Final Update from PNW!
July 27, 2024
Hello Moondance!
These last few days in the PNW have been a mixture of laughs, tears, and hugs while reminiscing over our special three weeks spent together. As sad as we are to see the last plane take off this afternoon, we feel incredibly grateful to have been able to take care of these special children this summer. We are so proud of how far they have come since day one and are inspired by this awesome and wonderful group of kids. Each kid was extremely intentional inbuilding a community full of love, support, silliness, and confidence that enabled everyone to betheir authentic and best selves. With acceptance and compassion, these past three weeks were truly unforgettable.
After conquering the daunting Monkey’s Face at Smith Rock, we drove back to Washington. For dinner we feasted on Italian sausages with sautéed veggies. After a special Moonup recounting impactful moments from the trip, we all hit the hay early in preparation for our final day tomorrow. We cowboy camped together for one last time under the stars and slept soundly.
We started our final day by celebrating Vivian’s 15th birthday with breakfast burritos and chocolate milk. We spent the next two hours doing what every kid wants to do on their birthday, clean! With fun music and good company, we were able to organize and clean all of our gear. We formed such strong bonds over the trip that any activity we did together was a blast. Shortly afterward, we headed to our final campground closer to Seattle and ate Nutella sandwiches for lunch. The kids were given the opportunity to reflect on their trip by completing evaluations and writing letters to themselves that Moondance will send to them later in the year. We hope they will help remind the kids of the special memories they made this summer and ways to implement what they learned into life at home. After completing the letters, we hopped into the van and went to Goodwill to buy fun outfits for our banquet dinner, a Moondance tradition. We ate at a local burger shop decked out in funky flannels, homecoming dresses, ski masks and goggles. After a delicious dinner we headed back to camp for our final Moonup, but not until we sang happy birthday to Vivian and surprised her and Lila, who had a birthday earlier on the trip, with cupcakes.
Our final Moonup was two and a half hours of pure appreciation and love. We opened up the nug mug and gave everyone personal nugs that highlighted everyone’s individuality and uniqueness. We reflected on what we learned from the trip and what we wanted to take home, and ended Moonup with a long and warm group hug. It was the perfect way to end a perfectthree weeks. Despite the teary eyed goodbyes, we know the memories and deep relationships formed during this session will last forever. Thank you again for sharing your kids with us andentrusting us to guide them. We hope that someday they will be telling their own kids about this trip and can pass along all of the valuable lessons learned.
Love,
Ellie and Porter
Final Update from PNW!
July 26, 2024
Well, hello again Moondance!
Life is oh so sweet out here in the PNW as we wrap up our summer. The past week has brought us from raging whitewater in southern Washington to high desert and massive cliffs in central Oregon. Let’s get y’all up to speed on our adventures.
Jim welcomed us to Tipi Camp with arms wide open, asking the kiddos to tell him all about our adventures. He used to be an outfitter in Alaska, so we were lucky to hear about some of his stories of life in the Yukon. The next morning, we woke up early to go whitewater kayaking on the Klickitat River. After learning some whitewater paddle strokes and safety from our guides, we launched our boats and spent the day cruising down class II and class III rapids. Our group crushed, with zero flips going down Ishi Pishi! Our outfitter told us that we were the first group of the season to have no flips over the rapid, so we had to celebrate. Once we helped load up the boats on the trailer, we headed into Hood River for an ice cream stop! After cooling off with ice cream in the shade, we went to the grocery and picked out steaks for dinner back at Tipi camp. Once back at camp, we fired up the grill and laid some New York strips down. Lee learned more about proper grilling technique while everyone else helped with making pesto couscous and a big salad. We enjoyed our steaks and recounted our awesome day of kayaking.
The next morning was one of our only lazy ones of the trip. We were able to sleep in and enjoy a brunch of French toast and bacon on the deck of Jim’s cooking shack. In the afternoon, we loaded up into the van and made our way down to the Wind River, where we met up with our guides, Justin and August, for an afternoon of paddle boarding. We put in at the confluence of the Wind and Columbia Rivers and paddled up the aquifer-fed water of the Wind, making sure to play bumper boats and cool off in the river. We saw bald eagles, ospreys, and belted kingfishers on the way up, as Porter, the resident bird nerd, was happy to point out. Melanie showed off her headstand on her board and encouraged the rest of the group to try some poses while on the water. Once we made it up to the turnaround point, we all skipped rocks and played king of the board in the water. We got off the water in time to make an early dinner of chicken pad thai and take a walk through the woods behind Tipi Camp. Once we returned to camp, we settled in for Ellie’s favorite game, silent football. Hilarity ensued. We went to bed early to get some good sleep before our whitewater section’s main event, an all-day rafting section of the White Salmon River.
Our crew was up early for our day on the White Salmon. After a quick breakfast and a sad goodbye to Jim and Tipi Camp, we met our guides for the rafting trip and got geared up with wetsuits, PFDs, helmets, and paddles. The kiddos split into two rafts before hopping on the river. The Upper section was full of spicy whitewater. Within 30 minutes, we had gone over three class IV rapids with huge rollercoaster waves. Maddie and Vivian took charge of one of the boats, taking the front row. They set the paddling pace for everyone and took big waves like champs. On the other boat, Fritz and Charlie took charge, and they even “rode the bull” down one of our class III rapids. One of our portages included a scramble up the bank and a cliff jump to get back to the boats, which got everyone fired up. Both Moondance rafts were well-oiled machines, with everyone paddling in unison to safely get through all the rapids. Halfway through the river day, we pulled over on the bank for a lunch of fajita wraps before floating down the more mellow Lower section. We enjoyed some geological interpretation of the river and rocks around us from our guides and floated through the Narrows, an impressive slot canyon of basalt before paddling to our takeout. After changing out of wetsuits and PFDs back at the whitewater base, we hopped back in the van to travel down to Smith Rock State Park in central Oregon to begin our climbing section. We watched the sunset just as we pulled into our campsite under the red rock cliffs. Now in the high desert and away from rainclouds, we ditched the tents to sleep out under the stars.
We woke up early again for our first day of climbing to beat the desert heat. After meeting our guides and getting suited up in harnesses, climbing shoes, and helmets, we took a short hike to a basalt cliff where we would climb for the day. Once everyone learned the basics of belaying and tying into our harnesses, we were off to scale our climbing routes! Despite it being most people’s first time climbing, everyone crushed and improved their form throughout the day. We finished up when the wall got too warm to climb on and our shade disappeared. We decided there was no better way to cool off in the 97-degree heat than going to swim at the nearby Steelhead Falls. At Steelhead, we went to a great cliff jumping spot for an aerial entry into the Deschutes River. After everyone felt sufficiently refreshed, we headed back to Smith Rock for a dinner of burritos with chips, salsa, and queso. We were pretty tuckered out from a day of activity in the heat, but we made sure to stay up and appreciate an incredible view of the night sky away from the light pollution of big cities.
We upped the ante during our second day of climbing, taking a longer hike across Crooked River to a more challenging cliff, Student Wall. The climbing grades were harder today, but everyone climbed like champs. Leila was a natural on the wall, fearlessly going up 50-foot climbs like it was a walk in the park. We also set up an 80-foot rappel to practice for our massive day on Monkey’s Face the next day. After getting reps on the rappel, we climbed for a few more hours, with Charlie getting up a 5.10a (really challenging) route. Once our forearms were too pumped out to climb, we loaded up in the van for a town day in Bend! We roamed around and found some swag to rep for the last few days of the trip before going down to the banks of the Deschutes to cool off and swim. After our quick dip in the freezing water, we took a local food stop at a food truck plaza to celebrate our climbing accomplishments and our only day in town during the trip. We returned to camp and designed custom shirts with fabric markers for our big day on Monkey’s Face! Everyone signed each other’s like a yearbook before our last day of activities.
Day 19. Monkey’s Face awaited our group. At 5:30, we woke up and packed our backpacks with climbing gear, made some bagels and cream cheese, and started on our mile-and-a-half, straight uphill hike to our climbing spot for the day. We met our guides around 7:15 and saw what we were about to do. In front of us, Monkey’s Face stood like a several-hundred-foot pillar separated from us by about 50 feet of air. We would be taking an open traverse on a rope across to the “mouth of the Monkey” before climbing up to its Nose. After that, we would rappel down the nearly 200 feet to the ground below. Wow. We got hype and locked in for climbing on a sheer cliff way up in the air. Henry led the charge on the Monkey, going first and crushing the traverse, climb, and rappel. Everyone followed suit, having an incredible morning of climbing and rappelling. Cora and Lila both conquered their fear of heights on the Monkey, doing the traverse, climb, and rappel as if they had done it hundreds of times before. Several of the kiddos said this last day of activities was one of the craziest things they’ve ever done. We finished the fastest the guides had ever seen for a group our size, a testament to how well everyone climbed despite the heights. We celebrated our last activity of the trip by stopping at a local ice cream shop on our way out of Smith Rock. We hit the road triumphant, blaring tunes and laughing all the way back to Washington.
We are all sad for our trip to be coming to a close, but we have been feeling very lucky for this opportunity to meet new people, see new places, and chase adventure in the PNW the past three weeks. Here are some thank you’s from the kiddos:
Maddie: Dear Mom and Dad, thank you very much for sending me here. It’s been so fun! Please bring me Zaxby’s tomorrow, love you!
Fritz: Yo, how we doin’! Out here in the middle of nowhere, it’s pretty cool and has been an awesome possum experience. Super excited to see you guys and don’t forget my Birkenstocks!
Henry: Hey Mom and Dad! The trip was awesome, thank you so much. Please bring my Crocs and co, love you!
Lila: Hi guys! I’ve missed you all so much and I can’t wait to see you! I am so grateful that you let me come on this trip, it has been so much fun and I am so sad that it’s coming to an end. See you tomorrow!
Vivian: Dear Mom and Dad, I’m having a great birthday with my friends. Can’t wait to see you tomorrow, love you!
Leila: Hi Mom and Dad! I can’t wait to see you tomorrow and I miss you all so much. Thank you so much for letting me come on this trip. I’ve had a great time and I love you guys!
Lee: Hi Mom and Dad! Thank you so much for sending me on this trip. It was crazy and really really fun. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!
Cora: Hey peeps! I’ve had the most fun I’ve ever had on this trip. I love all the new friends I’ve made and my counselors and can’t wait to see you guys (even though I’m sad it’s almost over). Thank you so so much for sending me on this trip, it was such a wonderful experience! Love you.
Melanie: Hi guys! I’ve missed you all so much. I am really excited to see you all again, get ready to hear all my stories!
Charlie: Hi Mom and Dad! I’ve had so much fun on this trip, thank you so much for sending me here. I’ll never forget this, and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow!
Stay tuned for a final update once everyone has taken off safe and sound tomorrow from SeaTac. Until then, we will be soaking up every last moment of our adventure.
Yours,
Porter & Ellie
Shenanigans' in the Backcountry
July 19, 2024
Well, hello again Moondance family and friends!
Since you’ve last heard from us, we have spent 6 days in the backcountry, hiked 40 miles, and taken in some once-in-a-lifetime views in the North Cascades National Park. We had Moonups that brought us to tears, made us laugh, and allowed us to ponder how lucky we are to have the opportunity to drop everything and get outside for three weeks at a time. Between mornings on mountain tops and evenings in camp, our group of 12 fully became a family.
Despite ferry repairs delaying our departure from San Juan Island, our crew kept spirits high by hosting an impromptu dance party with the ferry workers and hackey sacking while we waited for departure. We arrived at our camp in the evening later than expected, but the kiddos jumped to help cook grilled cheese and tomato soup with Ellie and stage group gear for the backpacking trip with Porter. We only put essentials into our backpacks. Deodorant was ditched, one change of clothes was packed, and toiletries included toothbrush and toothpaste. We prepared to get dirty and take creek baths to wash off the grime. Everyone bought into getting weird in the woods and went to sleep pumped for the next day when we would finally get to the backcountry.
We woke up early the next morning, packed our final few things into packs, and loaded up in the van to head towards backpacking. Our first backpacking LODs, Lee and Leila, hyped everyone up at the trailhead and showed the rest of the crew our route for the day. After a quick mile down to the shore, we met our water taxis that ferried us across the lake to our official start of our time in the backcountry. After the sound of the boats that dropped us off faded away, we took in the vast landscape. Far away from roads and houses, there were no signs of civilization as far as the eye could see. First, we made a brunch of sausage and peanut butter jelly wraps after everyone learned the basics of cooking on a Whisperlite stove. Then we set off on our journey. We arrived to camp early in the afternoon, allowing us time to learn important backcountry skills and lessons like water treatment and Leave No Trace. After getting tents pitched and camp in order, we scrambled a quarter mile down from our campsite where we found a beautiful cove that we had all to ourselves. We swam and lizarded out on the warm rocks before going back to camp for dinner. It was our first of many swims on the trip. We adopted a rule that day: “If you see a body of water, put that body in that water!” Once we got back to camp, we divided into two cook groups and the kiddos put their Whisperlite lessons to use in making themselves mac and cheese for dinner.
The next morning, some loaded hashbrowns got everyone fueled up for another relatively short day of hiking. Again, we hiked early to avoid the heat, getting to camp around midday. Lee rekindled his love for Nature Valley bars dipped into peanut butter and Melanie discovered that jambalaya is, in fact, a great Cajun dish. The group all swam together in the lake while Ellie, Fritz, Lee, and Charlie made up a wild game of human water fountain. Ask them about it when you see them. We went to bed before the sun went down to prepare for the alpine start up Desolation Peak at midnight.
Day 3 in the backcountry started exactly at 12:00AM. Today was the big one––the main course. Ellie and Porter woke everyone up with a shake of the tent, some happy dances, and inspirational poetry. We were on the trail by 12:45, picking ‘em up and putting ‘em down. Our fearless LODs, Fritz and Cora, charged up the mountain, with Cora being especially inspirational to her fellow Moondancers. 6.8 miles and 4,500’ of elevation flew by, and we summitted the peak at 5:40AM, just after sunrise. The view from the top of Desolation was breathtaking, with 360-degree views of the Cascades around us. Henry couldn’t stop smiling and told everyone that this was at least a top 5,000 day (he then said it was a top 3 day ever). We found the secret toilet up top, ate some snacks, soaked up the sun as it rose over glacial peaks in the distance, and caught some catnaps before descending back to camp. Once returning to camp, everyone cooled off in the lake before a sprinkle-filled pancake brunch. Books were brought out and everyone took an easy afternoon in the shade, proud of achieving something way outside their comfort zones. Ellie led the charge for dinner of chicken enchiladas with the help of Melanie and Charlie. Lee faced his fear of chicken juice. We had a downright excellent Moonup down by the shore, taking time to appreciate the challenge of Desolation and the gift that is a Moondance trip. We closed Moonup with a spontaneous night swim.
Next morning, we woke up with a cold plunge before eating oatmeal in the sun. Today was no cake walk, however, Maddie served as an excellent hype-woman for her peers by encouraging everyone up an uphill 6.7-mile section of trail. Lila was a huge advocate of playing wavelength on the trail, which everyone quickly grew to love. We wrapped around the backside of Desolation, getting into a totally different type of woods. Moss grew everywhere, and the ferns and thick Douglas firs, Western red cedars, and Western hemlocks made the second half of our hike resemble a stroll through an enchanted forest. We had lunch in a lovely campsite on the trail before finishing our day by reaching our camping destination. Leila (and everyone else) faced their fears of getting into 30-something-degree water. Henry set a record of being under for 20 seconds, impressing everyone. We finished the night with a Moonup that included everyone giving birthday wishes for Lila.
Day 5 in the backcountry marked our last full day of backpacking. We woke up at the crack of dawn with the goal of arriving at the famous Hozomeen Lake with most of the day to play around in the water. On our way, we took a “monk walk” where everyone hiked a minute apart from each other. During this time away from the group, we were all able to take in the sights and sounds of the forest as a backdrop to our musings and thoughts about our time spent trekking in the North Cascades. We achieved our goal, arriving to Hozomeen around noon. A mating pair of Common loons greeted us as we reached the pristine, blue water, which we were all quick to jump in. We made ramen under the gaze of Mount Hozomeen, laughing our rear ends off as one by one we all became feral. We embraced the mantra of getting weird in the woods for one last time. We hung by and in the water the rest of the afternoon and got the chance to talk to a British Columbia park ranger, AJ, who was hiking to the lake that day. She gave us great natural history of the area and gifted us some fresh cherries before heading back down to her station. For our final dinner in the backcountry, we made pita pizza. Charlie lost “what are the odds” to Henry and had to eat the rest of the leftover pepperoni (ask him about it). Tonight, everyone ditched the tents to cowboy camp under the stars together, taking the time to discuss rose, buds, and thorns of the day.
Our final day of backpacking was a whirlwind. We woke up early and flew down the 4 miles of trail to our water taxi pickup spot. Some of the group spotted a female black bear with her two cubs on the way down! Special stuff. We then took a detour to sneak over the border in the Canada, where AJ happened to see us walking by her station. She took us to one of the obelisks marking the international boundary made during the Treaty of 1848 and showed us the physical border, marked by a 20-foot-wide logged line across the forest. Pretty cool, eh? The first water taxi took half the group, but the second group wanted to say goodbye properly by taking a nice cliff jump into the water. Vivian fearlessly lept off a 20-foot (but extremely safe!!) jump and came up with a huge smile. Once everyone was ferried back to our starting point, we finished the last mile of our trip and loaded up into the van. We drove out of the park, making a pitstop at Cascade Burgers, the best hole-in-the-wall burger dive we’ve ever been to. We celebrated our week of backpacking with milkshakes, burgers, corndogs, onion rings, fries…pretty much the entire menu. After sufficiently celebrating with food, we got back in the van and continued celebrating with our return to music. Dance parties and singalongs ensued, and soon enough we were at our camp. Once we unpacked our gear, we headed down to the river to take a cold plunge in the aquamarine water before taking a hot shower. We made quesadillas for dinner and sat in a circle listening to music before Moonup and an early bedtime.
Yesterday, we had a big travel day down to southern Washington as we prepared for our next section of whitewater activities. The Red Hot Chili Peppers reigned supreme alongside Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin for our soundtrack. We stopped in Eatonville for a parking lot picnic under an incredible view of Mount Ranier. Next, we drove through Gifford Pinchot National Forest on some crazy gravel roads before arriving at our next campsite. Our camp host, Jim, is delightful; ask your kids about him and his stories.
Today, we begin our whitewater section of the trip. Most Moondance trips are two weeks. That means we are now in bonus time. All the kids had this realization last night and recommitted themselves to soaking up an extra 7 days to get even closer, romp outside even harder, and push themselves to new limits. We leaders are so proud of their maturity, gutsiness, and comradery that they have developed over the last two weeks. These memories will follow them for a lifetime. Thanks for entrusting your kids into our hands, especially in the backcountry for nearly a week. We hope you’ve enjoyed catching up with our adventures!
Until next time,
Porter & Ellie
Update from Pacific Northwest!
July 17, 2024
Hello Moondance!
We are writing to you from San Juan Island, fresh off 3 days out on the Salish Sea kayaking and camping! Since airport day, we’ve been adventuring our tails off. We’re excited to get you up to speed with everything we’ve been doing!
On airport day, we traveled northwards to Bayview State Park situated on the coast of the Pacific. Once we set up tents and learned some basics of camping in the front country, everyone went down to the water for a cold dip and an epic hour-long seaweed war. Everyone got in on the action, slinging algae on each other until we learned the art of diplomacy, creating the great algae truce of PNW. We dried off and had Moonup, where Ellie and Porter introduced Moonup to your kiddos. Moonup is one of our most special traditions here at Moondance. We sit in a circle and student leaders guide us in a meeting to learn more about ourselves and each other. We also take time to appreciate special moments from our day during the daily nug jug. Ellie and Porter wore funky costumes to tell the first nug jug story, which has become one of the kids’ favorite parts of the day in the time since. We watched the sunset over the ocean then headed up to camp for an early night.
Our first full day of the trip was full of travel. We took an early morning ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to San Juan Island for our sea kayaking section. We arrived on the island and met our guides to gear up for the next several days on the water, but made sure to take the time to play some cards and have a nice picnic lunch in the shade before setting up camp at Lakedale, which is situated on a beautiful little lake smack dab in the center of the island. We swam and soaked in the sun before making loaded quesadillas for dinner. Lee and Maddie set an excellent example while leading Moonup as the first two Leaders of the Day (LODs). Everybody opted to ditch tents that night, instead sleeping out under the stars on the eve of the first activity.
The next day, we took a lazy morning in camp to make breakfast burritos and do last minute packing for kayaking. While we waited for the tide to change in our favor, everybody took a lovely little hike up to the island’s highest viewpoint at English Camp, soaking in views of the San Juans, the Olympic mountain range, and Canada. Once we made our way back down to the trailhead, we loaded up and made our way to Roche Harbor to launch our kayaks. We took a short paddle out to Posey Island, one of Washington’s smallest state parks, for lunch. After lunch, we set off for Jones Island, our campsite for the next two nights. Vivian led by example with great paddling and steering technique on the kayaks. During the paddle, we traded riddles, and Maddie learned what can and cannot go through the green glass door. After a couple hours, we made landfall. Lee fell in love with hackey sack that afternoon, and we all played for a while before dinner of tacos. After dinner, our guides, Cato and Chance, surprised us with brownies as they joined us at Moonup. After Moonup by the water, Charlie jumped into the water to enjoy a nice polar plunge. We stayed up late and caught some spectacular bioluminescence off the shore, using paddles to make the water light up around us.
Our second day of sea kayaking was eventful, both on land and sea. Our guides made us an “adult breakfast” of eggs with pesto, roasted tomatoes, spinach, goat cheese, and ciabatta. Everything was promptly devoured, barring the goat cheese. After fueling up for the day, we got on the water and headed towards Orcas Island. The water was glassy and everyone crushed the paddle. Everyone tried tasting the bull kelp that grows in the water just off the coast. We stopped for lunch of pulled pork on Orcas and grabbed ice cream at a local shop before heading back to Jones. On the way back, we paddled past tidal coastlines lined with sea stars, jellyfish, and multitudes of minnows. A massive splashing war broke out between boats, cooling everyone off from the sun beating down. Fritz was a daring madman during the war, using his newly found skills on the rudder to bombard his enemies while Melanie splashed everyone from the front of her boat. After the splashing subsided, we took a big channel crossing back to Jones, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Cards were played, stories were traded, and Cora rhymed words for hours. After a big pesto pasta dinner, we had a fire and roasted smores before taking a sunset hike around the island. Once we found the nicest spot to watch the sunset, we circled up for Moonup as the sun dipped over the horizon. We all sat in silence for a while, appreciating our last night on the island before heading back to San Juan the next day.
Another early morning allowed us the opportunity to get on the water before it got really warm. By our third day of kayaking, everyone was super comfortable with their boats, so we cruised our way back to Roche Harbor. Leila and Lila crushed their paddle, ferrying across a strong rip current like pros. We admired some squawky oystercatcher birds lining the coast before turning the corner into harbor. After doing the duffel shuffle onshore, we headed back to Lakedale to cool off in the lake and let our accomplishments on the water sink in. Lots of people caught up on their summer reading while others took a well-deserved rest in the shade. To celebrate our kayaking section, the crew headed into town for a seafood dinner. Sitting around the table, it became apparent to us leaders how quickly everyone has gotten comfortable and close with one another. We went back to camp before it got super dark and held a particularly impactful Moonup by the lake shore. Henry practiced his acrobatics down a steep hill and everyone decided to jump around like monkeys before ending our night, and time on San Juan, with a big group hug.
Today, we departed San Juan Island for the North Cascades National Park. We are trading sandals for hiking boots and dry bags for backpacks. Everyone is stoked to get on trail and continue being weird in the woods!
Until next time,
Porter and Ellie
Shoutouts!
Lee: Thank you so much for sending me on this trip. I have made a ton of awesome friends. I can’t wait to tell y’all all about it.
Lila: Hey guys, I’m having the best time ever! I’ve made tons of friends and seen some really awesome sights. Miss and love y’all! Please bring Buck in the car when I see you next!
Fritz: What’s good (my parentals). I am having a blast (finger point). I miss my room, but I’m having a great time. Please bring my Birks to Hawaii.
Cora: Hi guys! I miss y’all a lot, but I’m having so much fun. I hope Charlie had fun at camp! There are so many cool places I’ve seen! Thanks for sending me on Moondance, can’t wait to see you soon!
Charlie: Hey Mom and Dad, I’m having such a fun time in the PNW! I’ve made some great friends. Thanks for sending me here!
Vivian: Hey guys, I’m having a great time, and the people are great! Miss you and love you.
Maddie: I miss you guys! Thanks for sending me on Moondance!
Leila: Hey guys, missing y’all but I’m having so much fun. I’ve made so many good friends and seen some awesome stuff.
Melanie: Miss y’all. Having a super great time and can’t wait to see y’all soon!
Henry: Football is coming home. Love you guys!
Safe arrival in Seattle!
July 6, 2024
Hello Pacific Northwest Families!
We heard from our leaders this afternoon that the group has landed safely in Seattle and are headed to their first campsite! The trip is off to a great start, and we cannot wait to hear more stories from their adventure!
Please remember our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next two weeks! This will allow you to follow along with the trip. You can also follow us on Instagram, @moondanceadventures, to see more of what we are up to!
-Moondance HQ
