(Only if you know New Jersey will you know how important all this is.)
You’re from New Jersey if:
You know that it’s called Great Adventure, not Six Flags.
A good, quick breakfast is a hard roll with butter.
You’ve known the way to Seaside Heights since you were seven.
You’ve eaten at a Diner, when you were stoned or drunk, at 3a.m.
You know that the state isn’t one big oil refinery.
You don’t think of fruit when people mention “The Oranges”.
At least three people in your family still love Bruce Springsteen and you know the town Jon Bon Jovi is from.
You know what a “jug handle” is.
You know that the state isn’t all farmland.
You know that there are no “beaches” in New Jersey -there’s the shore and you don’t go to the shore, you go “down the Shore”. And when you are there, you’re not “at the shore”, you are “down the Shore”.
You know how to properly negotiate a Circle.
You knew that the last sentence had to do with driving.
You know that this is the only “New” state that doesn’t require “New” to identify it (like, try…Mexico,…York, Hampshire - doesn’t work, does it?)
You know that a “White Castle” is the name of BOTH a fast food chain AND a fast food sandwich.
You consider putting mayo on a corned beef sandwich a sacrilege.
You don’t think “What exit?” is funny.
You know that people from the 609 area code are “a little different”. Yes they are!
You know that no respectable New Jerseyan goes to Princeton -that’s for out-of-staters.
The Jets-Giants game has started fights at your school or local bar.
You live within 20 minutes of at least three different malls.
You refer to all highways and interstates by their numbers (except for “the Parkway” and “the Turnpike”). (And unlike Californians, you never put “the” in front of a highway number.)
Every year you had at least one kid in your class named Tony.
You know the location of every clip shown in the Sopranos opening credits.
More than once you’ve gotten on the wrong highway trying to get out of a mall.
You know that people from North Jersey go to Seaside Heights, and people from Central Jersey go to Belmar and people from South Jersey go to Wildwood.
You weren’t raised in New Jersey – you were raised in either North Jersey, Central Jersey or South Jersey.
You don’t consider Newark or Camden to actually be part of the state.
You remember the stores Korvette’s, Two Guys, Rickel’s, Channel, Bamberger’s and Orbach’s.
You also remember Palisades Amusement Park.
You’ve had a Boardwalk cheese steak and vinegar fries.
You start planning for Memorial Day weekend in February.
You’ve NEVER, NEVER pumped your own gas.
Lois
(from New Jersey)
I’ve driven through New Jersey, pot holes that would catapult us into the air,
and a couple hours of pure grid lock.
But I lived to tell the tale.
I've driven through New Jersey, pot holes that would catapult us into the air, and a couple hours of pure grid lock. But I lived to tell the tale. :cheese:You haven't driven in the Los Angeles area, have you? :-S Lois
I've driven through New Jersey, pot holes that would catapult us into the air, and a couple hours of pure grid lock. But I lived to tell the tale. :cheese:You haven't driven in the Los Angeles area, have you? :-S Lois I have back in the day (though only in a car) - traffic as bad, but not the roads, Never seen nothing like the pot holes of the NorthEast, Florida had the roads though, baby butt smooth, and trust me at the wheel of a 18 wheeler Cabover you feel every bump on the road, thus the air born episodes. Sorry for digressing from your topic of New Jersey, but the thought of the place always brings back memories of my trucking adventure/experiences (12-75/2-76) %-P
Yeah there’s no place like Trenton. Or Jersey City…
I've driven through New Jersey, pot holes that would catapult us into the air, and a couple hours of pure grid lock. But I lived to tell the tale. :cheese:You haven't driven in the Los Angeles area, have you? :-S Lois I have back in the day (though only in a car) - traffic as bad, but not the roads, Never seen nothing like the pot holes of the NorthEast, Florida had the roads though, baby butt smooth, and trust me at the wheel of a 18 wheeler Cabover you feel every bump on the road, thus the air born episodes. Sorry for digressing from your topic of New Jersey, but the thought of the place always brings back memories of my trucking adventure/experiences (12-75/2-76) %-P The reason Los Angeles and Florida roads have few potholes is that it doesn't snow there, therefore snow plows don't rip up roads moving snow and ice. There is also constant freezing and thawing all through the winter. Those things wreak havoc with roads and are almost impossible to control. Lois
Yeah there's no place like Trenton. Or Jersey City....Actually, you're right. There is no place like those cities. Lois
I have back in the day (though only in a car) - traffic as bad, but not the roads, Never seen nothing like the pot holes of the NorthEast, Florida had the roads though, baby butt smooth, and trust me at the wheel of a 18 wheeler Cabover you feel every bump on the road, thus the air born episodes. Sorry for digressing from your topic of New Jersey, but the thought of the place always brings back memories of my trucking adventure/experiences (12-75/2-76) %-PThe reason Los Angeles and Florida roads have few potholes is that it doesn't snow there, therefore snow plows don't rip up roads moving snow and ice. There is also constant freezing and thawing all through the winter. Those things wreak havoc with roads and are almost impossible to control. Lois Yup, the significance of frost heave, and extreme temperature changes, that was one of many discoveries during those weeks and miles. I'm curious one thing that blew me away about some of those freeways around Jersey City and north, I remember being amazed at the amount of abandoned stripped cars on the shoulders of the high ways, I'd never seen it like that before. Now that was early 70s. Is it still like and and does stuff still happen, like a guy run out of gas and by the time he get's back to his vehicle it's been stripped of tires and more?
I have back in the day (though only in a car) - traffic as bad, but not the roads, Never seen nothing like the pot holes of the NorthEast, Florida had the roads though, baby butt smooth, and trust me at the wheel of a 18 wheeler Cabover you feel every bump on the road, thus the air born episodes. Sorry for digressing from your topic of New Jersey, but the thought of the place always brings back memories of my trucking adventure/experiences (12-75/2-76) %-PThe reason Los Angeles and Florida roads have few potholes is that it doesn't snow there, therefore snow plows don't rip up roads moving snow and ice. There is also constant freezing and thawing all through the winter. Those things wreak havoc with roads and are almost impossible to control. Lois Yup, the significance of frost heave, and extreme temperature changes, that was one of many discoveries during those weeks and miles. I'm curious one thing that blew me away about some of those freeways around Jersey City and north, I remember being amazed at the amount of abandoned stripped cars on the shoulders of the high ways, I'd never seen it like that before. Now that was early 70s. Is it still like and and does stuff still happen, like a guy run out of gas and by the time he get's back to his vehicle it's been stripped of tires and more? I no longer live in NJ, but the last time I visited I saw no evidence of abandoned, stripped cars. I don't think it was a matter of people running out of gas and their car being stripped. Most likely the cars you saw had been in accidents and were not towed away. Some might have actually been stolen and abandoned. It probably wasn't as bad as you were thinking, with thugs waiting for a car to stop so they could strip it. . New Jersey's crime rate is no higher than other Northeastern states. I used to feel a lot more vulnerable on the Cross Bronx and Van Wyck Expressways. Driving to and from Kennedy Airport was a nightmare. Lois
I no longer live in NJ, but the last time I visited I saw no evidence of abandoned, stripped cars. I don't think it was a matter of people running out of gas and their car being stripped. Most likely the cars you saw had been in accidents and were not towed away. Some might have actually been stolen and abandoned. It probably wasn't as bad as you were thinking, with thugs waiting for a car to stop so they could strip it. . New Jersey's crime rate is no higher than other Northeastern states. I used to feel a lot more vulnerable on the Cross Bronx and Van Wyck Expressways. Driving to and from Kennedy Airport was a nightmare. LoisOK quite true, up towards the Bronx was the craziest, guess in memory it all co-mingles. We actually had to spend a night in the Bronx waiting for the next morning to unload honey from Florida, in the cab, me with a pipe Joe (the driver) handed me to keep close at hand, him with another one. I thought it was funny, but then the nite show started on the street and I felt better having that thing close. ... and I swear that night from the vantage point of that one location I watched one car get busted into, but the craziest was a guy that actually stole the freak'n passenger door off a car and then him hustling it down the street past us dragging this car door, thought I would die laughing, though I know there was nothing funny about it, but it was like out of some movie. So the next morning we are unloading, both of us helping in the trailer, and we sort of notice a couple kids across the street watching us for a while, then tossing some snow balls and leaving. When we are done unloading and get back into the cab we found it was broken into and the CB and Joe's calculator were missing, and we figured those kids were look-outs. Yes sirree, quite the introduction to the north east, for this (at that time) green horn. %-P