"The Garden State"

Welcome to New Jersey

New Jersey/Delaware border on I-295
May 19, 2006

I think everyone has a vision of New Jersey similar to the opening of "The Sopranos": endless warehouses and smokestacks and urban sprawl at its worst. And while that may be the case in the Newark area around New York City, it's probably unfair to paint the entire state with the same brush. My friend Chris is a resident of the Garden State and always rushes to its defense in any context. I will say that my drive north from Pennsylvania to pay him a visit was surprisingly scenic, with dense trees alone the turnpike and even some wide-open spaces. I didn't see any gardens, but it seems New Jersey has several different landscapes to offer.

This was another instance of the "official" welcome sign being some distance from the actual border. Entering New Jersey from the Delaware Memorial Bridge, the sign to the right was what greeted me. I figured this was typical New Jersey: a boring sign across the road that used a light board. So I quickly grabbed this picture as I was driving and was initially disappointed. But about a mile into the state, I came across the official sign above. It's not much of an improvement and seems like an advertisement for the turnpike than a welcome to New Jersey. However, driving about 100 miles in New Jersey was cheaper than the trip down to Dover, so I shouldn't complain too much.

Welcome to Trenton

May 20, 2006

Located along the Delaware River, Trenton hugs the Pennsylvania border yet is near the geographic center of the state. I was somewhat surprised by the old storefronts down by the capitol, since I normally don't think of Trenton as one of the great historical cities in America. Despite its location along a river, there weren't too many places along the banks to watch it, perhaps because it wasn't too scenic. The town itself wasn't too memorable: typical low-rise office buildings and no places to park along narrow streets. It seemed to have a feeling of a heavily industrial town, which is surprising, since capitals are usually heavy into the commercial sector.

Trying to sound as nice as possible, the New Jersey capitol is unique. Unlike other state capitols, this one is located right on the edge of the street. No capitol grounds, no statues of famous New Jersey citizens; the capitol plaza is just the building itself (unless you count this "memorial" across the street). This made for an interesting challenge to take my picture. If there had been a line of buildings across the street, fitting the entire front façade in the shot would have been impossible. Fortunately, there is a small open area across from the capitol to take pictures, but the building on the left made things difficult (and the street light in the shot as well). The building isn't even that impressive and would be easy to mistake for any other office building in town. Perhaps is the dome was bigger, people would take notice.

Miscellaneous New Jersey Symbols

State Route Sign

License Plate

Seal

Quarter