New Jersey was home to me for a very long time. I moved there from upstate New York when I was only five and lived in Pennsylvania for a few years but New Jersey was definitely my home. As an adult, I started to feel like New Jersey didn’t quite fit me anymore. I wanted new surroundings and a different way of life. Tennessee has been absolutely amazing for us but of course, there are definitely plenty of things I will miss in New Jersey, things I think everyone should make time to check out, whether you live there or are visiting.
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NJ Renaissance Faire – I can never, ever say enough things about the New Jersey Renaissance Faire. Every state has a faire or two and I’m sure there are plenty of great ones but few will ever be as intimate and interactive, I think. The way that NJRF immerses its patrons into the atmosphere would be difficult for a much larger faire to achieve. The role-playing game allowed us all to be a part of the fun, challenge each other, and make new friends. I don’t ever expect to find a faire that conducts itself the same way.
The Cape May Zoo – It’s not too often that you can get something for free and while Cape May is not my favorite zoo (I love gorillas and they don’t have any!), it’s such a lovely one. The back section where so many of the African animals hang out is my favorite. There are some gorgeous leopards and giraffes to check out!
Franklin Institute – Museums are wonderful but the Franklin Institute is truly in its own category. They have really phenomenal permanent science exhibits like the brain synapses play center or the famed giant heart. They also have two traveling exhibits every year, like the Marvel exhibit that left me with so many awesome facts and history of comics or the Jurassic World exhibit that I’m still so obsessed with and miss terribly. I’ve been to museums all over the place but I can honestly say that this one is my favorite, especially because there is always something new to see! (This is in PA but is close enough to New Jersey that we were able to visit regularly!)
Nailed It Marlton – When I first discovered Nail It, I was ecstatic. I’ve always been fascinated with woodworking but I never got to try my hand at it…until we went to Nailed It on a date night! I told Mandy about my idea for a project and she drew it all out for me to create this amazing treasure that makes me smile every time I look at it!
Garden State Discovery Museum – I love interactive children’s museums and this one holds a special place in my heart because it’s been around forever and I’ve been going there since I was itty bitty. They’ve changed a lot, including the name, but there are always adorable restaurant replicas and crafty spaces.
Sahara Sam’s – My son celebrated his fifth birthday here with a unique style of waffles and ice cream! There are oodles of slides, a kiddie section, and a really nice outdoor one too. It’s just a few minutes away from my mom’s house so it was convenient and cute! Definitely one of my favorite birthday party spots!
Maui’s Doghouse – I’m not much of a hot dog person but Maui’s hot dogs are more like this delicious sausage (or a particular type of hot dog we liked in Upstate New York, where a lot of my family is from!) and it’s served in a “dog bowl” as part of the ambiance. Located in Wildwood, this place was actually featured on that one Guy Fieri show. (You’re going to think I’m nuts but I refuse to name the show because they do not use an Oxford Comma and it’s my biggest pet peeve. Haha!) The hot dogs here are so tasty and the owners are sweet as can be!
Popcorn Park Zoo – A second zoo in the one post? The thing about Popcorn Park though is that it’s actually more of a wild animal rescue! They have oodles of absolutely stunning big cats, among other things, and I’m going to miss all of them so very much.
AC Seafood Fest – There aren’t nearly as many food truck festivals where I live now and I genuinely think AC Seafood Fest was the best. A lot of the best, greatest places would bring their food there and I was certainly a sucker for the chowder cook-off where you could buy a ticket to try every chowder.
Field Station: Dinosaurs – It’s not often that you can find an entire park devoted to animatronic dinosaurs! This place is so adorable with activities for the kids and so many cool dinos and facts. They do a bunch of different events there too!
Wawa – It’s so cliché for a northerner to say this but I do miss the convenience that is having a Wawa on every corner. They’ve got sandwiches, salads, smoothies, and in more recent years, even gasoline. It’s not like eating gross gas station food though, it’s pretty yummy!
NYC – Not in New Jersey but near it, New York City. Love it or hate it, it is big and packed with a million things to do. I’d only been there a few times but I loved it every time I went and there was still so much left for me to do! Someday, I’ll get back there and see the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.
The beach – Okay, so I do hate the beach. It’s sticky and I prefer waterfalls but there were also a lot of cool things we did at the beach. On Memorial Day, we would go to Sunset Beach. Our church baptized people in the ocean in Ocean City. Morey’s Piers were an absolute blast. Every Independence Day, we watched fireworks on the beach. It was beautiful!
Santa on a firetruck – This is very specific to where I lived, maybe, but every Christmas season, Santa came around on a firetruck. Last year, it was a little sad to see people posting about it and knowing we wouldn’t get that same experience. Even if the fire department in town did that, we live too far outside of town itself to be included in anything like that!
Ice cream trucks – Another thing that isn’t a thing for us because we’re so rural! In our old town, you could throw a stone in any direction and find an ice cream shop. Here, we have one ice cream shop and occasionally, they do drive a truck around but not all the way up here on the mountain where we live!
I miss each and every one of these things in New Jersey but that’s not to say that I haven’t found replacements or entirely new things that I love here in Tennessee and we’ll get to that! I just wanted to share a list of some of my favorite things from New Jersey. Obviously, the “things” I miss the most in New Jersey are my darling loved ones and those are completely irreplaceable!