Greetings from The Garden State! Where's Guido?

 For those of you not familiar with state nicknames, "The Garden State" refers to New Jersey. I have to tell you that when I first met my husband Phil and he told me he was from New Jersey, I had a picture in my head of dreary skies, smoke stacks, and a whole lot of Guidos standing around on street corners. I could not have been more wrong.

Oh sure - is Newark like my original thoughts? Yep. It's dingy and industrial - I'm not sure about the Guidos though. However, the other parts of New Jersey are surprisingly beautiful. I mean, really beautiful.

We are staying with Phil's nephew in a small, shore town called Avon-by-the-Sea (pronounced with a short "a" - not a long "a" like the cosmetic company). For those of you that think life at the shore is like the TV show Jersey Shore, you are sorely mistaken and really should rethink wasting your time on that trash (personal opinion - besides , who has a first name "The" (Situation)??? Ridiculous.)

Avon boardwalk

Avon-by-the-Sea is like a wonderful slice of Americana apple pie complete with a scoop of ice cream. It's a small, idyllic town where the worse crimes inflicted are a pilfered bike or a possible jay walking. It's a town where every other, lovingly restored, early 1900's house proudly flies the American flag, and lawns are manicured with pride allowing the flowers to burst into an artist's palette of color. Children walk to school and visitors and residents stroll down the sidewalks making their pilgrimage to the ocean seeking their little piece of sand and sea. It's a very special place that I'm sure Norman Rockwell would have

Beautifully restored home in Avon

painted.

We also traveled to Phil's niece's house, which is in a more western part of Jersey and just as beautiful only in a different way. Where Avon is a seaside town with the houses taking the space of every parcel of land close to the sea, 

Bucolic backyards in Millstone

Millstone Township has vast, wide open spaces where each house has at least two and one half acres and where wildlife is a part of daily life. This is a community where children play in the open spaces, where you have to search hard to see your neighbor's house from your yard, and where it's likely you have acres of farmland across the street. His niece and her husband have

Not quite what I first imagined

taken up the hobby of bee-keeping and harvest honey and who also look out their back yard to see wild turkeys, foxes, and deer. Not quite the picture television portrays of this topographically diverse state.


Yesterday we traveled to Princeton, home to one of America's premier ivy league universities. It didn't disappoint. I think my IQ grew 20 points just walking around the picturesque campus.

History is palpable as you amble through the open areas and admire the architecturally diverse buildings that are centuries old. It is a university with a 400 year past and some pretty impressive alumni, where higher learning is kicked up a notch (x 10!). This incredible university and the enchanting town of Princeton are further examples of the surprising, under-appreciated beauty in New Jersey.  

Princeton Tigers standing watch over this incredible campus

All the wonderful scenery has been terrific, but truly the best part is the array of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, and friends with whom food and drink was shared. The setting is just icing on the cake. And...

we have been here for a week and I have not met one Guido and not a Snooki was in sight. The Garden State rocks!