Day 11 (continued)
This was our R&R day and we all planned to sleep in. However, the smoke alarm woke us up about 6:00. We called maintenance, but by the time they arrived, it had stopped and they could find nothing wrong. Joyce and Bob stayed up and went out to walk before breakfast. The remainder of the day was spent just hanging around the chalet and catching up on laundry and Internet activity. We all loved it . 
We saw at least 5 black tailed deer on the property. The Ranch is on 3600 acres with a small portion bordering Klamath Lake. There are beautiful homes throughout the ranch.
Day 12
We woke to a clear, crisp morning at the Running Y Ranch near Klamath Falls, Oregon. The car was loaded for the umpteenth time, and we were off to California. We saw more rolling grassland in S. Oregon and on into N. California with more and more irrigation for the grasslands.
As we rounded a turn in the road, we were greeted by the awesome sight of Mt. Shasta in the distance at 14,162 ft. There were glaciers quite visible from the north. At that height, it was visible for many, many miles.
Quote from a USA Today article in 2008: “
By Samantha Young, Associated Press Writer
MOUNT SHASTA, Calif. — Reaching more than 14,000 feet above sea level, Mt. Shasta dominates the landscape of high plains and conifer forests in far Northern California.
While it's not California's tallest mountain, the tongues of ice creeping down Shasta's volcanic flanks give the solitary mountain another distinction. Its seven glaciers, referred to by American Indians as the footsteps made by the creator when he descended to Earth, are the only historical glaciers in the continental U.S. known to be growing.
We entered the area known as Butte Valley.....part of the high desert plateau. We saw many crops that we couldn't identify.....even with Google. By the time we arrived at Gerber, we could identify the olive trees. They also grow prunes, walnuts, and almonds. We stopped for lunch under a grove of olive trees at a rest stop.
Along the way, we finally decided that one of the crops was rice. Jerry remarked that he wouldn't have thought that rice would grow in such an arid area. Without extensive irrigation, rice would never be a California crop.
With so much to entertain us along the way, it wasn't any time until we were in Sacramento and the worst traffic of the trip so far. Good news was the trip through city was short, and soon we were into the rolling hills again and at our next stop, Sutter Creek and the Hanford House Inn.
We did make one detour for a strawberry farm and purchased these fabulous berries.
We could hardly wait to get to the inn to wash them and start eating. They are NOTHING like the California berries they pawn off on us back east. We will have some for breakfast the next few days.
We checked into our rooms at the Hanford House Inn, then took a stroll through the tiny mining town and back to the inn in time for wine and cheese. Much of the town appears to be a straight shot from 1849.
Hanford House Inn. Named after two early miners.
Our hosts, Athena and Bob at the Hanford House Inn have thought of everything and are the perfect hosts. We are the only guest in the inn, so we enjoy the place much like we owned it. The free internet kept everyone occupied for most of the evening, along with Monday night football. For most of our journey, we have not even turned the TV on.
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