We took a ride, in the pouring rain, down to the new New Jersey development along the riverfront. As we descended down the escarpment, south of Ft. Lee, we passed once ramshackle piers and deceased factories that have been transformed into a new condo-land and light rail haven.

The Hudson-Bergen line is now running from Hoboken north to eventually tie Hudson and Bergen counties together and provide access to the waterfront transportation system. Imperatore’s ferry, once derided as a joke and a fad, is a vital and glorious way to travel across the river, by morning or night.

In Hoboken, we stopped for lunch at Margherita’s, one of those hole-in-the wall places with fantastic pizza and fresh brewed coffee. At Stevens Institute of Technology, there was raucous baseball game going on. Players born in the 1980’s played in the dense shadows of ornate 1890s brownstones.

Many young couples were strolling down the main drag in Hoboken on the street, the guys typically jocky with 3-day a week bench press physiques and skinny legs, and their pale complexioned girlfriends in tight jeans, straight hair and brightly colored belted wool coats.

The entire region, dare I say, seemed optimistic, prosperous and headed in the right direction of density and public transportation options.