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By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer 9:52 AM Thursday, January 7, 2010

HAMILTON — Just when local residents may be planning their getaways for the coming year, the Fitton Center for Creative Arts offers a little help with group travel.

For the first Celebrating Self lecture of the year, on Wednesday, Jan. 13, Fitton will bring in an editor from Ohio Magazine to talk about some of the best places to which groups can travel.

Michelle Berry, a marketing director for the magazine, said she sat down with representatives from the Fitton Center and “this was one of the ideas that rose to the top ... people might be looking for something different to do.”

Presenting the lecture will be Jenny Pavlasek, a contributing editor and travel writer for Ohio Magazine. Her suggestions will include some places that are actually quite local.

One of her topics will be college towns, and around here, that means Oxford and Miami University.

“It’s such a charming place and the campus is so beautiful. There are several group tours there on topics like trees,” Pavlasek said. “It’s been called the ‘Williamsburg (Va.) of the Midwest’ because it gives people a sense of history. There are ghost tours there.”

Pavlasek will also discuss weekend getaways and group travel packages to places as big as Columbus or as unique as Hocking Hills in Southeast Ohio.

“One of my personal favorite places is Hocking Hills ... it’s quirky,” she said.

That’s true especially for finding places to sleep. Hocking Hills offers unusual lodging ranging from a Native American teepee to a train caboose.

Pavlasek will also talk about the logistics of traveling in large groups of 100 or more.

“If you’re going to a tiny town like Nelsonville, Ohio, they might have trouble accommodating groups that size,” she said.

The event will be held in the Carruthers Signature Ballroom. The doors open at 11 a.m. with a buffet lunch and musical entertainment by Treva Boardman at 11:45 a.m., followed by the lecture at approximately noon.