Head to Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, for a theme park experience coupled with an animal safari component. This park offers an array of rides for the entire family and a large drive-through safari. Located off of Exit 7A on the New Jersey Turnpike, the park is easily accessibly by car or via an express bus operated by New Jersey Transit. Attractions at Six Flags include the 128 mph Kingda Ka roller coaster, the 23-story Nitro coaster and family-friendly rides like the Big Wheel ferris wheel and Enchanted Teacups spinning ride. The drive-through safari offers bus tours if you do not drive to the park, and features over 1,200 animals on 350 acres.
America's most famous inventor, Thomas Edison, lived and worked just a short distance from New York City in West Orange, New Jersey. Today, his laboratory and home are a National Historic Site, administered by the National Park Service. You can reach the park via exit 145 from the Garden State Parkway, or via a privately operated bus from New York which leaves you one mile from the site. The park includes both his 29-room Queen Anne mansion home and laboratories, and allows you to visit the Black Maria, his early film studio.
Although most people think Ellis Island is a part of New York, it is, in fact, part of the state of New Jersey. Reachable by boat from Manhattan, Ellis Island was America's "Golden Door" where over 12 million foreign immigrants entered the country during the first half of the twentieth century. Today, it offers a film, guided tours of the main hall and the opportunity to research your ancestry at the American Family Immigration History Center. Ellis Island is also part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument which is also located in New Jersey. Ferries leave from Battery Park in New York City, Liberty State Park in New Jersey and from the Statue of Liberty. Schedules vary, though typically run multiple times per hour.
The western end of Long Island is home to two of New York's five boroughs -- Brooklyn and Queens -- and both LaGuardia and JFK airports. Long Island also features miles of sandy beaches, elaborate mansions and artist's colonies such as Montauk, located at its far eastern tip. Long Island can be easily reached by road, bus or via the Long Island Rail Road. Historical sites include Joey Buttafuoco's body shop, made famous in the Amy Fisher shooting case, and Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt's home after serving as President of the United States.
Although New York City has some of the world's finest shopping, head to the Mall at Short Hills for high-end shopping in a climate-controlled indoor setting. Located off of the Morris Turnpike in Short Hills, New Jersey, the mall is easily reachable via car, bus or train and features such stores as Neiman Marcus, Cartier, Dior and Gucci. Although just about every store aside from the large Nordstrom department store is available in Manhattan, the mall offers the convenience of having them all closely located in one large building.
