Preparations for this trip began on May 6th , with registration for students who were attending Chief Leschi School. The whole idea behind the summer trips was to promote incentive through education. Only those youth who were excelling in academics, behavior and attendance were selected at the school and the Sapa Dawn Center. We continually met with the participants on a weekly and sometimes daily basis to ensure they were going to take this traveling experience. To many of them it seemed unrealistic for them to go due to the fact that a lot of them have never even stepped out of Washington State or the County for that much.

We had a lot of youth stay over night at our house, for we planned to leave early the next morning. We ate dinner together and talked about what was expected when we arrived the Elders gathering. Our plans were to load both vans and a car and be on the road early morning. Unfortunately we got underway by the early evening and drove until morning, rested then reached our destination that afternoon. We met up with Binah, Robby, Rene and Dakota and all camped together. The place was beautiful, surrounded by trees and country. The youth participated in the 4 day of meetings, sunrise ceremonies and feasting together with other youth and Elders from all over the country. Upon leaving we took the kids on the scenic route home through Oakland and San Francisco towards 101. To see the expression on their faces was exhilarating. Trying to cross the Golden Gate Bridge during the memorial week-end was a riot or even trying to find a parking spot in downtown Chinatown. We traveled on through the Redwoods and by the ocean. But through all this the youth were able to get a bit of education through traveling experiences, meet new friends and witness different cultures.