Long-haul travel is slowly but surely opening back up to us. It s great news, but we like to think that the best part of traveling during summer isn t that two-week trip you planned for a year, but the smaller, closer-to-home trips that allow you to turn weekend breaks into mini vacations, from Memorial Day through September. A host of new and easy-to-reach resorts and retreats across the U.S. are giving us plenty of reason to be anywhere but home all summer long, whether it s to kayak in North Carolina or sit by a pool in Palm Springs. Here, a few favorites to book now.