Out of the Ordinary

Living in a big city is typically exciting. It's diverse and active and it tends to make me feel like the world is at my fingertips. On the other hand, over time it can become a bit claustrophobic. There are people everywhere, and riding the subway some days, it becomes very clear why the crowded road to success is often referred to as the rat race.

My solution? Get out of town!

This weekend some friends and I rented a car and drove up the Hudson Valley, no particular destination in mind, but simply with the intent to "see something green." (Yeah, Central Park is nice, but you can almost always still hear the city traffic, which stops it from feeling like a true retreat most days.) We ended up touring two old mansions with gardens that have become National Historic Landmarks, eating Dairy Queen Blizzards (Yum!) and driving through a bunch of cute little towns.

Sound like a simple outing? It really was. In fact, what I found most striking about this day trip was how easy and relatively inexpensive it was, yet how refreshing the simple change of pace could be. I suppose there are many ways of refreshing onseelf, but communing with nature and breathing different air always has a way of re-energizing me and putting regular life back into perspective.

Where do you go for a quick change of pace?