Day Twelve – Vacation to Staycation

We awoke to overcast skies and looked at the weather forecast. There was 100% chance of rain in an hour so we sprung into action and hit the road only to stop in five miles to have breakfast in Booneville.

After breakfast, we continued on Hwy 128.

Then we took Mountain House Road (a Zumo adventure road) into Hopland. This was a beautiful ride winding through oak chaparrals.

Once we got to Hopland, we peeled off a layer and changed to our vented gloves since it was getting warmer and it looked as though we had gotten ahead of the rain. We took Hwy 175 to Clearlake. This road climbed to about 2,400 feet above sea level but was super curvy.

Tom said this might be a “one and done road.” We dropped into the south side of Clearlake.

Once we were on Hwy 20, we were making great progress until we were stopped for road construction for about 20 minutes.

We traveled alongside Cache Creek through the Caypay Valley. This is a really pretty valley.

We stopped in Woodland for gas and decided to forego the rest break since we were only about forty miles from home. The terrain was familiar now as we went through orchards of olives and pistachios.

We crossed over the Sacramento River and then Tom took Elkhorn Blvd.! Zumo adventure? It turned out to be quite the urban adventure with three high schools, lots of traffic and multiple stop lights. Zumo!

Finally, we turned into our neighborhood. We were home.

Promising ourselves that the vacation was not technically over until Saturday, we did minimal unpacking, started the laundry and put a few things away. Then, we poured a cold drink and ate chips and salsa on the patio.

Every night of this trip, we have discussed how much we missed our pillows. I guess you could call that pillow talk! After ten years of marriage, that’s as exciting as we get. We are happy to be home and will treasure this time together and with old friends, new friends and family. We will try to stay on staycation and enjoy homebase for the next two days.

Cathy’s Barn of the Day Pic…