Feed your Christmas spirit with holiday travel. Stuff a duffle and zip your puffy coat. Set Sirius radio to carols and ask Siri to map the destination. Find serious seasonal spirit nearby in Frankenmuth, Michigan, or Oglebay, West Virginia, or Ellicottville, New York. In less than two tanks of gas, you’ll be making new memories. If you have the flexibility, consider a midweek stay. There’s more availability, fewer crowds and better pricing.

SEE THE LIGHTS AND MORE

Oglebay Resort – about 173 miles from Cleveland – is legendary for its Christmas lighting display. Northeast Ohioans sign up for popular bus tours

more than 300 acres along a six-mile drive. This year’s display will be lit Nov. 11 through Jan. 8.

Introduced in 1985, the Winter Festival of Lights is among the nation’s largest. Eighty displays include the Rainbow Tunnel and a 2,000-light Polyhedron Star. Close to 60 feet tall and spanning 50 feet in diameter, the Poinsettia Wreath and Candles is the festival’s tallest. A dramatic new light structure opens this month.

The resort is more than lights and Christmas: It’s a self-contained destination set on 1,700 acres full of recreational activities.

Wilson Lodge has 270 guestrooms, a spa, dining and more. Dining options range from cookouts to banquets to gourmet meals. Weather permitting, the

grounds offer golf, hiking and biking, and a 30-acre zoo, train ride, theater, glass museum, mansion museum and Environmental Education Center. And, of course, specialty shops that are a good place to find holiday gifts.

Guest rooms in the West Wing have been completely renovated, and an outdoor activity area with zipline and ropes course recently has been added.

A PHOTO-PERFECT SETTING

Ellicettville, New  York – about 177 miles from Cleveland – is best known as the home of Holiday Valley ski resort. Off the slopes, a solid dusting of snow adds Christmas charm to this mini mecca of dining and retail.

You can’t bottle sunshine, but with special care you can bring its vigor into your house during the long dormant season. Check the calendar — fall is here, but that doesn’t mean your gardening time has to end.

Overwintering perennial herbs — such as rosemary and thyme — are a multifunctional and fun way to tap warm weather vitality by boosting your spirit and pleasing the palate.

But, it’s not as easy bringing pots inside. The indoor herb garden requires extra effort in Northeast Ohio, according to Karen Kennedy, education coordinator for The Herb Society of America, based in Kirtland. Extra effort means providing supplemental light and attentive watering.

LIGHT, LIGHT AND MORE LIGHT

“Most herbs require six to eight hours of sunlight per day,” says Briscoe White, co-founder and head grower at The Growers Exchange, an all-natural, online garden center in Virginia that specializes in rare and traditional herb plants for culinary, aromatic and medicinal use. “We recommend an unobstructed, southwest or east-facing window.”

That advice is more likely to succeed in areas further south. In Northeast Ohio, growing zones 6 and 7, winter sunshine can be elusive. In fact, if sun powers the plant’s energy production, imagine reducing that power 78 percent, from nine hours per day in July to roughly two hours per day in January. Not only do days get shorter in Northeast Ohio, actual sun strength dwindles. Less sunlight means reduced photosynthesis, and sun-loving herb plants starve.

So, what might look like success in October and November, could fail in January and February. That’s fine, if you have Kennedy’s expectations. “My goal is to keep it alive through the holidays, when I use it most,” she says of rosemary.

Post-holiday success is when modern light sources become important. That’s because traditional incandescent lighting is too hot and lacks the blue rays that plants need to move electrons and produce their own food.

Northeast Ohio parents send their kids to Columbus for college. And they turn up again for Parent & Family Weekend and sports.

But vacation there? Without Ohio State sports? Why?

Because the state capital is close enough for a quick trip, and it’s far enough to feel like an escape. This city in the center of the state offers vibrant daytime and nightlife activities for active adults. The new Scioto Mile park adds 33 acres of riverfront parkland to downtown for hiking, biking and kayaking. And for art-minded folks, the Columbus Museum of Art just added a new wing.

Microbreweries, brewpubs, distilleries, wineries and cider houses beckon the thirsty. And the Short North neighborhood calls to shoppers of art galleries and independent boutiques.

German Village alone can consume a weekend. The gentrified, historic neighborhood offers peaceful strolls and interesting cuisine. Stately brick houses and cottages line bumpy brick streets. Circled by ample (more brick) sidewalks, the houses sport details worth notice — a hosta shade garden here, a slate-tiled roof there.

Plan judiciously and you may enjoy a festival or art crawl. This neighborhood is best explored by foot to catch a glimpse of interesting garden art, late-blooming flowers and colorful doorways.

Try a restorative weekend exploring this Columbus enclave and its surroundings. Get started with these destinations. All are within walking distance of anywhere in German Village.

German Village Guest House

748 Jaeger St.

gvguesthouse.com;

866-587-2738 or 614-437-9712.

Guest house is synonymous with bed and breakfast at this quiet, European-styled, three-bedroom house with a welcoming back patio. Guests are greeted by cookies and iced tea. An invisible host delivers homemade yogurt, granola, cereals and much more in the morning. Details, right down to a GVGH-monogrammed rubber duck in the shower, are handled seamlessly. Just one minute from downtown, the guest house has no sign and fits right into the neighborhood.

Linda Gardner of Aurora wears a hat in the sun, even in the pool. Unless, it’s midnight swimming, she says with a laugh.

That’s because 15 years ago, her husband Mark noticed an odd spot on her back. On a hunch, she got it checked. Her dermatologist removed it and sent it to the laboratory. It came back precancerous.

“I’m sure it was from those first 20 summers of not using enough sunscreen,” says the fair-skinned redhead who is in her 50s. She now gets regular skin screenings to prevent cancer.

RETIREMENT YEARS AND SUN EXPOSURE

Linda is right, according to her doctor. “Ninety percent of sun exposure starts in first 20 years of your life,” says Dr. Monique Cohn, dermatologist at Advanced Dermatology in Twinsburg. “That’s when you feel no limit on the sun. Then, you get a job and you’re not outside as much.”

Sun exposure may increase during retirement years when activities such as fishing, gardening, boating and motorcycling get folks outdoors for longer hours. Ditching Northeast Ohio for sunnier climates also can expand the exposure.

“Even for adults, it’s worthwhile to be protected. It can still prevent cancers,” Dr. Cohn says. “Especially for men who are now balding and have their whole scalp now exposed, the head is an area we see a lot of pre-cancers developing. They should wear a cap or sunscreen.”

MAKE TIME FOR A CHECKUP

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, affecting one in five Americans, reports The American Academy of Dermatology. In 2016, an estimated 10,130 deaths in the United States will be attributed to the more aggressive melanoma cancer, while another 7,130 will be attributed to other forms of skin cancer. Those numbers have more than doubled since 1982.

Tanning beds are considered part of the problem. They have stronger skin damaging rays and should be avoided, Dr.

How do two people — one who is 6 feet 2 inches tall — fit three days of clothing, including theater attire, onto one motorcycle? And, with a black Honda Gold Wing motorcycle — a comfy cruiser — we’re the lucky ones with a trunk and two saddlebags.

The secret: dress in black, wear things twice and roll everything. All told, we had enough space to bring home four bottles of Canadian wine.

ON THE ROAD

We travel by motorcycle when possible to wring every sensual experience from a trip. Riding sensitizes. You see, smell, hear and feel deliberately.

Farmers talk about the influence of subtle climate changes. Check: We feel temperature shifts. Fields smell luscious and ripe during harvest season? Check: We smell them. Niagara Falls’ roar was apparent to us earlier than when we’re car captives. We see details in the seasonal shifts of wildflowers that dress the median strip.

Plus, motorcycles often enjoy better (and cheaper) parking. This was ano-brainer of a trip for us.

THE FALLS AND MORE

The Niagara region is much more than the Falls. It’s a gateway to cultural experiences — food, wine, theater — on the Niagara Peninsula between lakes Erie and Ontario.

While the Queen Elizabeth Way highway speeds visitors between destinations and navigation systems may select it, the Niagara Parkway is the better connector. The 14-mile stretch between the Falls and the Lake parallels the river and offers access to prime destinations such as the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, Floral Clock, Niagara Whirlpool and a few of the region’s wineries.

We’ve done this trip before, so we have a pattern. Leave work early and launch at mid-day. Hug Lake Erie’s south shore roads on the journey north. Enter Ontario, Canada. Then follow the Niagara Parkway to Lake Ontario and Niagara-on-the-Lake. Park our stuff at the hotel or bed and breakfast, and begin our adventures.