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IDK, it could just be the trashy reputation the Jersey Shore has (the TV show, Atlantic City, etc.) and little reason to go there if you are in NE. Want nice serene summer beaches, you go to the Cape. Want a winter escape, go to FL. Want a festive party atmosphere, go to Hampton Beach or if you want a little more upscale go to Newport. Then again, the S and N Shores are always a big draw.
Not sure what the appeal is for Ocean City, but I know many people who have been there. I wasn't impressed myself, just super crowded and a lot of ghetto people from Baltimore, DC and Philly. Virginia Beach seemed a lot cleaner and more family friendly (yet barely warm enough for even a fall or spring getaway).
I have been to Atlantic City for business, and it's not a place I would EVER want to go on vacation to. I heard Cape May is real nice, and would like to check it out some day (along with some of the DE beaches). It's just such a haul...
The Jersey Shore show does give NJ as a whole a bad name. And there are plenty of trashy folks in NJ. BUT, there are plenty of non-trashy people as well. Many of the beach towns are really nice - LBI, Margate, Ocean City (NJ) and Cape May are great beach towns and are family friendly. There are others, as well. Often, the water is a bit warmer than NE beaches.
I don't really get the appeal of Ocean City, MD -- it's okay, and I used to go there as a kid. It's a less expensive destination than many other nearby beach towns because there is a greater supply of housing to rent. There are a lot of high rises, whereas many other towns don't allow them.
VA Beach has some honky-tonkiness about it. I'd go to the Outer Banks of NC rather than VA Beach.
VA Beach isn't a vacation destination, it's a military town
(Even though I've gone there on vacation to visit my sister-in-law who's married to a marine)
There are plenty of people who vacation there -- lots of folks from MD go there, although I don't really see how it's worth the extra drive. Not much further is OBX, which is nicer.
The Jersey Shore show does give NJ as a whole a bad name. And there are plenty of trashy folks in NJ. BUT, there are plenty of non-trashy people as well. Many of the beach towns are really nice - LBI, Margate, Ocean City (NJ) and Cape May are great beach towns and are family friendly. There are others, as well. Often, the water is a bit warmer than NE beaches.
I don't really get the appeal of Ocean City, MD -- it's okay, and I used to go there as a kid. It's a less expensive destination than many other nearby beach towns because there is a greater supply of housing to rent. There are a lot of high rises, whereas many other towns don't allow them.
VA Beach has some honky-tonkiness about it. I'd go to the Outer Banks of NC rather than VA Beach.
I think that's much of it, just there begin an availability of hotels and rentals. Most of the coast down there is protected from development, and OC is basically where you go. I see it as a place to get rowdy and smashed for the weekend, like a Hampton Beach on steroids. Certainly not worth the trip from MA.
VA Beach is "OK". All-you-can-eat crab shacks galore, and some decent nightlife combined with an atmosphere more appropriate for a family.
Quote:
Originally Posted by scorpio516
VA Beach isn't a vacation destination, it's a military town
(Even though I've gone there on vacation to visit my sister-in-law who's married to a marine)
I have friends who live in the VB/Norfolk area, so that's primarily why I've been there. That's basically what it is I think, a place for locals to retreat (and DC weekend trippers). And due to the military presence and other associated jobs, many have moved to the area from all over which therefore attracts their family and friends to visit from away.
As a beach the OBX is certainly nicer though, the summer traffic there is brutal though.
The general definition of the Northeast Corridor is Boston to Washington. However I don't really think Boston is really attached to the corridor.
Yes it is technically on the corridor according to Amtrak but 1/2 the distance is between Washington and New York, with Philly and Baltimore on the way, while Boston only has Providence and Hartford "Linking" it to NYC.
In Addition, while Acela and Northeast Regional Service do originate out of Boston's South Station, the Washington to NY Corridor also has the Vermonter, Carolinian, Palmetto, Crescent, Cardinal, Silver Meteor and Silver Star and the NY to Philadelphia corridor additionally has the Pennsylvanian and Keystone Service, and MARC Trains run between Washington and Baltimore. So the rest of NY to DC stretch is much more intertwined than the NY to Boston stretch. The MBTA is also the only transit system that doesn't interconnect with at least one other major city transit agency along the corridor (Barring Amtrak Connections)
Third there is a gap. While Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia all have regular day trippers to intermingle on the Delmarva, and NY to Baltimore has day trippers intermingle on the Jersey Shore, Boston, by function of Geography is left out, the Lakes and Mountains of NH, Coast of Maine, and Cape Cod are much to far from the rest of the Northeast for any one else to go there, leaving Boston more culturally isolated.
Continuing with the leisure thread, Boston is much more oriented North and East than South and West. While the Berkshires are as close or closer than Downeast Maine or the White Mountains, people from the Boston area are more likely to the latter two than the former. Montreal is just as popular if not more so than NYC.
My vote would be that it is not.
I lived most of my life in the areas surrounding NYC/Philly/B'more/DC. Boston is incredibly isolated from that megalopolis. By car or rail, it takes much longer to travel from Boston to NYC than from NYC to DC. Amtrak (particularly Acela) can get someone between NYC and DC much more quickly than between NYC and Boston. The latter seemingly takes an eternity, especially if you're on a train making a number of local stops. Driving between NYC and Boston can be at a snail's pace, particularly if involving I-95. The DC and NYC areas have their traffic problems but they are generally isolated to the areas immediately around the big cities and they also have the lane capacity on some of their major roads to better handle it. Traffic on I-95 in rural Connecticut is often at a standstill on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
Worse, there is a relative cultural dearth (yup, I said it) in the areas between NYC and Boston. Nothing particularly avant-garde in New England, except perhaps in the Boston area's tech industry, which is significant but Boston's not Silicon Valley or NYC and I'm talking more so about arts here. The creative stuff that should be fueling people's imaginations and keeping them entertained. This adds to the feeling of "nothingness" and a disconnect between, say, New Haven and Boston.
Many people here are in the real estate field and have vested interests in making the Boston area seem like something it's not IMO. Boston is a very expensive place to live with relatively little to offer. The disconnect from the east coast megalopolis should be apparent.
Last edited by pandas&presents; 08-11-2017 at 08:24 AM..
Location: Techified Blue (Collar)-Rooted Bastion-by-the-Sea
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pandas&presents
My vote would be that it is not.
I lived most of my life in the areas surrounding NYC/Philly/B'more/DC. Boston is incredibly isolated from that megalopolis. By car or rail, it takes much longer to travel from Boston to NYC than from NYC to DC. Amtrak (particularly Acela) can get someone between NYC and DC much more quickly than between NYC and Boston. The latter seemingly takes an eternity, especially if you're on a train making a number of local stops. Driving between NYC and Boston can be at a snail's pace, particularly if involving I-95. The DC and NYC areas have their traffic problems but they are generally isolated to the areas immediately around the big cities and they also have the lane capacity on some of their major roads to better handle it. Traffic on I-95 in rural Connecticut is often at a standstill on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
Worse, there is a relative cultural dearth (yup, I said it) in the areas between NYC and Boston. Nothing particularly avant-garde in New England, except perhaps in the Boston area's tech industry, which is significant but Boston's not Silicon Valley or NYC and I'm talking more so about arts here. The creative stuff that should be fueling people's imaginations and keeping them entertained. This adds to the feeling of "nothingness" and a disconnect between, say, New Haven and Boston.
Many people here are in the real estate field and have vested interests in making the Boston area seem like something it's not IMO. Boston is a very expensive place to live with relatively little to offer. The disconnect from the east coast megalopolis should be apparent.
Woah ... Where to start. If you want to start talking about cultural dearths, please enlighten me about how much more special Baltimore and Southern NJ area as compared to Providence and the entire CT coast including FFC.
Also last I checked, driving I-95 through MD is no picnic. Probably better than CT but DC-NYC and BOS-NYC take the same time during similar traffic conditions.
There are many New Yorkers who choose far-away and isolated Boston for their educational, professional and yes, recreational pursuits (especially the rest of cultureless New England). I think you need to share your opinions with such folks. Like I said, there are many.
Woah ... Where to start. If you want to start talking about cultural dearths, please enlighten me about how much more special Baltimore and Southern NJ area as compared to Providence and the entire CT coast including FFC.
Also last I checked, driving I-95 through MD is no picnic. Probably better than CT but DC-NYC and BOS-NYC take the same time during similar traffic conditions.
There are many New Yorkers who choose far-away and isolated Boston for their educational, professional and yes, recreational pursuits (especially the rest of cultureless New England). I think you need to share your opinions with such folks. Like I said, there are many.
Baltimore has tons of culture. Honestly, much of it is devalued by whites because of the associations with blackness.
MD has generally been pretty clear for me on weekends. Again, their roads can handle more traffic than I-95 in New England can. The rough traffic spots there are tied to the cities - B'more and College Park IME.
Boston has colleges, yes, agreed. That is the only reason I remain here, to finish a degree, but school is not totally IRL. Also, vacationing is different from everyday life too, obviously. I agree that New England is a "take a few pictures, buy a few postcards, and go home" kind of place but that just lends to the argument that it is isolated.
Still looks to be ~2x the traffic between NYC and D.C. than between NY and Boston.
I think part of that is that there is more longer distance traffic going from the northeast down to the southeast that will travel that route than there is heading through Boston to points beyond because the only thing past Boston is the ocean and Canada with the only larger cities being Halifax, New Brunswick and a few others and none of those metro areas break 500,000 people. I'm not saying that is the only reason but I think that is part of the reason as well as there not being a Philly and Baltimore sized city between Boston and NYC which would also lower traffic volumes.
IDK, it could just be the trashy reputation the Jersey Shore has (the TV show, Atlantic City, etc.) and little reason to go there if you are in NE. Want nice serene summer beaches, you go to the Cape. Want a winter escape, go to FL. Want a festive party atmosphere, go to Hampton Beach or if you want a little more upscale go to Newport. Then again, the S and N Shores are always a big draw.
Not sure what the appeal is for Ocean City, but I know many people who have been there. I wasn't impressed myself, just super crowded and a lot of ghetto people from Baltimore, DC and Philly. Virginia Beach seemed a lot cleaner and more family friendly (yet barely warm enough for even a fall or spring getaway).
I have been to Atlantic City for business, and it's not a place I would EVER want to go on vacation to. I heard Cape May is real nice, and would like to check it out some day (along with some of the DE beaches). It's just such a haul...
Judging the New Jersey Shore by that stupid TV show is like judging all of Mass by the reputation of South Boston from the 70's busing! Cape May, LBI,Spring Lake ,Sea Girt,Bay Head,Brielle,Elberon,etc are all beautiful New jersey Shore towns.
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, and some decent nightlife combined with an atmosphere more appropriate for a family. 
