Westworld Alberta

n s a t f t t g ) . t , s e y g , , d t restaurant French Laundry. Menu standouts: the brick chicken, corn with queso fresco and Brussels sprouts with brown sugarbacon marmalade. Good Sleeps: After dinner, return your bike and have your designated driver head north for 64 km on Hwy. 101 to Hope-Merrill House (hope-inns.com; 800-825-4233) in Geyserville. Here, ornate wallpaper, floral prints and knick-knacks galore make for a "Grandma chic" decor. The breakfasts are stellar and there's a small vineyard onsite. LEG TWO: Healdsburg to Santa Rosa Head south 13 km on Hwy. 101 to Healdsburg. For now, resist the urge to stroll through the main drag's enticing restaurants, boutiques and tasting rooms. Instead, park the car behind Hotel Healdsburg and join a supported bike tour (getaway adventures.com; 800-499-BIKE) with a guide who will escort you through a leisurely (or strenuous – you pick) ride. On a supported tour, your only job is to pedal and enjoy, while your guide does the heavy lifting – of bikes, wine purchased en route, spare jackets and, best of all, a picnic lunch. Tired? Your guide will happily hoist your bike into his van and drive you back into town. Tours leave from Healdsburg's main plaza and run along Westside Road onto Dry Creek Road, meandering along back roads and gently rolling hills. Make as many or as few stops as you please – the guides are cheery and flexible. Popular wineries along the route include lushly landscaped Lambert Bridge (lambertbridge.com; 707431-4760), where a fuzzy St. Bernard and yellow Labrador retriever laze in the tasting room; Dry Creek Vineyard (drycreekvineyard. com; 707-433-1000), whose 2009 Heritage Zinfandel was chosen as one of Wine Spectator's "Best of the West"; and Quivira (quivirawine. com; 707-431-8333), where the offerings include a selection of less common reds, such as Grenache. Good Eats: The wine list at local favourite Willi's Wine Bar (starkrestaurants.com; 707-526-3096) includes an extensive list of Sonoma options, but also wines from LEG THREE: Santa Rosa to Oakland Emerge from your cabin into the morning sunlight to see where all of those strange nighttime noises were coming from. The resort includes a 162-hectare Wildlife Preserve with immense enclosures where zebras, lemurs, giraffes, buffalo, ostriches, rhinos and wildebeests roam. It also offers, by reservation, a two-and-a-half-hour Winos and Rhinos tour, where guests sample wines from Alexander Valley's Francis Ford Coppola Winery as they view the preserve. Back on the road, head down Mark West Springs Road to Hwy. 101 and south to Santa Rosa's Railroad Square Historic District, where Bike Partners (bikeparners. net; 85-LIVE-DREAM) will happily map out a route to nearby wineries. From the shop, take Prince Memorial Greenway, a protected bike path along oak-shaded Santa Rosa Creek GEYSERVILLE through farmland to Olivet Road and the cluster of Russian River Mark West Springs Road Valley appellation wineries, SANTA ROSA known for their sparkling wines, Pinot Noirs, Zinfandels and Chardonnays (olivetwineroad.com). GLEN ELLEN Among them: Hook & Ladder, SONOMA VALLEY opened by a former San Francisco firefighter, and Harvest Moon, which offers the less common Gewürztraminer varietal. Loop back on the greenway for the 11-km ride back to the Historic District. After a stroll N though the shops and cafés, make the drive back to Oakland wiser in the ways of wine and OAKLAND always remembering the words of William Shakespeare: "Good comSAN FRANCISCO pany, good wine, good welcome can make good people." France, Australia and New Zealand. The menu is divided into "surf," "turf," and "earth" sections, along with an extensive selection of local and imported cheeses and charcuterie. Good Sleeps: Head northeast up winding Mark West Springs Road into the African Savannah – or at least a remarkable imitation of it – for a night in one of Safari West's luxurious tent cabins (safariwest.com; 707-5663620), outfitted with linens, plush beds and bathrooms. (top) © ZUMA Press, Inc./All Canada Photos, L.J. Williamson p18-19_Road_Trip.indd 19 AMA MEMBERS SAVE MORE Before you go: Take a four-day cycling tour along Bodega Bay to the vineyards of Sonoma wine country. Includes deluxe accommodation, bicycles, meals, guides and a support vehicle. Land only from US$2,295. 1-877-667-4777; AMATravel.ca While you're there: Save 10% on all food and non-alcoholic beverage purchases at La Vera Pizza in Santa Rosa and 20% on all food and non-alcoholic beverage purchases at Star Restaurant, also in Santa Rosa. AMARewards.ca/SearchforDiscounts Westworld >> f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 3 19 13-01-16 12:47 PM

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