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
Follow me on Instagram!
Top Posts
[San Francisco, CA] The castle winery that captured our imagination the day before did not disappoint. It was a bona-fide 13th century Tuscan castle complete with drawbridges, towers and a moat! 14 years in the making, it was a dream come true from a 4-th generation wine maker from the Sattui family, whose original vineyard we visited the day before. We toured the lovely courtyard, passed by a gigantic dining room with… Read More
[Napa, CA] Our destination for today was the famous winemaking region of Napa valley. Those of you who watched Sex and the City back in the day also know that Napa is where Mr. Big moved to. An exasperated Carrie, trying to understand how her big-shot on-and-off lover could have gotten tired of living in New York City, exclaimed, “Well, when you’re tired, you take a napa, you don’t move to Napa!”… Read More
[Yosemite National Park, CA] We entered the park from a different entrance today, from the West at Highway 140. Immediately we were greeted by massive granite rocks towering above us. Weaving through the valley, we passed several of the falls Yosemite is famous for – the 620-ft Bridalveil Fall and the 2500-ft Yosemite Falls, 5th highest in the world. On the agenda today was a tour to Glacier Point via bus. The… Read More
[Yosemite National Park, CA] Today was mostly driving. We left LA early in the morning so that we can get to Yosemite in time to do one of their shortest tours – the 75-minute tour of the largest grove of sequoias in the park, Mariposa Grove. The grove contains several hundred mature sequoias, but some of the most distinct ones have been named and are part of the tour. Our first stop… Read More
[Los Angeles, CA] After a few super long days sightseeing and graduating and sightseeing again, it was finally time to take it easy – the California way. I was super excited to wake up to see the sun, which meant that the marine layer that usually covers the coastline in May and June, had either burnt off or hadn’t even made an appearance. The sunny weather was an integral part of the… Read More