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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and we're going to end this week on a lighter note with a classic summer call-in. Name one of your favorite places to get out of the city to that doesn't require a car. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. A lot of our listeners do have cars. A lot of our listeners don't have cars, and a lot of them who don't, who are probably in the city in most cases sometimes think, "Well, where can I go, maybe on a day trip that doesn't require a car?" We all have our favorite few probably.

Let's share yours with other people so they can enjoy them too. Name one of your favorite places to get out of the city to that doesn't require a car. Call or text us at 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We were inspired for this by our WNYC and Gothamist colleagues who compiled a list. Reporters and editors shared their favorite spots, why they love them, and how to get there. I'll give you one of my own as we go, but Weekend Edition, for example, featured a few of their picks. Up first, reporter Sophia Chang picked a spot on the Jersey Shore. Let's take a listen.

Sophia Chang: I am a fan of Point Pleasant Beach, which is on the Jersey Shore. It has a classic boardwalk with arcades and aquariums and games galore and people watching and tons of rollercoaster rides. It's just a really special place. From the city, you would take a two-hour bus ride from Port Authority, or what I like to do is go to Penn Station and take New Jersey Transit on the North Jersey coastline. It takes you right to Point Pleasant Station, and then it's about a 15-minute walk to the beach.

Brian Lehrer: All right, listeners, there's Sophia Chang. Any other getaways off of New Jersey Transit that you want to recommend? Here's another one. Newsroom editor Christian Santana brings up a potentially more active pick.

Christian Santana: I chose Untermyer Park and Gardens. It's located just north of the city in Yonkers in Westchester. It's a public park made up of the restored remnants of what used to be an estate. It actually overlooks the Hudson River, and you can see really stunning views of the Palisades from the section called the Overlook. When I go there, I usually take the 1 train all the way to the end of the line at 242nd Street in the Bronx. Then from there, you can catch the Westchester Bee-Line bus. It's the number two bus, and that'll leave you just across the street from the gardens.

Brian Lehrer: That's a cool one from Christian Santana. I'll give you mine here that also goes north of the city on public transit. You can take your bike on Metro-North to Tarrytown at the foot of the Tappan Zee Mario Cuomo Bridge or just go to Tarrytown and rent a bike from a place they have there at the foot of the bridge and ride the bridge. I rode the bridge round trip in May, and it's really fun. The Hudson is differently wide at different points, and it's pretty wide there, relatively between Westchester and Rockland. It's a 7-mile round trip. It's mostly uphill from the Rockland side, mostly downhill from Westchester.

The new bike lane that they put in with the renovation of the bridge is nice but a little narrow, so watch for oncoming bikes and pedestrians if you do it. I'd also recommend earplugs because you are on the New York State Thruway on that bridge, but it's cool even without, and you can do it without a car. That's my pick. Listeners, how about yours as we are being inspired by our WNYC and Gothamist colleagues who compiled a list of favorite places to get out of the city to that don't require a car. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Call us or text us, and we'll take your calls and text right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC as we're getting ready to take your calls and texts with one of your favorite places to get out of the city to that doesn't require a car. I'm going to play one more excerpt from one of our own that inspired this. Again, you can still see the article with a lot of our staff picks on gothamist.com. We already aired someone's on the radio station. Here's one more. Reporter Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky also chose a beach. We heard the one before. The person who goes down by NJ Transit to Point Pleasant Beach on the Jersey Shore. This one's on Long Island. Here's Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky.

Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky: If you're all about swimming and laying out and doing those core beach activities, I think it doesn't get better than that. The way that you get to Long Beach, it depends on where you're starting from, but in most cases, it starts with getting on the Long Island Rail Road. You take it all the way to the end of the Long Beach Line, Long Beach Station, and then it's about a 10-minute walk and you're there.

Once you get off the train, you pretty much have everything you need for a beach day. You can stop by the grocery store for snacks and drinks and sandwich fixings. You can stroll down to the beach. You do have to pay, which is annoying. It's maybe $15. You can also just be like me and bum a seasonal beach pass off a friend or family member. It's about an hour on the train.

It depends a little bit on whether you have to transfer at Jamaica. That can make it longer or shorter. I definitely feel like I've gotten away. You just step off the train, and the air feels fresher and cooler compared to the damp, close, humid air when I step outside my apartment in Brooklyn. It just feels like you get to take a deep breath, and you're like, "Ah, I'm somewhere different."

Brian Lehrer: Ah, so the LIRR to Long Beach, and I think Ezra in Manhattan is going to take us further out than that. Hi, Ezra, you're on WNYC.

Ezra: Hello. You should go to Fire Island in Kismet because it's really fun because there's a really fun beach and a tinier beach that doesn't have these big waves. There are also a lot of bugs, but that doesn't matter because, well, if you just go inside, and it's not long on the ferry.

Brian Lehrer: A lot of bugs on Fire Island, you're saying.

Ezra: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: But it doesn't matter because it's so cold.

Ezra: Yes, it doesn't matter because-- yes.

Brian Lehrer: Is Kismet the name of the beach or is that the feeling you get when you're there?

Ezra: Oh no, that's the town.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, that's the town on Fire Island.

Ezra: On Fire Island beach, yes. Kismet, Saltaire. I forgot the rest.

Brian Lehrer: Cool. I don't know the Fire Island town, so that's great that you mentioned that. Ezra, thank you for starting us off. All right, here's a different one. Judy in Brooklyn is going to take us to Connecticut. Right, Judy? Hi.

Judy: Yes, Connecticut and Long Island. One year, we took the Metro-North to Bridgeport, Connecticut. They have a wonderful P. T. Barnum Museum. It was really nice. Then we took the ferry to Port Jefferson and we came home with the Long Island Rail Road. It was a full day of multiple transportation.

Brian Lehrer: Nice. What's the P. T. Barnum Museum like?

Judy: A great circus, a miniature circus. They had other things too because I think he was known for other stuff than the circus.

Brian Lehrer: Not just the circus.

Judy: But it was a very entertaining museum.

Brian Lehrer: Judy, thank you very much. Ken in Park Slope, you're on WNYC. Hi, Ken.

Ken: Hey, Brian. Hello. Ken from Park Slope, Bayside High, class of '68. I go up to Riverdale to Wave Hill, the botanic garden up there, most easily accessible by-- You're not even leaving the city. It's in the Bronx of all places. You wouldn't think you're in the Bronx. They have a free shuttle, Thursday to Sunday. Otherwise, it's a short walk from the Riverdale station on the Metro-North, the Hudson Line.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. It is right along the river there, right?

Ken: Absolutely. That's the whole thing. It's an overlook onto the Hudson and across to the Palisades, which are a protected land over in Jersey. It's all tree-covered shoreline on the west bank of the Hudson.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, the protected Palisades.

Ken: I think it's a beautiful [crosstalk].

Brian Lehrer: The views you get from there--

Ken: I think it's a former estate of--

Brian Lehrer: There's also a lot of landscaping at Wave Hill. It's not just looking at the river and across the river, right?

Ken: Absolutely. It's a botanic garden.

Brian Lehrer: Ken, thank you very much. Justine in Brooklyn is going to take us elsewhere in New Jersey than we've talked about so far. Hi, Justine.

Justine: Hi, Brian. It's wonderful to talk to you again.

Brian Lehrer: Glad you're on. What'd you got?

Justine: All right. I got Princeton, New Jersey, the one and only, our nation's capital at one time. We're going to get on to New Jersey Transit, and we're going to go to the Northeast Corridor Line. Unfortunately, we are going to have to go to Penn Station, I regret to tell you. We go to Penn Station, we forget that part. We're going to pick a day that's probably not too hot or humid because it is going to involve some walking. We go to Princeton Junction station, and then the cutest part [unintelligible 00:10:36]-- Well, not the cutest part because Princeton is very adorable because it was founded in what, 160-something. You know this better than I do, Brian. Anyway.

Brian Lehrer: I don't know the year, but I guess around there. Go ahead.

Justine: [laughs] Very early in our nation's "history." Then we get on something called the connector train called the Dinky, cute, Princeton cute, cute, cute, which takes us to the heart of the town, Princeton. Maybe we want to do this in the morning. We get there 10-ish, 11-ish, trying to escape the heat of the day. That takes us to a Wawa in the train station. We know a Wawa, Brian, right?

Brian Lehrer: A Wawa like a 7-Eleven?

Justine: Which is kind of a 7-Eleven.

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Justine: Yes, of the Central Coast, which is just-- If you know a Wawa, you know a Wawa. It's just superior in many ways.

Brian Lehrer: Justine, thank you for taking us to Princeton. Very cool. I know they have-- You can walk around the university, the art museum, as you told our screener, which has an interesting collection and more. Justine, thank you very much. Some of the ones coming in via text, "Storm King Art Center, shuttle service from the Beacon Metro-North stop, available on weekends. Not a lot of shade, so don't forget sunscreen," writes this person. I've been to Storm King, fabulous outdoor sculpture garden, I guess you'd call it, primarily.

Another art one up there, "Dia Beacon," a listener writes, and a train to Beacon and also Block Island from the same listener, a train to New London, Connecticut, then a ferry to Block Island.

Another listener says, "It's not technically out of the city," I guess Wave Hill wasn't out of the city either, but that's okay, "but I love taking the ferry to Rockaway Beach", writes this listener. The Wall Street ferry has a line that makes runs out there all day. Another one, "Metro-North to Peekskill or Cold Spring. Beautiful views and hikes and restaurants and general peacefulness that the Hudson River Valley gives." I think Jessica in Brooklyn is going to take us to the Hudson River Valley as well. Jessica, you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Jessica: Hi. How's it going? I would like to talk about the Long Path. It's a trail that runs from New York City starting at the 175th Street station in Upper Manhattan and then runs all the way to Albany, about 358 miles. I've done about half of it, 200 or so miles.

Brian Lehrer: Wait, just to say, Albany is about 140 miles north of the city. I know it too well because I used to live there. Just correcting that number, but still, yes, the Long Path.

Jessica: The trail, to be clear. The trail is taking a rather [unintelligible 00:13:26] route because you have to follow these hiking paths the whole way.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, wow.

Jessica: I've gone from Manhattan to Phoenicia using almost entirely public transportation, and I'm hoping to do the rest as well.

Brian Lehrer: That is great.

Jessica: Great for hiking.

Brian Lehrer: How do you do it? Hiking? That could be a goal, right? You hike the whole Long Path from New York City to Albany in pieces at a time, right?

Jessica: The whole thing in different sections. Yes. You can go from Manhattan to Nyack and then, like you said, cross to Tarrytown on the other side and take the train back. Then you can go back to Mount Ivy to Nyack and then take the train again. I've been writing about this in my newsletter, so there's instructions on [unintelligible 00:14:14].com on how to do this.

Brian Lehrer: Cool.

Jessica: There's buses all the way up. Usually, Short Line or Trailways will have one.

Brian Lehrer: Jessica, thank you so much. Michelle in Milford, Connecticut, you're on WNYC. Hi, Michelle.

Michelle: Hey, how are you doing? Very excited to be on. I handle all the publicity for the Milford Oyster Festival, and you can get there via Grand Central, right to the heart of Downtown Milford. On August 19th, we won a free festival where you could go for the whole day free. We host every year a major musician. This year, we're having Lou Gramm, originator of Foreigner. You don't need a ticket. We have the best oysters, which 30,000 or so get harvested right off our shores in Long Island Sound. We have over 200 vendors doing arts and crafts. We have a children's stage. We have canoe and kayak races.

Like I said, all this is free and it's very easy to get to. The train virtually goes half a block from the whole festival, and the whole downtown is closed and you're right along Long Island Sound so you could grab a craft beer and go on and look at the water as well. There's lots of fun activities for the whole family.

Brian Lehrer: Really, really cool. Michelle, it sounds like you're participating in it, so that is great.

Michelle: Yes, [inaudible 00:15:49] the publicity, and I just wanted to make a mention that the whole festival is run by volunteers.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you for volunteering and thank you for volunteering the information. That's where we're going to leave it, except I'll add one little addendum here to the previous caller that somebody writes, "The Long Path does actually pass through Harriman State Park as well as the Appalachian Trail." So adding to that caller. Listeners, thanks a lot for all those recommendations of things to do outside the city without having to have a car. Enjoy whatever you do this weekend.

That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, Esperanza Rosenbaum, and Zach Gottehrer-Cohen. Megan Ryan is the head of live radio. We had Juliana Fonda and Miyan Levenson at the audio controls. Have a great weekend and stay tuned for Alison.

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