A Welcome to The New Jersey Pathfinder!
path·find·er - one that discovers a way; especially one that explores untraversed regions to mark out a new route.
(Citation: "pathfinder." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. Merriam-Webster Online. 22 November 2008)
Every blog has its first post... Every traveller has their first trip to a certain destination... Every event leaves you with a first impression. Having said this, why would you visit a blog about travelling to none other than New Jersey? Many people who end up travelling to this state visit only a very small part of it by way of landing at Newark Liberty International Airport on their way to New York City. They do so perhaps because they either have business expense accounts or vacation budgets that cannot support Manhattan prices. So much for seeing the rest of New Jersey which is called The Garden State for a good reason. Not only does New Jersey offer the best view of the Manhattan skyline, it also has some amazingly beautiful landscapes of its own to be enjoyed.
The New Jersey Pathfinder is your guide to travelling to New Jersey.
The first time I went to New Jersey was long before there were any blogs, the Internet, or GPS. You got information from the brick and mortar library and directions from a printed map. Neither source really educated me about The Garden State. That was to come later. It was a rather uneventful trip I took to Jersey as "my first time" but pleasant enough. My first impression was like that song, whose composer and title I forget, with the lyric "I'm from New Jersey... I don't expect too much." Not exactly inspiring but perhaps an accurate barometer of many a native's mindset is this song sang to a tune which, to me, would be sort of sad and depressing if listened to often enough.
Once I found my way off the enormous turnabout surrounding Newark Airport, I figured out there are two major highways in the state taking you from points north to points south, being the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, and they are referred to as "the Turnpike" and "the Parkway" accordingly. With subsequent trips to the US Northeast, I've heard "the Turnpike and Parkway jokes" (which actually aren't jokes at all) being "Which exit?" with which New Jerseyans use to peg themselves according to the exit you would take from either highway to get to one's hometown.
It seems geography is, indeed, the great identifier in New Jersey, as in North or South, but it seems to neglect the fact there is a Central Jersey being scenic and worth a visit. (Or am I just another out-of-stater enamored with Small World Coffee there in Princeton?) No matter, I have yet to figure out where officially North ends and South begins. It's a small world there in Jersey. It's also a debatable topic for sure. Yet as an outsider, I tend to use the first appearance of a Wawa as a guide. (These places are awesome! What other c-store sells hot toasted ravioli for a snack?) Truth be told, there is no definitive answer to the North vs South question, even according to natives.
I've learned the hard way there are no left hand turns to be made when you need to drive somewhere on the left in New Jersey. There is the cloverleaf or "jughandle" you take to the right when transferring from one highway or roadway to another. You also use the "turnaround exit" or "all turns exit" on the right to make a left-hand turn. More often than not they are not marked accordingly, and so you end up driving on up the road to... uh... "Route Such and Such" (yes I know it's pronounced "root") and find out you have no such "turnround" at this exit or one that forces you to get to know a New Jersey suburb only to realize there are nice places in Jersey.
Dialect can also be an indicator of the native's origins... North or South. (How do you say coffee? Cwoffee... aaaah you're from the North!) I've heard all the "Joisey" accent jokes tossed about as carelessly as is the cigarette butt out the window. The funny thing is no Jersey native I've encountered, from North or South, speaks that way. All I've heard is what sounds to me to be a Brooklyn accent or an Eastern Pennsylvania accent or maybe just a US Northeastern accent, but some New Jersey residents don't even have that so maybe they're originally from Connecticut? LOL! I don't know. I just know I prefer Dunkin Donuts coffee.
Then a few years ago, I befriended someone who happens to live in the Garden State. Ever since our paths crossed, I've been travelling to New Jersey, be it for business or leisure, to hang out with my dear friend Elle who forever debunks all the Jersey myths. Now she is convinced her "corner of the world" is worth visiting. (Check out the photo album New Jersey by Elle.) We've been discovering all that's fun or cool or just wacky to do, travelling both ordinary and uncommon paths across the state that I'll do my best to capture for you in my writings. I'll also offer you tips and other information pertinent to both business and leisure travel based upon my over twenty years of enduring such travel to the US Northeast.
Read my weblog, The New Jersey Pathfinder, and discover a destination to be found in New Jersey that will surprise and delight you, but only if you explore this "diamond in the rough" state hard enough to uncover its worth.
Please share your own wisdom, knowledge, opinions, insights, and ideas in the comments section on the blog. Let's together build The New Jersey Pathfinder! (Read The New Jersey Pathfinder disclaimer.)
Now it's time for me to get busy and start writing. There's much more to uncover!
Cheers!
Sofie Jamison
