offManhattan

When the warmer winds of March begin to wind their way around the skyscrapers, you know it’s time to spring forth from Manhattan, traveling in the direction of some small charming town surrounded by lots of green space. Margaretville might come to mind. Located in the Catskill Mountains, it’s an easy-to-reach recreational paradise. In two and a half hours by bus, your work woes will have slipped off your shoulders as you step down into a truly pristine place.

Getting the Lay of the Lodge
Margaretville Lodging owns four properties in the Catskills that offer a wide range of accommodations. Looking for a romantic Bed and Breakfast? The Margaretville Mountain Inn is a Queen Anne Victorian style beauty—and listed on the National Register of Historic Places—so you can expect antiques and period décor at this lovingly restored inn. Carol Molnar is the owner, and her exquisite touches are everywhere, from the gourmet breakfast served on fine china to the plush towels in the bathrooms of the individually decorated rooms and suites. The website offers various discounted specials, like room and breakfast for two for $69 mid-week and $99.50 on weekends with a two-night minimum stay. Single weekend night rack rates start at $115.

What: Montreal High Lights Festival 2010

Where: The High Lights event and all affiliated outdoor activities take place in Old Montreal and the Quays of the Old Port; performances and culinary events happen all throughout the city.

When: February 18-28, 2010

Why: We all need a little more light in these dark, dreary days of winter, and no one does light better than the good people of Montreal. This year’s High Lights Festival celebrates Portugal, New Orleans, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec in a festive lineup of culinary and entertainment events to please all the senses.

It is a crisp clear morning in the Catskills. You stand knee-bent at the crest of the slope, pumped with adrenaline and ready to do some carving down the fresh, untrodden snow—but it’s hard to leave the still view. After all, you’re perched atop the second highest peak in the county.

On Saturday, Hunter Mountain marked 50 years to the day since opening what is now one of the top ski destinations in the Northeast. And with a slew of new deals, they’re making sure everyone from ski bunnies to ski bums will be there this winter to jump-start the next 50 years of sweet rides.

What: 56th Annual Québec Winter Carnival

Where: Across two major sites: Place Loto-Québec (located in front of the Québec Parliament) and Place Desjardins (located on the Plains of Abraham)

When: From January 29 to February 14, 2010

Why: Because celebrating the holidays felt more like work than vacation, and this is the second best thing to a European getaway. No other event in the world can compete with this big daddy of all winter carnivals: imagine an ice palace, sleigh rides, outdoor dance parties with hip hop, disco, and Latin music, a snow sculpture competition, and canoe race, all within a charming, historic downtown district.

Standing on the banks of the glassy Delaware River just a stone’s throw from the snow-dusted Pocono Mountains, you’ve just traveled 70 miles away from a loud, Starbucks-stuffed concrete jungle to a property offering Bourbon Porter, an artistic aesthetic, and a weekend of true, uninterrupted peace and quiet—and you did it without a car.

To enter Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort’s main house, you have to follow in the footprints of Jackie Gleason, Perry Como, President Eisenhower, and Lucille Ball. Climbing the red-carpeted stairs, it’s hard not to think about the celebrities and PGA tournaments that have been hosted here since the resort’s opening in 1911. And yet once inside, the grand century-old characteristics start to merge with the most unexpected and unique elements.

While there is buzz among some tourism boards that the simple, sylvan setting in Pennsylvania known as the Poconos is looking to re-brand its destination, one of the area’s biggest resorts is holding steadfast to the past, and for good reason. Ninety miles west of New York City, Woodloch Pines Resort has got all the region’s year-round trappings; tranquility, a 15-acre lake, ski slopes, and miles of pristine hiking trails that city folk all too often forget about as they jitney the opposite way to Long Island shores.

To be certain, this property has joined the 21st century; Woodloch won accolades in 2009 as the Best Green Resort by Global Renewable Energy Expo, and offers Guitar Hero championships, free wi-fi, and a state-of-the-art spa. But it’s the other stuff, the 51 years of unwavering tradition, that puts Woodloch in a league of its own and draws loyal generations of families decade after decade. (And it doesn’t hurt to be named one of the top ten best winter resorts by Parents Magazine this November.)

If you like to bike or walk, you are going to like this. A futuristic-looking gizmo, the environmentally-friendly Segway is the most fun you can have on two wheels while standing up without breaking a sweat. And this fall, it’s the coolest way to explore the foliage and historic setting of the Hudson Valley – just a quick Metro-North ride from NYC.

“Seeing the sights on a Segway enables you to become one with your surroundings as it’s more personable than a bus tour and you can cover much more ground than by walking,” said Jason White, vice president of Segway of the Hudson Valley. “It runs entirely off of electricity so there are zero emissions. And a little less than a Kilowatt of electricity enables a rider to travel up to 24 miles—about $0.10 worth of electricity.”

Back in New York, a week after bubbling brooks, grass-fed cows, and cozy dinners with strangers around a long wooden table, there was a distinct difference in the way we worked, ate, and shopped for food. It wasn’t just how we read the labels to make sure chemical ingredients weren’t the first three listed, it was the pace at which we feasted, the tension that no longer lingered around the shoulders, the brattle of city sounds that we could better embrace because of where we had been off Route 100A at Good Commons in Vermont.

For city folk without alternative residency in the Hamptons, taking a break during any season can often just mean riding the red line to Brooklyn Heights for a stroll on the promenade. Peaceful and scenic as an outer borough may be, come Monday morning in Manhattan, you’ll still be wishing you’d answered that inner need-to-relax call a bit better.

Perched in the Poconos, a tad over two hours west of New York City, there is a place completely deserving of the label “hidden gem.” First opened in the late 1920s as a gentlemen’s golf club, Skytop Lodge is a National Trust Historic Hotel and 5,500-acre camp for both adults (women too) and children. While escaping to a resort in these mountainous Pennsylvania parts is no secret vacation idea, slipping into the easy tempo of Skytop will set your watch to a “Time. Out.” you’ve never experienced before.