Fall Break Excursions at the 5Cs: Plans Range from Vegas to Vino

As fall break approaches, 5C students have put on their thinking caps to plan the ideal four-day mid-semester vacation. Many students have exciting trips planned for fall break.

With Joshua Tree National Park and the San Gabriel Mountains so close to Claremont, camping and hiking are favorable fall break plans. There are several camping options and hiking trails that cater to both beginners and seasoned campers.

“I enjoy the outdoors, although I don’t often get the chance to go because of the demanding workload at Mudd,” said Danielle Nicholas HM ’14, who is a member of the HMC DeltaH, an outdoors organization. Nicholas is going on a camping trip with her friends this fall break. “We don’t really have anything [specific] planned out as far as I know. We’ll probably figure something out when we get there. It’s fun to just do things spontaneously,” she said.

Sze Wai Yuen CM ’12 is taking a wine-tasting trip to a winery in Temecula Valley, which is a couple of hours by car from Claremont. For the past year Yuen has been researching the portability of human capital of winemakers, or how the demand for a particular wine changes when veteran winemakers leave a winery.

“The summer before last, I spent months collecting data [from] wineries. Having spent that much time… [researching] over ten thousand wines, I have developed some interest in the subject,” Yuen said. Besides wine-tasting, Temecula Valley has a lot to offer to its visitors. “We will be horse-back riding, doing a wine tasting tour and a hot air balloon tour—hopefully during sunset,” Yuen said. Yuen is most looking forward to the hot air balloon tour: “They provide a food and wine basket on the hot air balloon. It will be really cool to dine and drink wine in the hot air balloon during sunset,” she said.

Las Vegas is often a destination for seniors, who usually reach the drinking and gambling age (according to the state of Nevada) by fall break of their fourth year. Andrew Jennings HM ’12, is planning a trip to Las Vegas with his friends for his last fall break in Claremont.

“Since everyone I’m going with is now 21, we all decided that Vegas was finally a worthwhile endeavor,” Jennings said. He lamented that his plan would be perfect if only he could “have all my friends who have other commitments there too, and to make it a week-long trip, even though I would definitely be broke by the end of it.”

According to Carolina Reyes HM ’14, for those not looking to take lengthy trips, concerts are a good option.

“I look at fall break as a time to get some rest and feel rejuvenated for the next half semester,” Reyes said. Reyes is going to the Foo Fighters concert on Friday at The Forum in Inglewood and to the Blue Scholars concert on Saturday at The Key Club in Hollywood.

“I really like going to concerts because the music sounds completely different live than when you listen to recorded music,” Reyes said.