My parents told me I was from New Jersey, but we left when I was a year old. When I was 36 I drove up from Texas to visit my grandmother in Connecticut,driving through New Jersey, but I did not see any towns or cities, only trees alongside the New Jersey Turnpike and occasional signs indicating the names of towns and cities that were allegedly located alongside said turnpike, but I didn't stop and investigate, as I was running late.

Here in Texas, by contrast, you can see Dallas and Fort Worth and Austin and San Antonio directly from the highway as you pass through, as they don't have tree buffers and the interstate(35) passes right through the middle of town, even in Temple.(The only city that I was able to see directly from the interstate when I was up north was Baltimore, which may say something for how Baltimore is regarded.)

So, strictly speaking, I still don't know if New Jersey exists, although I suspect it does.