NJ is fun to tease.

• its shape seems perfect for the highway
• its an ugly part of nyc
• an ugly part of Philadelphia
• and Atlantic City went way downhill (admittedly haven’t been there since Trump was bankrupting casinos)

But actually yes. One of my buddies from college was from a very nice part of NJ, exactly like you describe. Well worth visiting and really shows off what a great place NJ can be