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The Poconos have a ton of lakes but not sure how they compare, they are about 90 minutes
in all honesty though there are likely more similarities then differences on a lot of these aspects.
Also am curious if you have experience with the South Jersey beaches? I have been to the cape a few times and really enjoyed every visit
based on my experience the Cape on busy times get more backed then do the Jersey shores as there are multiple alternatives including the AC expressway so even if equidistant (though further into the cape is far more painful then Ocean City or Avalon or even Cape May based on my experience) its faster to the Jersey beaches both are pretty close though no argument there
and I have made it to the beach in 45-50 minutes from Center City where I live. its a straight shot and you move like 75mph on average and pay a few tolls again I think they are both close. Boston is actually on the coast as a city Philly just inland so that is a benefit in that regard for Boston
Am still curious if you have spent time at the South Jersey beaches or get your images from media or MTV
My impression of the Jersey Shore is that it has mostly Beach Towns (designed for weekends away from the city), except for a few (ex. Cape May) while the New England Coast, other than a few towns (Old Orchard, Hampton, Hull) are more Town with a beach. So While Gloucester, Scituate, or Hyannis have beaches, they were not developed as get-aways but as their own town that happens to have a beach near the Harbor/Town Center.
A beach like Crane or Good Harbor (Great beaches) is very different from Long Beach or Ocean City.
This can be seen in the names of the towns, Seaside Heights, Long Beach, Atlantic City, Sea Isle City, as opposed to Plymouth, Hingham, Ipswich, Salisbury.
This I think has a lot to do with Geography because the few Beach Towns (say Salisbury and Hampton Beach) are across the an intercostal water way from the mainland, like much of the Jersey Shore. As a result the barrier Island became a beach town because the main old town was behind the barrier island.
My impression of the Jersey Shore is that it has mostly Beach Towns (designed for weekends away from the city), except for a few (ex. Cape May) while the New England Coast, other than a few towns (Old Orchard, Hampton, Hull) are more Town with a beach. So While Gloucester, Scituate, or Hyannis have beaches, they were not developed as get-aways but as their own town that happens to have a beach near the Harbor/Town Center.
A beach like Crane or Good Harbor (Great beaches) is very different from Long Beach or Ocean City.
This can be seen in the names of the towns, Seaside Heights, Long Beach, Atlantic City, Sea Isle City, as opposed to Plymouth, Hingham, Ipswich, Salisbury.
This I think has a lot to do with Geography because the few Beach Towns (say Salisbury and Hampton Beach) are across the an intercostal water way from the mainland, like much of the Jersey Shore. As a result the barrier Island became a beach town because the main old town was behind the barrier island.
The barrier islands in Jersey are much more so beach towns say from Seaside down.
Cape May is actually not a barrier island and has more of town but is also very much a resort. I believe is the oldest beach resort in the US if I am not mistaken.
AC had a real DT and sort of was a small city, maybe even is today.
The more northern Jersey beaches are not really barrier islands and have more of flow to ocean including towns more similar to MA (sans the cape which feels much more like a barrier island and maybe even more similar in feel to me in some way to part of the outer banks then NJ). Many of these are commuter towns into NYC including a NJT rail line the runs maybe .5 to 1 mile from the ocean with town centers generally along the rail strip with a few exceptions like Asbury Park though hit hard times is sort of redeveloping. Oddly some of these places like Asbury, Belmar, Spring Lake are closer to Philly (about an hour) then what I would consider Philly beaches to the south. Belmar etc is definitely a North Jersey/NY influenced area and has commuters into Manhattan on the NJT line. More similar to MA areas you describe based on my experience.
Again I generally find more similarities then differences and I think Jersey beaches and beach towns are vastly under rated and have a bad rep while are actually some great towns and beaches. The cape has to me a better image then to me what it offers. I like both but again generally find more similarities then differences and appeal in person. Also Jersey beach real estate is by no means cheap and has some of the most expensive real estate by zip in the country actually. Again can be a good and bad thing.
Wildwood, Seaside, AC and Ocean City have a town center (Also Cape May) in the south. Strathmere, Sea Isle, Avalon, Brigantine (maybe Ventnor and Margate are a hybrid of the two)and Stone Harbor have much less of town center and are definitely dominated by beachy town feels and more touristy/vacation home oriented. In some ways to me even moreso than the cape but are a little different feel. I find the Jersey also much more crowded in the summer relative the MA ones. Not ure if that is a positive or negative guess has some elements of both.
DC isn't sprawling, even when compared to Boston. It's smaller in area, and only slightly less densely populated, but that's largely because so much of the city is monuments and parks.
You clearly haven't done any research on this matter. Boston is definitely geographically smaller than DC. And DC is definitely more than just monuments and parks. Boston has 48 sq miles of land and DC has 61 sq miles of land. We have 131 defined neighborhoods here. You have clearly fallen for an all too familiar stereotype. You do realize you can look this stuff up right?
I find that DC is less walkable than the other two (but still very walkable). Specifically downtown, and I think that can be attributed to museums, parks and office buildings (longer blocks and wider streets). But that's not really a bad thing. While I prefer Philly and Boston over DC, DC does provide a more unique experience from the other cities in the BosWash corridor.
DC has plenty of cheap areas in SE and Far NE. They're just not very safe at all.
I worked with a girl who moved straight to DC out of college and got a job with our company. She said she was so happy because she found what appeared to be a nice, 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo in DC for about $1550. Only problem is she had no clue how bad SE is
NE looks a lot better than what it did 10 years ago. They've done a lot of cleaning up and throwing up luxury condos everywhere.
I worked with a girl who moved straight to DC out of college and got a job with our company. She said she was so happy because she found what appeared to be a nice, 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo in DC for about $1550. Only problem is she had no clue how bad SE is
NE looks a lot better than what it did 10 years ago. They've done a lot of cleaning up and throwing up luxury condos everywhere.
Actually, I'm talking about Far NE. The parts of NE DC that have been "cleaned up" are geographically very small and still have very high crime rates. Most areas in NE are still very dangerous, especially for an outsider. DC is really a tale of small bubbles of affluence surrounded by larger areas of poverty. Most people never see 2/3 of the city when they visit.
Boston does have it's own region to benefit from, whereas DC and Philly don't, but DC on a status level is much higher than Boston or Philly.
If you put Philly up where Boston is and Boston where Philly is, same deal. Philly would benefit from it's own region in it's own distinct fashion and Boston would get the same fate as Philly does currently.
That's how similar of cities they are.
They are similar only I'd say Philly is cheaper, a bit bigger than Boston maybe. Both have cheesesteaks. Philly has their cheesesteak, Boston has the steak bomb and chowder, greek pizza, Italian pizza and Italian food which is all still very good food and on par with Philly area probably. Philly has more german and polish food I would imagine on top of some of the similar options to Boston. Philly is also more affordable and that kind of appeals to me if at some point I am looking for a city with personality and friendlier people. New England may get old to me in the future.. I am only here for family right now but not fond of the future prospects really. I'd fit Philly better to be honest or I could take Providence maybe as an alternative. I don't know yet. I am in NH now but mom will be moving to the cape.. I want no part of living down the cape though. So not my scene. NH has more culture than much of the cape even it seems around their smaller cities and NH even has less culture compared to some places so that's pretty bad.
And as far as DC goes, too expensive, probably more crime than Boston and Philly both. Less culture but huge, politician central, neocons. Overall wouldn't be my cup of tea. The food options probably aren't as good either.
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