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
[Great Basin National Park, Aug 31, 2024] I woke up early and drove the 4 hours from Salt Lake City to Great Basin National park. I gained an hour as I crossed from Utah to Arizona, which gave me more time in the day despite the long drive. I was at the visitor center in Baker, NV, around 9:30 am. I got my first views of the South Snake Range and Wheeler… Read More
[Portland, OR –> Salt Lake City, UT, Aug 30, 2024] Great Basin National Park is one of the least visited and most underrated of the 63 managed by the NPS. The park preserves about 120 square miles of the Great Basin, the largest area of contiguous contained watersheds. All the water within the Great Basin, and all the rivers and streams, do not have an outlet to the ocean. Think of it… Read More
[Last Updated Nov 2024] Rooftop restaurants are not that common in Sofia, which is a shame, because there are some amazing views to be had. Luckily, several have sprung up over the years. Long gone are the days where the only place you could get a bird’s eye view of the city was the top of the National Palace of Culture. Because I can’t decide which rooftop bar has the best view,… Read More
[Endicott arm, AK, Aug 3, 2024] For our last full day on this cruise, we had another tidewater glacier viewing to look forward to. Overnight, the boat sailed down Endicott Arm, one of the fjords in the Boundary area south of Juneau. Endicott and nearby Tracy Arm, which runs parallel, are the most popular with visitors. Both fjords have a glacier at the end. In the morning, the Wilderness Explorer tucked into… Read More
[Rocky Pass, Kuiui Island, AK, Aug 2, 2024] Woke up to sunny skies off of Kuiu island. This is the 15th largest island in the US. As of the 2020 census, there are 10 people living here. We did a guided kayak around the bay. Close to shore, we saw Sitka black tailed deer (smaller than regular deer) a bald eagle, sea porpoise, otters. We also saw some black oystercatchers! They would… Read More