Wave Hill

Unintentionally, we chose the hottest day of the year (thus far) to visit Wave Hill, a 28-acre public garden in the Bronx that overlooks the Hudson River way, way below and the cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades. But walking around the grounds, which include such gardens as monocot & aquatic, flower, dry & herb, and wild, was refreshing nonetheless.

Unlike some gardens, Wave Hill lets visitors go off the gravel paths, onto the lawns and into the woods. There's also a cultural center and art gallery: the most recent exhibit is work by eleven artists that reinterprets some piece of writing by Henry David Thoreau.