Our Intrepid Bay Area News Group readers traveled around the globe last yr last yr. They have the rails drove in QueenslandToured through the Sagrada in Barcelona and roam through Main's Acadia National Park. Then they shared their travel stories and offered many travel suggestions for all of us.

Read on to Tennessee for a visit to a family within the Bay area and one other hike through Spain and could be present in www.mercurynews.com/tag/wish-you-sere-heere/ more reader.

You wished you were here

TENNESSEE: In October, the residents of San Rafael, Karen and Scott Schneider, and their 22-year-old daughter Gina from Capitola spent every week in Tennessee in Nashville and Pigeon Forge, the house of Tennessee. Dollywood. “We were with friends in Nashville – most recent transplants from California – and drove 3.5 hours to pigeon in the Smoky Mountains to visit Dollywood,” says Scott.

“The theme park was much better than we expected – very healthy, friendly and overcrowded than we thought. A lot of great food, trips and the story of Dolly Parton, her career and music. Dollywood was decorated with lights with thousands of real pumpkins and thousands of plastic culmills in the fall. “

Travel tips: “We decided at the beginning of October to miss the hot, damp summer and moved him to the 1960s every day with the 1960s on the day we left. We also spent several days in Nashville, saw a lot of County music and visited a beautiful garden area called Cheek. “”

SPAIN: The residents of San Jose, France and Paul Anderson went through the Camino de Santiago last autumn – “The trail was peaceful and quiet because we went after the top of the high season after the top of the high season,” says Franceen – then extended the trip to Gibraltar, Malaga, Madrid and Barcelona.

Travel tips: “You will meet people from all over the world. Rudimentary Spanish will come by. Let us assume that you will get bubbles on your feet and bring blister pads, good socks and shoes. Almost 500 miles are a long walk. On most days we sent our backpacks to our next destination and carried water and food in our dayhops. “

Sonoma County's largest city – its urban heart – is usually only a stopover for visitors who need to travel on and explore wine country. But Santa Rosa has gained prominence in recent times as a destination in its own right, a city with walkable neighborhoods and lots of exciting recent restaurants and other places to go to.

If you're planning a weekend getaway, your start line is a no brainer: Flamingo Resort & Spa, the recently revitalized historic motel inbuilt 1957. The refresh of this mid-century mod motel has breathed recent life into this family-friendly, budget-friendly property, with barely enough retro cool mixed with modern upgrades to spice things up.

The pool at the middle of the property, from which a series of rooms fan out like a blooming flower, is the middle of the motion. The large shallow a part of the pool is a splashy play zone for the little ones. Adult lounge chairs surround the deeper part, which is conveniently positioned near the small bar cart that gives glasses of ice-cold watermelon frosé and spicy Angry Bird margaritas ($13). And the Wild Bird pool menu offers casual fare starting from strawberry spinach salad and buttermilk fried chicken to quesadillas for youths.

Meanwhile, the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus on the resort are Lazeaway Club is just adventurous enough to intrigue adults and keep kids comfortable, too. Think fried Brussels sprouts ($10) with toasted coconut, spicy chicken bao ($15) and kalua pork sliders — and mac and cheese, too. And for brunch, try the gochujang-spiced baked eggs ($19), served in a large cast-iron skillet.

Summertime at The Flamingo brings Sunday sessions by the pool, with live DJ parties every Sunday afternoon through the tip of September featuring Mark Farina, Avi Snow, Truthlive and more. Inside, between the airy lobby and the restaurant, is the resort's nightly music venue, Vintage room. The lounge just began a rustic music night – called “Space Cowboy!” – on the primary Friday of the month featuring local country-rock musician Dustin Saylor and line dancing lessons.

A fun strategy to explore town with the entire family is a city-wide scavenger hunt on the theme of “Art, Wine and Redwoods in Santa Rosa” with Let's roam. The hunt is guided through an app and takes you to parts of town that supply a wide range of sights, historical sites and quirky places filled with trivia, with challenges that you should solve as a team.

Many of the stops are near areas you'll need to explore anyway, resembling the South A Street Art District, referred to as downtown's SOFA district, which is home to the best concentration of art studios in Sonoma County. Depending on how much time you will have, there's also a terrific place to refuel nearby. Chef Liza Hinman opened the very fashionable dinner-only Spinster Sisters in 2012 and recently opened Marigolda pop-up lunch spot with chicken sandwiches, seasonal salads and drinks like blackberry lemonade.

Check out before or after the hunt or in the course of it at Russian river brewing for a pint of Pliny or to sample your way through the range. Opt for the entire tasting board experience and sample 2-ounce servings of Californian and Belgian-inspired beers.

Whatever you do, don't miss town's Historic Railroad Square, with a 1904-built depot, train connections and all forms of attractions. Santa Rosa was home to cartoonist Charles M. Schulz for greater than 30 years, and all around the city—but especially here—you'll find sculptures paying homage to his unforgettable Peanuts characters. Find Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy and more in Railroad Square, then browse the boutiques, restaurants and antique shops that populate this historic district.

Duck in Goblin Brothers Game store for board games, cards, role playing games and all types of numbered dice you would like. Go to Cast Away Yarn Shop for colourful skeins and other knitting and crochet supplies, craft kits, and gifts starting from felt strawberries to yarn tarot. Yes, tarot—so that you, too, can foresee the magical with cards depicting the Queen of Wands with a crochet hook and the Hermit with a ball of golden yarn.

You've been on the road for some time now, so go to Grossman's Noshery & Barright across from the train station. This traditional New York deli concept is all about big doses of nostalgia, from the mile-high pastrami sandwiches ($17) on house-made rye bread to your entire “Bubbies Favorites” section of the menu. They also offer delicious Mediterranean dishes here, including a rainbow-colored Sabich Board ($22) with falafel, perfectly fried eggplant, quinoa tabbouleh, and all of the dips and tender pita you possibly can want. And the bar is intriguing, with its house-distilled vodkas.

Terri and Mark Stark Grossman's opened in March 2020, just as lockdown began, however the place has done well – we obviously needed comfort food then and we still need it now. It's one among eight popular restaurants operated by the couple's Stark Reality restaurant group in Santa Rosa and Healdsburg. The list also includes Bird & the Bottle, Willi's and Augie's French, which opened last fall.

Another excellent spot to stop for a bite – or a treat – is Amy Brown and Joe Wolf's Marla Bakery. The bakery first opened in San Francisco, where it gained a big following, but closed in 2019. Late last yr, it reopened within the historic Railroad District. Be sure to try their famous crebble ($5.50), a twisted, knotted croissant with maple sugar and sea salt, in addition to their massive sandwiches. Friday nights feature fried chicken ($28), and Sundays feature a dinner series featuring local winemakers, guest chefs, and special menus served of their chic, modern setting.

And if you happen to fancy a correct pint, head to The Goose and the Fern. The pub atmosphere, with dark wood, green partitions and appropriately sized pint glasses, transports you across the pond. The menu of classic English pub fare is topped off with tantalizing fish and chips ($24), said to be one of the best on the town, and a blinding wine list.

When you go

Flamingo Resort & Spa: Rooms start at $237. The hotel is positioned at 2777 Fourth St. in Santa Rosa. www.flamingoresort.comCheck out the Lazeaway Club menu at https://lazeawayclub.com and the Vintage Space program at https://vintagespacesr.com.

Let’s roam: This 90-minute, 1.40-mile scavenger hunt in Santa Rosa costs $13 per person. www.letsroam.com.

The Old Maid Sisters: Open Tuesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a pop-up lunch to-go, Marigold, open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., 401 S. A St.; thespinstersisters.com.

Russian river brewing: Open day by day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., 725 Fourth St.; www.russianriverbrewing.com.

Goblin Bros. Games and Equipment: Opens at 11 a.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. weekends at 129 Fourth St.; https://goblinbros.com.

Yarn Shop Cast Away: Open Wednesday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 100 Fourth St.; https://castawayyarnshop.com.

Grossman’s: Open day by day 8 a.m. to eight p.m., 308 Wilson St.; https://grossmanssr.com.

Marla Bakery: Opens Thursday through Sunday at 8 a.m. at 208 Davis St.; www.marlabakery.com

The Goose and the Fern: Open 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. or later Wednesday through Sunday, 116 Fifth St.; https://thegooseandfern.com.

It was Shakespeare who brought us to Ashland, home of Oregon's famous theater festival. But as we wandered through town's beautiful Lithia Park one June morning, one query kept coming up.

No, not “To be or not to be?” We were watching Macbeth later, not Hamlet, and besides, that query was more necessary than any royal monologue. How many days in a row could we order the identical outrageous raclette grilled cheese on the Skout Taphouse and Provisions, just across the road from the park, before, well, someone said something?

With its melting mountain cheese, thick slices of bacon and cranberry jam – served with truffle fries – the Ultra Meltathon ($15) is sufficient to make anyone mangle a monologue and say the entire world is a sandwich or that music is the love of food.

The Bard first forged his spell in town in 1935, when actors gathered on the local Chautauqua in Lithia Park to perform “Twelfth Night.” But Lithia Park and the multitude of charming restaurants nearby have their very own magic, tied to the theater company that dominates not only the town's economy but its vibrancy. All of those aspects have inspired greater than just puns on the menu—yes, Midwinter Night's Dram, we mean you. They've also created a literary subgenre that features 20 cozy, modern-day crime novels set in Shakespeare's theaters, restaurants, hotels and this beautiful park. (More on the books in a second.)

Designed by landscape architect John McLaren, also known for Golden Gate Park, Lithia Park now invites locals and visitors to start their woodland walks just steps from the festival's Elizabethan outdoor theater and city square. McLaren isn't the park's only connection to the Bay Area. The park's historic Butler-Perozzi Fountain was originally created for the 1915 Panama-Pacific World's Fair in San Francisco.

Here, trails meander up the canyon and into the forest. Ashland Creek burbles by in all its splashy glory. There are rolling lawns and forest clearings for picnickers, a play structure for toddlers, and pickleball courts where the clack of Wiffle balls wafts through the air. A brand new Ashland Japanese Garden—complete with koi pond, waterfall, and sand and rock garden—opened in 2022. And on the important paved trail near the duck pond, you'll find Cellist Daniel Perry enchants passers-by most mornings. It is idyllic.

The park's name, by the way in which, is a nod to Ashland's mineral springs, which contain lithium salts. For the last century, anyone with a spa interest — or no sense of smell — could sample the, er, fragrant waters bubbling from the bubblers of the plaza's drinking fountain. Oregon's water authority shut the fountain down last winter out of concern about other, less healthy minerals within the water — including barium and boron — though town argued that the bubblers weren’t a “public drinking fountain” in the standard sense. The water's sulfurous smell deters anyone from actually drinking the stuff.

Historical appeal aside, who would wish to drink these items when alternatives include hoppy Oregon IPAs and Pinot Noir? Those drinks—together with nine varieties of Moscow Mules, a Best Damn Old-Fashioned, and the aforementioned Midwinter Night's Dram—may be found on the venerable Oberon's, a Shakespearean restaurant and whiskey bar on the plaza. Its Elizabethan decor conjures up a leprechaun-like whimsy with its twinkling lit trees and wood-paneled booths, and the menu ranges from giant roasted turkey legs to hearty pies, sausages, and flatbreads.

If you desired to separate real life from imaginary, you've come to the flawed place. Not only is all of it about Shakespeare, nevertheless it's also the setting for Ellie Alexander's cozy, bestselling Bakeshop Mystery series. If you're a fan (raises hand), Oberon's is the inspiration for Puck's, where cake-making chef (and amateur detective) Juliette “Jules” Capshaw hangs out with the fictional director of the very real Oregon Shakespeare Festival Company.

So yes, we're here for Shakespeare — a stunningly powerful production of “Macbeth” that we're still talking about, and a fully delightful “Much Ado About Nothing” — but we're also here for Jules and her culinary finds. And Alexander, who now lives in Sunnyvale, understands our obsession with Skout's Ultra Meltathon grilled cheese. She also loves her gigantic Go Big Pretzel, served with beer cheese sauce, mustard pudding, house slaw and pimento cheese.

Oregon-born Alexander didn't move to Ashland until after the book series began, but she had attended the town's famous Elizabethan theater in her childhood summers – her father was a Portland-area highschool English teacher – and she or he knew the realm well, so when her agent approached her about writing a criminal offense series, “I just knew it,” she says.

“One of the things that characterizes cozy crime stories in general is that typical village atmosphere. There's such an open, generous sense of community that resonates through Ashland, and that was one of the themes of the show,” she says. “I love that it's real. There's nothing fictional about this piece.”

Alexander was still living in Ashland in 2021 when Tom and Lisa Beam opened the casual Skout Taphouse directly across from the park. Huge roll-up doors and picnic tables, camping lanterns and a vintage RV bring an outside feel to the home, while brilliant, umbrella-shaded tables line the expansive creekside patio.

Just across the corner, you'll find Jamie North's Mix Bakeshop—the inspiration for Jules' fictional tart bakery—where you’ll be able to enjoy a Stumptown Coffee Latte along with your flaky almond croissant ($5.25) or pick up sandwiches for a picnic within the park. Jules also hangs out with the Larks chef on the Twenties-era Ashland Springs Hotel, our base for the week. Larks' real-life chef, by the way in which, is Franco Console of Walnut Creek, and the whole lot on the menu is heavenly, especially the nice and cozy butter cake with pear compote and granola-milk ice cream ($13).

Can we talk concerning the bodies, though? It's true that the fictional Jules comes across them in all places – within the park, within the theater, on snow-capped Mount Ashland, and in a museum on the campus of Southern Oregon University. Several locations were even suggested by Alexander's neighbors in Ashland, including “cute little retirees with a basket of banana bread” who would show up on their porch and say, “Well, I've been thinking about this, and a good place to kill someone would be…”

The only dead bodies we saw were on the stage, thank God. And we all know who did it – Macbeth and his wife. But those creepy witches just committed the murder.

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When you go

Lithia Park: Enter this public park, open each day, at 59 Winburn Way in Ashland. The Japanese Garden is open each day from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. https://ashlandparksfoundation.org/

Skout Taproom: Open Sunday to Thursday from 11:30am to 8pm and Friday to Saturday until 9pm, 21 Winburn Way; www.skoutashland.com.

Oberon: Open Sunday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to midnight and Friday through Saturday from 1 a.m. to midnight, 45 N. Main St.; www.oberonsashland.com.

Mix Bakery: Open Sunday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to eight:00 p.m. and Friday through Saturday until 8:30 p.m., 57 N. Main St.; www.mixashland.com.

Cock-a-doodle-doo: Open Tuesday through Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to eight:30 p.m., 15 N. First St.; https://cocoricorestaurant.com/.

Ashland Springs Hotel: Rooms from $197, including continental breakfast. 212 E. Main St.; www.ashlandspringshotel.com The hotel's own restaurant, Larks, is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to eight:00 p.m. and from Friday to Saturday until 8:30 p.m. https://larksashland.com/.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Performances of Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Coriolanus and several other other plays run through mid-October. Prices vary by play, but tickets for Much Ado About Nothing start at $35. For details, visit https://www.osfashionland.org.