Cats, Campfires, and Canyons
June 29, 2025
Having the opportunity to venture through the Balkans with a new group of people before graduating high school is truly a once in a lifetime trip. The excitement in the air is palpable. Everyone in our group understands the depth of this experience. They exit the plane with gleaming smiles and eyes ready to see the beauty of Eastern Europe. Our adventure begins!
Day 1:
Greetings from Montenegro! We are thrilled to have everyone here and kick off our 17 day adventure! Everyone arrived safely to Dubrovnik and ready to start our drive to Montenegro. The drive was full of groovy tunes, car games, and phenomenal vibes. This group’s energy and excitement couldn’t make us more thrilled. We stopped for dinner along the way and got to try out several Baltic classic dishes featuring Burak and Cevapi: a minced meat dish served with French fries. We hopped back on the road and before we knew it we were pulling into our first destination: Camp Grab! We had a wonderful first Moonup, our nightly reflection time, before getting a good night’s sleep.
Day 2
We were filled with excitement at the prospect of getting some extra sleep this morning. Everyone was feeling a bit more well rested this morning and hungry for breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit, sausage, and beignets. With the downtime we had this morning, we played some games and continued to get to know each other better. We played our favorite of psychiatrist followed by Don teaching us how to play Mr. Commissioner! Yates and Nate got out fairly early but were quick to call others out for strikes. Once Don got out, Grace became our new Mr. Commissioner. We continued playing games and even brought some cards too. It was so hot outside everyone was excited to get in the river, despite its cold temperatures. We brought our float down to the water and Lilly was the first one to jump in! Zyah and Allison lounged on the float while George jumped off the rock and into the water. We had a delicious lunch of grilled chicken and rice. After lunch, we were ready to raft and excited to get started. We drove to our put in spot and hopped into our respective boats: The black Pearl and The Flaming Hot Cheetos. Our journey was filled with laughs, games, and rapids! We had quite a few opportunities to jump in the water and splash the other boat. Before we knew it, we were back at Camp Grab pulling in our rafts. We then had some time to clean up and shower. The boys played some hacky sack and the girls played with the kittens up until our dinner of grilled pork, rice with red sauce and potatoes. It was getting late so we gathered by the campfire and our first Leaders of the Day, LODs, Lily and Baxter led us in Moonup. We love seeing how excited this group is and are thrilled to spend the next 16 days with them!
Day 3
Today we had a big day of rafting and exploring! We got up for breakfast and our LODs, Nate and Alison, led our morning huddle and got the group pumped for the day. We loaded up our wetsuits and hit the road on a beautiful scenic drive. We stopped for some photo ops and embraced the view. Marin and Zyah hiked up a nearby hill to get an even better view and a scenic picture. We continued our drive and stopped at a nearby market to grab some snacks. It wasn’t much later when we were enjoying our riverside lunch and loading up our boats. We couldn’t get enough of the views and had so much fun listening to music and playing games. Carter’s boat exchanged funny stories and Yates had the group dying laughing. We had some big splashes and even got to explore a big cave. After a long journey of rafting, we were excited to be back at camp and get showered. The boys played some hacky sack and Sage really got to show off his soccer skills. We had a lovely dinner of spaghetti, salad, and cheesy bread. We surprised Baxter with a birthday cake and sang him happy birthday for his 18th.
Day 4
After a restful night of sleep, the group was ready and excited for breakfast and the full day ahead. Today’s LODs, Alice and Henry, informed us of the day’s activities and got us started in some games. We played Mr. Commissioner followed by several rounds of Mafia, a classic Moondance game. Daly befriended a few of the cats at Camp Grab and had them snuggled up in his lap. George played some guitar for the group and taught Don some new songs. We then decided to play death sack, a fun game of hacky sack where someone gets out by getting hit with the ball. Sage won MVP and was everyone’s top pick at winning. Grace was the last girl in and advanced her skills by the end of the game. Before we knew it, it was lunch and time to raft down the Tara River. Marin told her group some riddles that passed the time! When we got to an awesome cliff jumping spot, Alice and Grace excitedly hopped off the raft and laughed the entire jump down! We continued making our way down the river and stopped to explore a cool waterfall. Daly was one of the first boys to splash into the freezing cold water, motivating the rest of the group to follow suit. Although today’s rafting adventure was shorter, we had so much fun and inside jokes by the end. We got back to camp, showered and hung out before having our last dinner at Camp Grab. The group loved Mafia so much earlier, they insisted on playing it again before Moonup. Henry was by far our best Mafia and fooled the entire group into believing he was innocent! He had us all dying laughing by the end of the game then he led us into our last Camp Grab Moonup. We have loved the last few days of rafting and our sad to be leaving Camp Grab but excited for the days to come!
Shoutouts:
Hey mom and dad! I’m having sooo much fun on this trip it’s already better than last year. We’re on our way to go hiking now, and I miss you both so much! I love you both and tell Amara and Alesia I miss them too! – Zyah
Hey mom and dad, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to go on this trip, I am having more and more fun each day. Love you and miss you! – Henry
Hi mom and dad! Just wrapped up white water rafting in Montenegro. Tara River canyon, look it up it was insane. The water was crystal clear and you could drink it. Our group is great and everyone is getting along well. Also my leaders are the best. Don had met Di and Papoo and is super chill. Reminded me of Montana. George claims that he is a cat person now even though he’s allergic to cats. Seeing Europe has been so cool. I’ve been surprised by all the different cars here. There are so many brands here that I never knew existed. We are about to start hiking which I feel very prepared for because of wilderness. I love y’all so much! -Nate
Hey mom and dad. This has been an amazing trip and I’m very thankful for you letting me go with such a busy schedule. I’ve had a really good time meeting all the people and our group has been great. I think I’m starting to like cats as well due to our campsite having a massive cat population. I hope that dad has a great birthday and I’m sad I cannot be there. Love y’all! -Baxter
Hey Mom Dad John and William, this has been freaking awesome. It is by far the most beautiful place I’ve ever been and we just got done rafting for 3 days and it was the clearest water I’ve ever seen. The whole time I was seeing trout swimming around and all I could think about is how much y’all would love to be here and fish and hang out. All the people I’m with are really cool too and we’re already all really close. The food has been really good too and the first place we stayed was really cool. They had all these kittens running around and we named all of them and hung out with them a lot and I actually kinda like cats now. It’s already been an unforgettable experience but I miss y’all a lot and love y’all. Hope things are great at home! -George
Hey mom and dad thanks for sending me on this trip. we’re heading to Albania right now for our hiking part of the trip. I’m having a great time and have a really good group love you guys and miss you can’t wait to see you -Sage
Hey mom and dad, thanks so much for letting me go on this trip! I’m having lots of fun. We just finished rafting in Montenegro and are now going to Albania got trekking. The last few days have been great and had unbelievable views while rafting. The camp we’ve been staying at has so many dogs and cats running around I really thought about trying to take one home. I’m having lots of fun and am really excited for the rest of the trip! -Daly
Hiii mom and dad, I’m having the best time on the trip. Group is so good!! I miss y’all bunches. So far we have done white water rafting which was so gorgeous and fun! The water was absolutely freezing. Now we are going to start trekking which is going to be so fun. Thank you guys so much I love y’all. -Marin
Hey y’all!! This trip is so insane and awesome!! We just stayed at Camp Grab in Montenegro to white water raft and now we are driving to Albania to trek for three days. The weather has been super nice and the water is SO clear and beautiful. The food is delicious and there was a bunch of cats running around the hostel which was super cute (not as cute as beans). The rafting was so fun awesome and can’t wait for what’s next! Love and miss y’all a lot!! Hope Randall had an awesome bday! -Alison
Hey mom and dad! I’m having so much fun! The group is so awesome and I’ve made so many new friends. We are driving to our next hostel now. Rafting was so cool and the water was so pretty. We jumped off a ton of high rocks and went in freezing water and it was so fun! The food is great and we’ve seen so many cute cats. I hope Eloise is having fun on Big Wild and everything is going well! I love y’all so much! -Alice
Heyy Mom and Dad and J!! I’m having soooo much fun :)) hope you guys are too! We had epic rafting and the water is very Mamma Mia! There was this cool cliff jump that I did and it was definitely a highlight for sure. I am having so much fun time is FLYING by!! Love you guys -Grace
HIII! I miss y’all so much!! I am having the best time! It is insanely beautiful here the water is crystal clear!! We have been rafting for the past days and it’s been awesome! We are starting trekking tomorrow! The trip is going by so fast! I love my group and leaders there great and we’re all getting so close! I love y’all so much! Tell everyone hey!! Love y’all! -Lilly
Hey, miss y’all a lot but I’m having a lot of fun. Met some good people and love the leaders. The rafting that we’ve been doing has been awesome and the views are incredible. Love y’all and can’t wait to get back to see you and go to the beach. -Yates
Safe Arrival!
June 25, 2025
Hello Albania, Montenegro + Greece Families!
We heard from our leaders this morning that the group has landed safely in Dubrovnik! The group is so excited to start their journey together!
Please remember our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next week! 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
