Big Wild Adventures!
June 17, 2026
Hey Moondance Families!
The Wild West has met its match with BGW 2A! Through a long arrival day, the group immediately revealed their positive attitudes and became quick friends in the process! We cannot discuss our restless day spent in the airport without a shoutout to Grady and Ceil, who were deemed our airport warriors for their longest stays in JAC. After we left the airport, the kids bonded over pizza while experiencing the beauty of The Grand Tetons, which were in perfect view from our campsite.
With the sunrise, our group was up on day 2 and headed to our first day of rock climbing in The Grand Tetons! Our wonderful guides showed us around the beautiful park and it’s one of a kind climbing routes. Almost immediately in our first instruction, Watts was crowned the role of the rock climbing prodigy of our group for his unbelievable speed in getting up the walls. We practiced proper climbing form, learned knots, and got to try rappelling down the natural rock walls. After an amazing day learning the ropes of rock climbing (pun intended), our group decided to make our way to String Lake for a cold plunge. Mac showed off his swimming skills by somehow reaching a boulder far out into the lake. Although Sylvie was nervous about the cold water at first, she was an absolute champ once she got in and was encouraging the rest of the group to follow suit! While relaxing on the beach, the group created a playlist and we were thoroughly impressed by their taste in music. Ellie showed her expertise on old music, particularly in her affinity for Fleetwood Mac. For dinner, our wonderful first Leaders of the Day (LODs), Grady and Ceil, cooked up some spaghetti and meatballs and led the group through a thoughtful Moonup!
The next day was our second day of climbing, where the group was led through a series of 300ft multi-pitch climbing routes. Coming in a day late to the trip, Jane established herself as a natural rock climber which was even noticed by our guide! Once we all reached the top of the rocks, we ate lunch with the most amazing view of The Grand Tetons and then got to rappell over a cave! After completing our rock climbing, we went back to the lake where, this time, we all followed Mac to the far out boulder. Alena and Vivi Cate somehow convinced a fellow lake goer to give them a ride on her paddle board from the rock back to shore! Our LODs, Emily and Charles, aka ‘Crawfish’, were excellent leaders and helped out at any chance they could! For dinner, they cheffed up some burgers and then led us through a meaningful Moonup!
Day 3 was spent driving into Idaho to start our fly fishing and rafting adventure. We could not have been more impressed with everyone’s positive attitudes with the long drive! The day was filled with laughter, excitement over the special treat of fast food and good music! After a long day road tripping, the next day we began our highly anticipated fly fishing activity. In the morning, our guides led us through instruction. William was instantly a fly fishing stand-out and was even providing assistance to the rest of the group! In the afternoon, we went to the salmon river to fly fish. Although the group didn’t end up catching anything, we had a blast relaxing by the river!
We are now en route to begin our 4 day overnight white water rafting adventure and could not be more excited! This group has been nothing short of wonderful and our week has been filled with laughter (we seriously are all sore from laughing). We are so happy and grateful for our time spent with these kids and are so excited for more adventures to come!
Best,
CeCe and Wade
Shout outs:
Charles- Hi mom and dad Idaho amazing like the best place you could amazing. Shout out Wade and Steve eager and friends . But I’m having a great time with these boys they are great.
Mac-Hey mom and dad it is amazing in Idaho. I have made tons of new friends I love you
Grady- Hey mom and dad. I found out that I am 6 foot three now. It’s pretty sick. I LOVE Boise Idaho so much because there are so many car factories and potato farms. Shoutout Wade Stansberry, Clemson Tigers, Jack Links, Ram Trucks, Google maps, Steve Eager and GREENVILLE SC!
WATTS-Hey mom and dad, RAM 1500, TOYOTA TACOMA, and FORD F150. Moondance has been pretty fun so far. We are currently in Idaho and are about to go rafting but all we can really see is farms. One good thing is the song GREENVILLE by Steve eager and friends you should listen to it. Shout out Wade👌📠
William-What’s up pops and ma, I’m having a lot of fun. We’ve listened to some hyp songs like Greenville by Steve Eager and friends. Also shout out Wade.
Jane- Hi mom and dad! I am having so much fun and have seen so much cool stuff. In Wyoming I saw 2 moose and I saw a mountain goat. Yesterday we went fly fishing and no one caught anything but it was still fun. We are on the way to white water rafting trip right now for 4 days and I remember when we went in Colorado so I’m excited. Love you!
Emily- Hi mom and dad! I am having so much fun and it has been so cool to do all of this stuff! Everyone is so fun and nice and I have been laughing so hard about literally the most random things. We just went fly fishing and about to go rafting on the salmon river Thank you all so much for this trip! Love y’all!!
Vivi- Hey Mom and DJ, I’m having the best time ever!! I have like the best group I could ever ask for. Alena has been SOOO fun. We have really good and fun counselors. We went rock climbing and fly fishing and I loved all of it. We’re abt to go rafting for 4 days!! Miss y’all little but not much and love you lots! Thank you sooo much this is SOOOO FUN AND IM OBSESSED
Ceil- Hey Mom, Dad, and Hudson! I am having such a fun time and have made lots of new friends. We rock climbed, fly fished, and are about to go on our rafting trip, and overpacking isn’t a problem. Everything is SO fun and I have loved everything and the people. Love y’all so much!
Sylvie- Hi mom and dad! I have been having SOOOO much fun! We went rock climbing, fly fishing, and we’re about to go rafting. Jackson Hole was so pretty!
Thank you so much for sending me on this trip I have loved it so much and everyone’s so nice! Love and miss y’all!
Alena- Hi mom and dad, I’m having so much fun with the group. We have went fishing, climbing and we are about to do so much more. Thank you so much for sending me to this trip, miss and love y’all lots.
Ellie- Hey mom and dad, I’m having the best time and we have done so many fun new things! Jackson Hole is so pretty and cool, y’all should come check it out some time. I love and miss you guys so much and can’t can’t to see yall!
Safe Arrival in Jackson Hole!
June 13, 2026
Hello Big Wild Families!
We heard from our leaders this morning that the group has landed safely in Jackson! 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 trip, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next week! You can also follow us on Instagram, @moondanceadventures, to see more of what we are up to!
-Moondance HQ
