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Denver. 30 minutes westward gets you into the Rockies. 30 minutes north and you get the peaceful exerbs of Longmont and Frederick. 30 minutes south and you are in Castle Rock. 30 minutes east and you are in the middle of NOWHERE!
Location: Far Northeast, D.C. and Montgomery County, MD
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as strange as it may sound. The D.C. metro would be a good choice. You have everything within a 30 mile radius. If you want an affluent county that offers a mix of urban lifestyles and cities without living in a big city or then Montgomery County or Prince George's County in MD and Arlington or Fairfax County in VA is perfect. If you want a rural slow paced county that still has a lot to offer than Calvert and St. Mary's counties in MD and Prince William or Spottsylvania counties in VA. Theres a lot of more area I left out but they're all similar.
There are some great places to get away from Chicago in Wisconsin and Michigan, but nothing that compares to the surrounding areas of Denver, Salt Lake City, Boston, San Francisco, or Seattle.
Go southeast one way and your in Corpus Christi, a coastal area with some beaches and the massive and desolate Padre Island National Seahore. About 2 hrs.
Go north and you have San Marcos, Austin, New Braunfels...a whole bunch of attractions and nice small towns. It's Texas Hill Country as well. Don't forget the bluebonnets you can see on some of the roads, it's quite a sight. Canyon Lake is in this area, with some parks on the lakeshore.
Go south, and there's the rio Grande Valley and the border.
Go west, towards Uvalde and you have what Texas is famous for. Very desolate stretches of road and small towns. Some of these roads are flat and straight through scrub brush, some go by signifcant elevation and some very nice views.
You could if you want a longer getaway, get on I-10 West and make it to a much more "desert" like part of Texas, like the Southwest. This area is extremely lightly populated.
Go east towards Houston and go through some extremeley flat landscape.
Or if you want a quick trip, San Antonio is a big city, not a huge metro. Pick a direction and drive and you'll get to a more rural area pretty quickly.
That's one of the reasons why I really like San Antonio. Plenty of different "getaways", pick a different direction and it'll be a different experience.
I'd say small metros with lots of natural scenery and parks nearby, such as Harrisonburg, VA and Binghamton, NY. I'm sure dozens of others fit that bill too.
Denver. 30 minutes westward gets you into the Rockies. 30 minutes north and you get the peaceful exerbs of Longmont and Frederick. 30 minutes south and you are in Castle Rock. 30 minutes east and you are in the middle of NOWHERE!
Denver is the one I was going to say. San Diego is not bad either, about 45 minutes east will get you in the mountains, and about another half hour will get you in the desert.
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
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Probably not NY metro, lol. The mountains really aren't that far away (maybe 60 miles outside the city), but there will almost always be traffic leaving the city. On a good day it would be a nice, quick trip though. When you go about 80 miles west, you're in the Poconos in PA, and it's like a whole other world. You wouldn't think you're 80 miles from NYC. It's a nice quick getaway.
Las Vegas is a metro where you can leave the city pretty quickly and experience nature and quietness. Mt. Charleston is only like 15 miles away. You can be in the hot desert and then 20 minutes later be on top of a snowy mountain. I think that's what's cool about the southwest.
Several large cities in California would apply. Some have mentioned San Francisco with outstanding get-away's to wine country, Sierra\ Lake Tahoe, Monterey bay\ Big Sur.
Los Angeles has mountains within the city limits [i.e. Malibu\ Topanga] where you don't even feel like you are in the city. Santa Catalina island is an hour away by boat & you can camp out overnight on beaches w/ nobody else around & swim in water so clear you can see fish below. Ski resorts are within 1-2 hours as well as the desert and Santa Barbara & San Diego.
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