Death Valley National Park

On the third day of the Death Valley field trip, my friends, Kimberly, Miriam, and I took our shoes off when we arrived at the sand dunes. We were so excited to play with the sand. The sand was so soft and nice. Just that it was really hot. As Kimberly and I were going down a hill Kimberly was slipping on the sand. She said, “oooo-oo-o!” So I called her a monkey. She made the sound again, and we started to laugh so hard that I almost fell down. After, we decided to sit under the shade to cool off. Then Miriam, Ivonne, and Edlin joined us. It was relaxing to play with the cold sand. While we were sitting on the shade, we saw Aldo sliding down the hill without the sleigh. We were laughing so hard, because Aldo was covered in sand from head to toe. He could not see because of the sand, it was so hilarious. Be careful when you go to sand dunes, or else you will either fall down or get covered in sand.

– Jacki 2016

On February 12th, 2016 the AVID group had arrived at the Stagecoach Hotel, it was the second hotel we when to. It was pretty cold out because we arrived in the evening. Everyone was tired, and some kids were eager to go to the pool. Little did everyone know that the pool was freezing cold. Once everyone was settled in their rooms, they when down to the pool and hot tub area. When everyone got to the pool they were all reluctant to go in because of the cold temperature. Ivonne was the first one to jump in, then I did, then Fabiola did, there were a few others too. The water was freezing, it was so cold that when you jump in you can’t feel your body and you go into shock. After getting out of the pool frantically, we joined the other kids in the hot tub. When everyone was in the hot tub we played a game called concentration, you play it by going around the circle singing a short song then the person it lands on picks a category then we go around the circle saying things that apply to that category. After we played that people started going back to their rooms. The next day, February 13th, 2016 in the evening, most kids went to the pool again. This time more people were daring and jumped in; I chose not to, but some chose to do it more that once. I decided that it would be a good idea to try and get used to the water, I didn’t. I was in the water for about ten minutes, maybe less; but, Mr. Gerow said that it would be a good idea to get out because I could be inflicting hypothermia, or frostbite upon myself. So, I got out and got in the hot tub with everyone else. We played games, then eventually left back to our rooms. The important lessons that I had learned from these experiences was that you should never go or stand in a freezing pool for fun.

– Eden 2016

It was a warm afternoon in Marco Forster, and we were waiting for Izzy’s mom to get back from getting gas at Costco. When she arrived we were all ready to go. Rob’s car consisted of Maya, Rosa, Catalina, Brenda, Omar and I. So, during the whole ride we were listening to really old Justin Bieber songs. It was really lit and crazy, everyone was screaming and laughing. So after a few hours, we arrived in a hotel in Barstow and that night we did not go into the pool. While everyone was in the freezing pool and the warm jacuzzi, me and Omar went to the Nike store to buy a small soccer ball. We went back to the hotel and we started to play soccer outside of the pool. He and I made challenges of who could make it in the small circle of the life preserver. After we played for a while it was time to go back into the hotel. Then, we went back to the hotel room, watched TV for a little while and soon fell fast asleep. On the second day, we ate breakfast then we packed up and went for a longer drive to our next destination. So we drove and drove until we got to some place where it the lowest point. It is like below sea level and is the lowest point in the whole country. So, we drove a little longer until we got to our next hotel. We arrived and then this time we decided to go to the jacuzzi and it was really nice. We sang songs in the jacuzzi and then after we got out went to the shops or the candy store and got a bunch of stuff. We got sodas, coffee, chips and many candies. So we went back to our room and we realized we could not get in because there was cat at our door. So eventually we chased it away and then we rapidly got into our room. Ok, now that we were inside, we just started to munch out on all the food that we brought and after we fell asleep. It was now the third day and it was a nice, cool morning. We woke up quickly and we raced towards the Subway inside of the candy shop and got our sandwiches. Also to come back to our room was bad timing because, again, the cat was at our door and we it wanted our food. We opened the door so we could get in but instead of going in by ourselves, Ace let it into our room so Ulises had to take it out with a stick. It was such a weird experience of being there with the street cat but thanks to Uli, we managed to eat safely and then leave the hotel to our next destination. We left and then hiked more and more. It was really fun because Omay down so we had to jump from high up. After that ended we drove back to another place where, Brenda, Catalina, Bryan and I were on top of the mountains climbing. There was no wre we were staying. There was no TV and no Internet so in my room we just talked until we went to sleep, But before that we went to eat at a nice restaurant and we ate pizza. So it was the final day and we were driving back to our city. We sang songs on the way back and it was the nicest experience ever as a field trip. By Jaden Fernandez

– Jaden 2016

During the Death Valley trip on February 12, 2016 the AVID group went to eat dinner at Gemma’s Cafe. I was with Edlin, Jackie, and Kimberly. I decided to order a strawberry smoothie. As soon as I got my smoothie I realized there was a hair in it. I knew the hair did not belong to me because it was really curly. I did not know what to do, so I told Mr. Gerow and Rob. They told me to tell the waitress and ask for a new smoothie. When I told the waitress I felt really bad. I thought that the food was not going to be good but I really liked it. Then we went to Stage Coast Hotel. Eden, Fabi and I went to the pool. We met Spike, Manny and Aldo there. They were in the Jacuzzi because the pool was really cold. Everyone was too scared to go in the pool. Afterwards Aldo tried to get in the pool by just putting his feet inside, but he could not do it, so he went back to the Jacuzzi. Then I said that it was probably not too bad, and that I might get in. He then told me that if I got in, he would get in after me. So, I said I would get in. No one believed that I was going to get in, so they all came out of the Jacuzzi behind me and followed me to the pool. Once I was out of the Jacuzzi I ran and jumped into the pool. The pool was so cold that when I got in I fell into shock. I was the first one to jump into the icy cold pool followed by Aldo, then Eden, and lastly Fabi. As soon as someone got into the pool they ran out. Even though it was freezing cold I decided to swim around to see if I would get use to the water. I swam around the pool twice, but when I realized I was not getting any warmer I got out. When I got out I was freezing, so I went into the Jacuzzi. I learned that if there is an icy cold pool one will not get used to the water and should not go in it at all.

– Ivonne 2016