Yosemite Institute instructors led families on walks throughout the park, and around the visitor center and museum. Beautiful weather enhanced stunning spring conditions, and participants saw their share of wildlife, churning rivers and misty waterfalls. Snow pack covered the forest floor at Crane Flat, where families stayed in dorm-style housing, warmed by wood-burning stoves. Several of the WildLink students' family members had never seen snow, and took full advantage of the snow-covered meadows.

Thank you to all of the WildLink families for sharing their great attitudes and wilderness perspectives with us. We hope that this will be the first of many visits to Yosemite in the years to come.

Bonus Recipe

In the spirit of a long-standing tradition of the WildLink Family Weekend, our participants share some of their favorite family recipes and the stories behind them. Read on to learn the story of Alejandro's mom's Corundas Michoacanas and how to make it!

Corundas Michoacanas

Who is in your family? Alejandro, Claudia, Martha and Santiago

Where does it come from? This is my mom's recipe. It is from Mexico.

What is the story behind this dish? This is a Mexican recipe that has a whole story behind it. It has been tied into our culture and our lives since we were born. This is a traditional recipe from Michoacan Mexico. Even thought we now don't eat this traditional food as often, we still remember how we used to eat it in family during Christmas time, thje new year or during any other special day. Most of all, this is a piece of our lives. This recipe will make 20-30 pieces.

Ingredients: 3 kilgrams of corn dough
2 cups of water
1 kilogram of pork fat/butter
10 teaspoons of baking powder
30 fresh corn leafs
mozzerella cheese
a bowl of chopped carrots, bell pepper and cilantro, all together (you can add any other vegetables if you want)
Salt to taste

Preparation: 1. Mix the corn dough with the baking powder, the pig fat/butter, salt and water. 2. Take a fresh corn leaf, from the wider side. Put a piece of corn dough at the end of the corn leaf and shape it into a small tortilla with your fingers. Now put some of the chopped vegtables and a piece of cheese and then cover it all up until you shape it to a ball. Using the rest of the corn leaf enfold the piece of corn dough and the final shape should be triangular. 3. Repeat the same exercise for the rest of the corn dough. 4. In the pot in which you're going to cook the "corundas" put some water about three inches high. And then boil it. 5. Once the water is ready put all the "corundas" inside, cover the pot, and cook it at a slow temperature. It whould be ready in about an hour or when the leaf comes easily off the "corunda".