Yes, the calendar says March - but what it doesn't mention is that summer is just a short drive away.

For those who ache to escape the tedious gray chill of winter but don't have the time or resources to head south, a few places in our area offer a respite. Feel the warmth, soak up the humidity, smell the flowers. Go "outside" without layer upon layer of clothing.

You're about to take a huge leap, not just ahead in time to a shorts-friendly climate but to another continent.

Pass through a door and suddenly you're in Africa - as in the African walk-through exhibit in the Toledo Zoo's Aviary, a WPA-era building that underwent an award-winning renovation in 1998. Even on a sullen day, light washes through large expanses of glass overhead and onto the re-created grasslands and the colorful birds that move freely through it.

In this space - 60 feet long by 32 feet wide by 20 feet high - a path winds through an African landscape of native plants and bamboo structures. This is not a place for those seeking silence, though; the air is dense with the jabber of Black Crake, African Yellow-vented Bulbul, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, white-cheeked Turaco, Green Woodhoopoe, and more.

Yet it's peaceful, especially at this time of year, when fewer people visit the zoo. "You can sit here and have it all to yourself some days," says Andi Norman, zoo spokesman. "I think a lot of people still think the zoo closes in the wintertime. They're missing out on a treasure."

Sit awhile on the lone bench, or bundle up in search of other slices of summer on the zoo grounds: the steamy South American rainforest in the Aquarium, for one, and the lush Conservatory just beyond.

Information: 419-385-5721 or www.toledozoo.org.

A delicate but insistent snow coats northwest Ohio on a recent morning, but you wouldn't know it from inside the big bubble at 577 East Front St. in Perrysburg. Built in 1989, the dome is free and open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., on what once was the riverfront estate of the late Virginia Secor Stranahan. Take off your coat and hat; you won't need them here. Stomp off the snow and take a walk on the brick path, or cross the bridge over the four-foot-deep moat-like pond to a leafy speck of an island where a twig bench beckons.

It's in the 20s outside; 70-ish and soupy inside.

Flourishing here are bird of paradise, bougainvillea, ivies, hibiscus, creeping fig, banana trees, Mexican heather, cyclamen, coleus, jasmine, and much more. Geraniums bloom in red and coral; impatiens in soft pinks, an azalea in white. A camellia's fat buds are itching to burst. In the pond, Japanese koi and red tilipia swirl gently.

Vicki Gallagher, horticulturist, recalls a woman who used to bring her coffee and newspaper to the dome. Occasionally, couples will sit for a quiet chat. But often, Mrs. Gallagher and the volunteers who help tend the plants have the dome all to themselves. "It's a very well-kept secret sometimes," she says.

Information: 419-874-4174.

A 65-foot-high mushroom rises on Heatherdowns Boulevard in South Toledo every November and hangs around until May. No matter what the weather outside, it's golf season in here.

Now in its ninth year, the inflatable structure beckons golfers with an indoor driving range, artificial putting green, and sand bunker. It's usually about 40 degrees warmer in the dome than it is outside, says Nick Szymanski, head golf professional at the club.

That would make it a little brisk for something like sunbathing, but "when you're swinging and hitting balls you're going to get hot," he points out.

"We see roughly 300 people a day on a weekend day. Weekdays it's more like 150," he estimates, adding that the nastier the weather, the bigger the crowd. "We get lots of families on the weekends. You'll see kids as young as 2 and 3, and grandparents as old as 90 to 95," Mr. Szymanski says. Members of the University of Toledo golf teams are among the regulars.

Information: 419-385-4678 or www.southtoledogolf.com.

The room darkens, points of light appear overhead, and mentally you're transported from an auditorium at the University of Toledo into a lawn chair in your backyard on a warm, clear evening. Let your imagination take over: The neighborhood has gone quiet as night has fallen; all you hear is the voice of someone sharing with you the secrets of the heavens.

In reality, you're looking up at the domed ceiling of the planetarium. A star projector is used to reproduce the sky and nudge the passage of time to show how it changes over a period of hours, days, or seasons.

You can get your piece of summer at planetarium shows on Friday nights at 7:30 and Saturday afternoons at 1.

Associate Director Alex Mak says "The Star Gazer" will run Fridays now through April 29. Produced by the Great Lakes Planetarium Association, the program is narrated by Nichelle Nichols - Star Trek's Lieutenant Uhura - who talks about how telescopes and our minds can take us to the stars.

The Saturday program, now through April 30, is "Don't Duck, Look Up!" A duck named Dudley discovers the sky as we watch, listen, and discover as well.

Information: 419-530-4037 or www.rpbo.utoledo.edu.

No need to count the minutes until pools open for the season: Cedar Point's new Castaway Bay water park resort is open year-round and promises "a Caribbean getaway on the shores of Lake Erie."

The 38,000-square-foot water park, located along with a 237-room hotel at the entrance to the Cedar Point Causeway, includes water slides, activity pools, a multistory play area with a 1,000-gallon tipping bucket, 100,000-gallon wave pool, and a water roller coaster that propels riders uphill using water jets.

The water park is open only to overnight guests staying at Castaway Bay, where rooms range from $140 to $360. But if the complex isn't fully booked, day passes are available on a first-come, first-served basis at $18 per person (ages 2 and younger are free), Monday through Thursday, now through March 16. Call first to make sure day passes are available: 419-627-2500.

Another option is Great Wolf Lodge, formerly Great Bear Lodge, a 271-room hotel and year-round water park on U.S. 250 near State Rt. 2 in Sandusky.

The 33,000-square-foot water park - heated to a comfy 84 degrees - has nine water slides, a "lazy river" that winds through the water park, five pools, and a tree house water fort in the center with 12 levels and a 1,000-gallon tipping bucket. Rooms range from $259 to $389, with specials available via greatwolflodge.com.

Castaway Bay reservations and hotel information: 419-627-2106 or www.cedarpoint.com.

Great Wolf Lodge: 888-779-2327, 419-609-6000 or www.greatwolflodge.com.

Contact Ann Weber at: aweber@theblade.com

or 419-724-6126.

First Published March 6, 2005, 10:13 a.m.