McCall Trip - Fully Exposed (Joanna's title idea)

I was very excited to hear we were taking a weekend vacation as a community to McCall, a beautiful destination in Idaho. On the schedule was hot springs, ice skating, and I heard "bring hiking shoes". This got me excited and thinking that this is one of those weekends where you are constantly busy with fun activities that make you view others in a way you have not before. Adventure and adrenaline is what was on my mind. Getting my homework done by cramming the days before was unfortunately not what I had to do. The only "recreational" activity we did was ice skating, which I loved - don't get me wrong - but technically that was still indoors. The only time we got to enjoy Stormi's nature was during our free time having snowball fights. The most fun we had was when all the adults were in bed and we just stayed up playing catch phrase and having a campfire, just the things you do when you think of camping. I would have liked to gone on a hike, even a hike downtown, or a hike four miles to the hot springs. I think activities should have been planned out better. If we had decided to go to cosmic skating, the rink would have been closed and we wouldn't have even been able to do that one thing we did. Communication is key. Now to the team building activities and sessions…I appreciate the time and effort all of the group leaders put in, especially Chris, but I felt like the stuff we talked about has been covered during every camp and every class we took in high school. None of us are out to get the minorities, and it is obvious we have all taken each other in with open arms with friendships. I felt like I was in a dream back in middle school orientation during our spaghetti and marshmallow activity. Although it incorporates group work, it just felt childish. We could have been doing ropes courses and things IN THE OUTDOORS like we had in mind, but the learning sessions took up so much time. I hope we are able to go back, and make an even more memorable experience in the Spring. Overall, anytime away from the stress of the school week is a relief, so I am thankful for that. Thank you to all who helped in the program, especially Chris and the OP. I hope this honest evaluation can be something to build upon for future endeavors.

Love,
Mark