Balabanova All Over
#TakeYourTimeOff
About Nadya
Hi there! I am so glad you found me! My mission is to empower you to #TakeYourTimeOff and explore the world. I started this blog as a way to keep family and friends in the loop when I went on a 3-week trip to Asia in 2011. Although I’ve always enjoyed traveling, it wasn’t until a trip to Peru in 2012 that I started to think about ways to make travel a… Read More
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Top Posts
[Acadia National Park, Sep 23, 2024] For our second day in the park, I had two trails on the docket. I also hoped to make it to Jordan Pond House right as it opened at 11 am so we could have their famous popovers! This was an experience I didn’t want to miss, but it was a headache planning the hikes around that time and location. The two hikes I wanted to… Read More
[Acadia National Park, Sep 22, 2024] There were three hikes at the top of my much longer Acadia wish list: the Beehive, the Precipice, and the Bubbles loop. Two of these, the Beehive and the Precipice, involved climbing on iron rungs on vertical rocks of Acadia granite with plenty of height exposure. The Precipice was harder, so I figured I’d start with the Beehive. I also wanted to check off some of… Read More
[Bar Harbor, Maine, Sep 21, 2024] After visiting with Martha in Portland, it was time to make the 3-hour drive to Bar Harbor. The fastest route goes north to Bangor before veering east. Martha recommended we take the upper part of the coastal route instead. So we put Belfast, ME in our GPS and headed out. it was only 15 minutes longer this way. We had no idea what to expect along… Read More
[Portland, Maine, Sep 20, 2024] A work trip to Atlanta, GA had me eyeing national parks in the vicinity. I had to choose between New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia and Acadia National Park in Maine. I decided to go with Acadia. I would be returning to Atlanta in April 2025 and I figured I can do New River Gorge then. I took a red-eye flight from Portland, Oregon to… Read More
[Great Basin National Park, Sep 1, 2024] When I originally looked at hikes in Great Basin National Park, I set my sights on the Wheeler Peak Summit Trail. At 8.5 miles and less than 3,000 ft of elevation gain, it was totally doable for my hiking abilities. The only problem? The trail begins at over 10,000 ft of elevation! Most people start feeling the effects of high altitude at 4,000 – 5,000… Read More