Dear Wags,

We’re launching a new media platform for days like this. It’s called Everybody Shut Up. Nobody likes a Wednesday Evening Quarterback. What you need to shake off existential dread is fresh air, not another bloviator dissecting the world’s miseries. Here are a few of our favorite places near big, jittery cities where you can decompress and howl into the void. You will feel better, promise.

Yours Ever,

Marin and San Mateo Coast, California

The Bay Area is overpriced and its people are douchey, blah blah blah. Get that out of your system, because the Bay Area is a short drive from some of the most beautiful scenery on the continent. From the heart of San Francisco, you can reach the rugged Marin Headlands in 30 minutes. If you are trapped in some arid Silicon Valley cubicle, you can drive through the redwood groves of the Santa Cruz Mountains and be in rustic Pescadero in under an hour. For our money, the coast between Point Reyes and Santa Cruz is the perfect place to recalibrate and let nature do its work. The fog rolls in, the ocean roars, and at least for a few moments, you’ll find peace.—DeDe Halycon Day

Wissahickon Valley Park, Philadelphia

People have just about had it with Pennsylvania. Get over it. Philadelphia is the birthplace of constitutional democracy and a great American city that never gets its due. It’s also very close to some of the prettiest countryside in America. If you don’t have time to explore Bucks or Chester counties, here’s a hack: Head to Chestnut Hill in the northwest corner of the city and plunge into the valley of the Wissahickon. You’ll enter a vast green oasis that cups idyllic Wissahickon Creek. The Wissahickon is of so remarkable a loveliness that, were it flowing in England, it would be the theme of every bard, wrote Edgar Allan Poe. We agree. Spend a day by that babbling brook and fool yourself into thinking you’re in Vermont.—Elizabeth Imbrie

Photo: The Trustees of Reservations

Crane's Beach and the Great Marsh, Massachusetts

Boston: It’s trying to be New England cute and New York rude! Somebody who wasn’t a fan told us this when we were very young. One stifling July in Cambridge, we had a choice: Head south, to the Cape with the rest of town, or explore the sleepier North Shore. We fled north to Ipswich and discovered a landscape that hadn’t changed all that much since the 1700s. Crane’s Beach is part of more than 1,000 protected acres of dunes, pitch pine forest, and wetlands, part of the larger Great Marsh, which keeps much of the area undeveloped. After a day of swimming, hiking, or kayaking, you’ll forgive Boston for almost anything. For a lobster dinner, hit Woodman’s of Essex.—Jane Spofford

Big Views near Little Compton (CW).

Little Compton, Rhode Island

It’s appalling, how little of America’s Northeast coast is accessible to the millions who live nearby. You have to know where to go—and where not to go—to appreciate it. For a rustic beach experience close to major cities, remember Rhode Island. Little Compton, a rural coastal town a short drive from Providence, has miles of stone walls, quiet lanes, and gorgeous beaches. The views from Sakonnet Point are spectacular. Lloyd’s Beach, Briggs Beach (open only to locals and guests), and Horseneck Beach in neighboring Massachusetts are good for a windswept ramble year-round.—Lucas Carr

The Hudson Highlands, New York

When smart New Yorkers want to get away from it all, smart New Yorkers point themselves north. An hour out of sweaty midtown, mountains squeeze the Hudson River on both sides. The rugged landscape inspired Thomas Cole and other artists of the Hudson River School and 20th-century environmentalists protected the area from development. Take the Metro-North train to Cold Spring and hike the Breakneck Ridge trail for national park-worthy views, check out the art at the DIA Beacon, or hop on the ferry to Bannerman Island to scramble around a ruined castle. On the river’s west bank, there’s West Point, the Storm King Art Center, and the trails of Bear Mountain State Park. You’ll forget subway urine smell is even a thing.—Kat Van Tassel