Weekend Getaways by Carole Braden, Time Out New York Ahh, summer in the city. A time when one's thoughts turn to...ESCAPE! But if you think hitting the road means sitting in the backseat of a cab, it's high time you traded NYC's serried streets for some wide-open asphalt. Head out for a weekend (or, in some cases, a long weekend), and you can find loads of summertime fun within a few hours of your stoop. Basing our adventures along three thoroughfares (Interstates 87, 80 and 95), TONY takes off for a weekend of wine tasting in the sun-drenched Hudson Valley, a paddle along the lakes of Adirondack Park, and six other spots that will appeal to the biker, golfer, gambler or layabout in you. Happy trails. If you have time to visit only one of the spots on this list, go to Rivendell Winery, in New Paltz. Owner Bob Ransom and his partner, Susan Wine (no joke), also run the Vintage New York wine shop in Soho - one place in the city where you can buy a bottle of wine on Sunday (because it's operated by a vineyard). At his winery and the store, he stocks other Hudson Valley vintages, plus many from the Finger Lakes and Long Island. There's no stuffy attitude at all at Rivendell, where the fridge is stocked with local cheeses for picnics on the grounds. Ransom didn't even turn up his nose when Ria said she liked one wine's "hint of baby aspirin."

Copyright 2003 Shawangunk Wine Trail