2012 "Cabin Fever" Snow Trip

     During the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, I-YEL went to visit Yosemite National Park. For some, it was their first time camping, for others it was their first time seeing Yosemite as a snow free winter. Over the course of the trip, two I-YEL interns coordinated the trip with the help of staff. Who are the wonderfully fabulous coordinators for this awesome cabin fever, no-snow-in-Yosemite trip?—2nd year interns, Nathaniel Ng and Anny Ho.

      Nathaniel and I started planning in December of 2011, creating goals that would essentially bring the team closer together and have them learn the importance of why we celebrate MLK day. To engage the rest of our team in the agenda of our re-named “Cabin Fever” Snow Trip, I-YEL was separated into groups and each created an activity where they applied one of our goals. While the rest of the group is vigorously working on their lessons, Nathaniel and I were choosing foods for the interns to eat over the trip.

     On Friday, January 13, 2012 Anny and I met up with one of the chaperones named Sam Tran, and went on shopping spree. Spending three hours shopping from Costco to Safeway, it felt great to spend $700 dollars on food. Personally, Anny had never shopped for 30 people, 24 of them being hungry teenagers. With the help of Sam and his cooking expertise, we were able to organize and efficiently shop for three days and two nights worth of fooooooood. 

     The first morning of the trip, Nathaniel and I led an AWESOME activity to pump the interns and chaperones up. As coordinators, we have learned that time is an invaluable tool to a successful trip. Then, we spent the next four hours bonding in the vans traveling to Yosemite. While we were passing by, we noticed that the land was dry, but our reactions were like “OH MY!” You could hear the excitement between vans as we pulled up to the cabin. In Anny’s van, the interns in unison were astounded and couldn’t hold back their expression, “OH DANG.” The day continued on with a delicious dinner cooked by all of our chaperones, a team-builder activity, Cabin Scavenger Hunt and concluding with a Star gazing activity. 

     At Yosemite, we visited Bass Lake, Mariposa Grove, and Yosemite Falls for a kicking experience. We had learned that the cause for the lack of snow was due to a yearlong drought. As the interns rested upon the return to the cabin, several others and a few chaperones prepared another wonderful dinner before we participated in activities interpreting what teamwork meant and Martin Luther King’s drive towards peace.

     Through watching the diverse activities lead by each intern, cooking together in the kitchen, playing late night games such as Taboo, we slowly saw the development of a family. Although there were many quirks, we have learned that leading a group of 30 people over a two nights, three days trip is no walk in the park, but we had LOTS of fun. 

-Anny and Nathaniel