15 October, 2016 (Liv Smith)

Waking up to a large gust of wind at my tent door made me a bit anxious about the day, but not hearing rain on my fly made me jump out of my tent to greet the sun. We were served an interesting dish made by our head chef of the day, Nicky Crocker. The meal was called “Dutch-oven Babies,” which made a few of us laugh and others cringe. It was a filling meal all the same. After breakfast we had two book reports given by Emily and Nick. Its hard to get the ball rolling in the mornings, especially on “days off,” but I think we learned quite a bit from the two. From Emily we learned how a bit of therapy can be worked into ECOEE, and how Nick sees us as nothing but conflict solving animals. We had some free time after our lessons, finally! Some of us hopped back into our tents for a quick cat nap, others explored the campground, while others just enjoyed basking in the brief sun. Low debrief followed soon after, to where we got our new LOW's for the week. With visiting Yosemite, Summit Adventure, and beginning our Sierra trek, this week will be quite the adventure. Jeff and Ryan left into town for dinner, or whatever trouble those two get into, leaving us to roam and play. Pretty much leaving us to be an obnoxious as we wanted. Just as dinner was starting, our speeding professor turned into our campsite and gathered us around. Call it a sixth sense if you will, but I knew something was up. We were told that snow was coming in quick, and we needed to get over Tioga Pass soon if we wanted to make it into Yosemite tomorrow. We all kicked it into high gear and were all packed up and in the van in an hour. Upon seeing that the Yosemite campsite was full, we headed to Summit Adventure. We continued through tunnels and winding roads around the mountains. Just as we turned a corner, the wildlife signs proved to be true with a deer standing in the middle of the road. Luckily no one was hurt, and no venison was to be had for a meal the next day. When we arrived at Summit Adventure we couldn’t really make out what we were actually looking at in the dark, but when we walked into the beautiful lodge, and overwhelming feeling came over us all. The only word I can think to describe it is “homey.” I can hear the boys giggling in the showers, while us girls sleep and do work. I guess we’re just not as high maintenance as them. California is proving to be quite the confusing landscape, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. Although it’s been windy, rainy, and even snowy, I can tell by all the nose prints on the window just how excited everyone is to be here.