The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: May third, highlighting seven weekend escapes.

Sometimes a quick getaway is just what the travel doctor ordered. Recognizing that reality, editors of the magazine National Geographic Traveler, a supporter of our program, picked places for delightful mini-vacations. Their choices appear in the latest issue.

For example, they suggest an exploration of the wistfully wooded Brandywine River Valley in Pennsylvania's southeast corner, with homesteads of the artistic Wyeths and the Du Pont family's grand manors, Winterthur and Longwood Gardens. There's Canada's Niagara-on-the-Lake, a nest of lovingly preserved neo-classic and Regency architecture on Lake Ontario's southern shore. Best know for its seven month Shaw festival, the town and nearby Niagara frontier offer plenty of diversions for year round interludes.

For midwesterners eager to get away from it all, there's no better escape than Arkansas' Ozark Mountains, which offer the kind of solitude about which city dwellers fantasize. For a jolt of high-energy entertainment, nothing beats the adult amusement park of Las Vegas, where every eve is New Year's and the party goes on 24x7x365.

Offshore escapes are another possibility. One candidate is the Bahamas' Exuma archipelago, 365 paradisiacal islands of silver palms; clear, warm waters; shallow reefs and talcum soft beaches. London's many rejuvenated districts are making the grand dowager of a city feel younger than any time since the Swinging 60's. Lastly, they highlight a hidden Honduran haven near the city of La Cieba on the Caribbean.

Their concise profiles are loaded with insider tips about where to stay, what to do, places to eat.

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