Below is a first-hand account from Brittany Wiltz, age 10, about her trip to Yosemite National Park with the Summer Camp program at Roberts Family Development Center

Recently, myself and other members of my summer camp program had the opportunity to visit Yosemite National Park. I’m sure everybody has at least heard of Yosemite National Valley, right? Fortunately for me, I’ve had the opportunity to view it in all its glory. Yosemite is a beautiful, magnificent natural wonder. Even though the roads are real wiggly and the bus ride up to El Capitan (8,000 feet in the air) made my friends sick, it was well worth the ride.
During our visit to Yosemite there were two things that were special to me. The first was meeting a Buffalo Soldier names Moses Williams who was portrayed by Allen Payne. Both the stories of the Buffalo Soldiers and Payne’s own story were great to hear. Williams was a Buffalo Soldier in the 19th century who was responsible for protecting Yosemite National Park. In all, the soldiers protected 1,500 miles of the park on horseback. The man who played Williams, Allen Payne, is a college student from Houston, Texas who attends Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
We asked loads of questions about his Buffalo Soldier outfit and his horse. Mr. Payne explained to us the pecking order of the horses, something I did not know of; who knew a horse’s life was so interesting. The group learned many interesting facts from Mr. Payne, but what surprised most of us is that he was in college and that he worked three months out of the year in Yosemite; he also owned the horse he had with him.
The second most exciting moment that happened at Yosemite was standing at the foot of the great waterfall which was 2,700 feet high. Unfortunately when we came last year, the water was all dried up. The water was rising down like a giant shower and I just wanted to jump in and start washing, (just kidding). The waterfall was something you had to just see. We saw people playing on the rock in swimsuits and trunks. As we walked across the dirt road leaving behind that beautiful waterfall, we turned around and caught a glimpse of the lovely waterfall from beginning to end.
Going to Yosemite was fun and exciting; a great place to visit and explore. So the next time you want to go somewhere, Yosemite should be number one on your list.