog, Romo, kept looking up at me with a "Dude, what are we doing here?" look on his face. We made it out ok, obviously.

I know what you mean about defending NJ. When I lived in Colorado, I would always stick up for my home state, even though at the time I had no intention of ever going back.

Daisy Deadhead said...

I stayed near here once, back when it was privately owned. The surrounding area (with lake and trails) is now part of the NJ Historic land trust.

It was just beautiful... but nobody ever believes me!

Zoooma said...

That's cool, Daisy, that you thought part of New Jersey was beautiful. And thanks for the link! I might actually try to stay there someday!!

It just sucks that too many people dismiss all of New Jersey when there really are a lot of wonderful places to see and enjoy!

one says one number and the other another
but they were set at the same time. Hmmm...

i love you amy uzarski.  always!
 
Calvin and Hobbes in the snow -- animated