Country staycations

By Sharon Steel Tue Aug 11 2009

Staycations 2009

Wave Hill

Wave Hill

RECOMMENDED: Our most recent Staycation Guide

If you have an afternoon

Even die-hard New Yorkers need to shake off their cosmopolitan confines for a few short hours. Allow an instructor from the Jamaica Bay Riding Academy (7000 Shore Pkwy between Flatbush Ave and Rockaway Pkwy, Jamaica Bay, Brooklyn; 718-531-8949, horsebackride.com; trail ride $37, private trail ride $53, lesson $47, reservations recommended) to guide you through the Gateway National Recreation Area on horseback. “We go through wooded trails, then hit the shore,” says owner Anthony Danza. “It’s about five miles of oceanfront riding—you’ll see lots of marshland birds, owls, rabbits, pheasants. It’s amazing that this is in New York City.” Or experience the lagoon on the water itself, by kayak: Park rangers are available to take you on a free half-hour ride leaving from the Canarsie Pier (Belt Pkwy at Rockaway Pkwy, 718-338-3799; Fri--Mon 10am--2pm; through Aug 31).

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