Pechanga

I arrived at school around 1:30 to carpool with my classmates. I showed up extra early to make sure I got a camera that day, because I forgot to reserve one. Luckily, I got one to check out. I called my friends I carpool with to find out where they were. It was my turn to drive, and I was kind of nervous I'd get lost. I figured, since it's in Temecula and I've been around there a lot, because my brother lives there, I most likely wouldn't get too lost. We got there without making any U-Turns and I was so happy that I didn't embarrass myself by getting us lost. When we got there, I went inside the gas station store to get snacks in case I get hungry. The police officer inside ended up asking me a bunch of questions about what we were all doing here, why, and who was giving us the tour, and so on. I started getting nervous because I felt like I was being interrogated. I know he didn't mean to freak me out, but I still tried to answer all his questions to the best of my ability. Later, we left to see the great oak tree. It's the biggest oak tree in the nation. When I first saw it from the outside, I was thinking, "Where is it? All I see is a big bush". We all got out of the bus and walked into the bush. There I saw the big trunk of the oak. I was really amazed to see how big it was and what was hiding underneath all those leaves. I saw roots that were so big I could sit on it like a horse! I felt so little compared to the tree, and I'm really glad we got to see it.


We got back on the bus and we drove to the little pond. There was a rock with markings on them. Deborah explained to the class that petroglyphs were drawings/writing engraved into rocks and pictograms were drawings/writing painted on rocks. I always thought they were the same thing, but I guess what they say is true: "You learn something new everyday."

We walked further down into the woods to see these big houses made of wood. It was really cool to see how all the sticks and branches were put together to make huts. Not to be stereotypical, but I thought, "Wow, this is really Indian now". It was interesting to see how spacious the small huts were, but I was even more astonished when I realized that that was there home. It was very small and all you can basically do is sleep in there. I think I wouldn't be able to survive if I was stuck in a small room with my sister and brothers every night.


Later, we saw another wooden house. This house looked cooler than the other houses. Our tour guide mentioned that the logs were put together and held by adobe. It was much more spacious then the other huts, but I still wouldn't want to live in it. We weren't allowed to go inside and sit in there, because it was unstable at the time. It was really intriguing though.

Later, our tour guide showed us how Indians use deer grass for basket weaving. We got back on the bus and rode to the nursery. It was our last stop and it was freezing! The best part of the nursery was going into this white house with the heater running inside. It was really warm in there, but only 10 people could fit in it. I was one of the lucky 10. We walked around the nursery as our tour guide showed us the plants that were placed in neat rows. There was so many baby plants that had just sprouted.

The thing I remembered most was that it was really, really cold, but I really enjoyed coming out and getting a taste of how Native Americans lived.