Remembering New Jersey

So I'm trying to jot down everything that sticks out to me about this trip to New Jersey I just came back from for my brother's wedding.  Mainly because it was all pretty overwhelming and I want to be able to look back, read this and laugh and smile. I'm not good at narration, so I figure I'll start create a big fat list and go with that.

• It seemed to me that it took 15-20 minutes to get anywhere in New Jersey.  Like from my hotel to my brother's house was probably 7 miles as the crow flies.  But I think you ended up driving 15 once you went through all the jughandles (left turns on many roads there were not allowed) and got lost once or twice.
• There are more cigarette butts on the beaches we went on than I care to remember.
• Brieanne's Uncle Bob had to be one of the coolest humans I've ever met anywhere.
• Guido's do exist in New Jersey and we saw several at this place Hemingway's we partied at on Friday.  However, to judge the entire state and its people on them would be as fair as judging Tennessee and its people by all the rednecks you see at Wal-Mart on Saturday afternoon.  The Guido hairdo is pretty damn annoying though.
• Driving through Washington, DC sucks no matter what time of day or night you are there.
• 3 Brother's cheesesteaks (on the boardwalk) suck compared to the cheesesteaks at Emilio's and at the place in Seaside Heights we went to at 3:30am after Hemingways.  Just FYI.
• We don't have pizza here like they do there.  And no Johnny Brusco's isn't even close.
• Our cousin Robin is a trooper.  Wedding in Greenville, SC on Saturday night.  Back out of bed at 1:45am Sunday to drive to Charlotte, NC for flight to Newark, NJ.  Picked up by shuttle to Tom's River and then cab direct to the wedding.  After reception back into car with my parents to be eventually dropped back off in Charlotte, NC to pick up her car.  Oh and she's 8 weeks pregnant.
• I feel for whoever has to clean my Tux.  Wedding photos on the humid beach at 10am left it quite sticky.
• Hell yes I almost cried at the wedding.  Giving that speech was very hard to do without getting choked up.
• Brieanne's family is this big huge wonderful mix of Italian, Hungarian, and all cool.  They all like to drink and eat steaks and made everyone feel welcome.  I wish I would have stayed there Saturday afternoon and hung out instead of going to Atlantic City.
• Speaking of Atlantic City.  I hated it.  It was dirty, boring, everyone was old and I couldn't find a table game to play that was cheap enough for me.  It just reminds me of the old parts of Vegas.
• The wedding and reception went off without any issues that I could see.  Well except for the photographer leaving one of her cameras on the sidewalk in Seaside Heights.  Luckily a cop found it.
• The reception was great.  Music, dancing, great food, and an open bar.  Unfortunately I had to drive out that night so I didn't get to partake of much of the bar.

More pictures in this Flickr set.  Most taken by my mom.

Also check out R's picks here.