I was the happiest girl in the world when I found out I was accepted to go on the 7th Grade Marine Biology Trip! I was so exited I got to miss school for a week to go on an adventure, make tons of new friends, and learn new things about the world that I didn’t know before. Another great thing was that my dad got to chaperone and I was exited that he would get to do all the fun activities with me. The camp I went to was called PEEC, which stands for Pacific Environmental Education Center.

When I got to camp, I met my cabin mates, other chaperones, and my naturalist. Naturalists are the “teachers” for the week. My naturalist was Raccoon (they all have nature names).

My Days At PEEC

Monday

Monday was mostly driving, but once I got there, everyone jumped right into it. The first hike we did was a short Marine Headlands walk along the coast. On this walk we got to play games like camouflage and meet the people in my hiking group. I learned about invasive species, like the ice plant, and how they negatively effect the environment. When we saw the harbor seals, I learned that the winds effect where animals live. At dinner, I was introduced to the FBI; Fungus, bacteria, invertebrate. They were all decomposers. One of the naturalists dressed up fancy and pretend like he was an Italian scientist and it was hilarious.

Tuesday

Tuesday was stations, tide pools, and a night hike!

There was a total of 3 stations that we visited. The first one was the Adaptation Station where we played a relay game where there were 2 teams that were different species of birds. One team had to use one leg and the other had to use no arms, it was a race for food. I learned that an animal  needs certain adaptations to live in their environment.

Next, was a whale station where we got to examine a full skeleton of a humpback whale. We learned the structure and communication of whales. I also learned where they are from and that they evolved from dinosaurs.

Finally, we went to the Salmon Life Cycle Station. We first learned the cycle: Egg, Alvin, Fry, Smolt, Adult. The first game was one where we had to win a game of rock paper scissors to go to the next stage of life and we had to see how many times we could live a full life. The next game was where you had to go through a river, ocean, then river again and try to avoid predators. Finally, we did a game of salmon trivia.

The tide pools were AWESOME. There was such an abundance of life in each pool that I went to. My dad and I were the prime finders (mostly my dad) of life such as the following: gumboot chiton, sea stars, sea urchins, eels, anemones, sea lemons and other invertebrate, sea sponges, hermit crabs and regular crabs, fish, plus much, much more! I got to pick everything up, except we had a rule, “If it’s harder to pick up than a hat from your head, don’t pick it up.” I also invented #SeaStarSelfie. It was a blast getting a hands on learning experience.

Finally, was the night hike! On the night hike, we went around Lake Cleone. I heard owls, frogs, and other nocturnal animals and I got to see tons of bats. If you wave your hands around wherever you want the bats to come, they will go there because they think it’s insects. I also got to see the whole Orion constellation, the little and big dipper, plus other constellations too. About halfway through our hike, we stopped to do an experiment:

First, we got a Life Saver and found a partner. Then we put the Life Saver in out back teeth and crunched really hard (I know, chewing with your mouth open, gross). We saw triboluminescence, which is sparks of light, come from it and since it was dark, I saw it really well.

At dinner tonight, we had another visitor! Anemone dressed up as a crazy work-out person and taught us about gallons of water because she was The Gallinator. She would always put up the rock on hands and shout “Gallons!” at us and the rest of camp, whenever we saw her, we would yell that to her. Did you know that it takes 2,800 gallons of water to make a chocolate bar? Or that it takes 600 gallons to make a single burger?

Wednesday

Wednesday was our all day hike, beach, and pool day.

The all day hike was the highlight of the week! We hiked down the ecological staircase. The ES is layers that form a “staircase” down to ocean level and each step has different dirt and life, so as we hiked down I got to see a variety of organisms. First, we started at the Pygmy Forest at the top of a hill. The Pygmy Forest’s trees were 100 years old, but only about 5-6 feet tall. It was breathtaking to learn about these weird trees. The reason why they are so small is because of the poor soil, but don’t worry, they grow but insanely slow. Next, we hiked through the Coastal Redwoods and these trees were huge! These trees had fire burns, and some fell to create tunnels. The ash in the fire caves acted as face paint for us, so we used it and put on war paint. I even got to crawl through the tunnels from fallen trees.I also ate certain clovers and other leaves! It was such a unique experience getting to do these different adventures. This hike taught me about how plants and animals adapted to their environment to survive.

On this hike, our naturalist planned a mini-solo hike. He created a trail for us to follow and when we finished going one at a time he asked us what we noticed. It turns out that you notice so much more about your surroundings when you are all by yourself. I noticed many more species of flowers and plants than I originally thought were out there.

In another part of the hike, I learned how to play Camouflage. Camouflage is a game where there is a person who is it and while that person counts, the other people run and hide and try to camouflage. The it person cannot mover their feet, but they have to try to find everyone. Then, the it person can yell migration and the people have to come closer.

After the LONG hike, we hit the beach! There was an awesome river that we got to play in. Maya and I played in the sand and claimed an island. Alexis and I made up our own country, called Nalexis, and we created a makeshift flag out of sticks and seaweed. I had a blast relaxing at the beach with my friends.

After playing, it was time for a cookout. We got to cook our own hot dogs over a fire, which was a unique experience. We also could grab some salad and chips to go along with it. I sat on a log and enjoyed my dinner on the beach enjoying the weather.

To end the day, we went to an indoor pool. This pool was at the C V Starr Center. It had a lazy river with the buckets that dump water, a slide, and an activity pool. I had so much fun doing all these and it was a great opportunity to wash of the sand and beach water.

Thursday

Thursday was full of adventure and fun!

We did tide pools again today! We also did this Tuesday.

I was really looking forward to exploring the Sand Dunes! We drove to the Ten Mile Dunes which were along the ocean, so we had a great view. I learned how the sand dunes were formed over time. I also learned a bunch about the species that live in a sandy environment and their adaptations. I got to pick up a couple of the bugs and they crawled on me and I tested how slow or fast they were. The best part of this adventure was getting to jump, roll, and run down the gigantic sand dunes. We did some races and some competitions, too. I got sand everywhere; in my hair, shirt, pants, and shoes! Defiantly need a shower…

The campfire was a blast! During the week, each cabin had a theme that they had to create a skit for. Cabin Dolphin (mine) had The Mystery of the Sand Dunes. It was so hilarious to work with my friends in different accents and ideas, and I will never forget that. I even made a  pine needle mustache for my role! In between each cabin, I learned tons of fun songs and dances.

Friday

We had to go home! BOOOOOO! Today was mostly packing and driving, but we did play a last few games and go on a final Marine Headlands hike. This was a trip that I would remember forever.

The Food System

First off, the PEEC food was fantastic thanks to our wonderful chef, Grizzly! My favorite was that they had desserts every night and they were all different. I was so happy we didn’t have nasty cafeteria food.

Each cabin would split up the chores for the week. There was hopper (bringing the food to tables and setting up), dishes, and clean up. The best thing about dishes, was that there was HOT water in each tub.

We actually played a food game all week. We played Zero Waste, where each day, we had to have the least amount of waste possible. My table always had 0 waste, so we got to do the o waste dance. There was a graph on the wall that depicted the rate we ate and didn’t eat. The last meal of the trip, the whole camp had 0 pounds of weight! The reason why did this was to learn about proportions of food and how much waste humans created.