Congratulations: you've made it to another glorious summer in Rochester, your reward for putting up with the less-than-cooperative Western New York weather the rest of the year. You've earned these sunny skies, warm breezes, and days that seemingly last forever. Better make the most of it.

How to do that? City's answer for this year is to hit the road, Jack. While there are certainly more than enough summer activities in the immediate Rochester area (more on that in a minute), the season affords your best chance to jump in the car and head outside the region for a day trip. No matter which direction you go -- north, east, south, west -- there are some amazing experiences all within a gas tank of Rochester. From major metropolitan zoos to natural sculpture parks, internationally known speedways to sports halls of fame, our writers have picked out some diverse diversions great for whiling away a day, but which will still have you back in your bed by midnight.

Still, nobody would blame you if you wanted to stay closer to home. After all, Rochester itself has no shortage of awesome events going on over the next three months. Instead of giving you page after page of boring, uninformative listings, we've brought back last year's popular feature, "What to do every day of the summer," in which our writers select just one event per day and gives you the details. It's not a comprehensive look at everything going down this year -- for that you should check City Newspaper every week -- but it should give you a taste of more than 100 festivals, concerts, special events, art exhibits, and more that should keep you plenty busy until fall.