Balabanova All Over

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[Maui, Hawaii, Nov 19, 2022] Thanks to remote work, the time around Thanksgiving was the perfect opportunity to do a slightly longer trip. I was eyeing Hawaii, which I hadn’t been to since 2018. Maui was home to Haleakala National Park, which I hadn’t been to before, and Oahu, which was home to my friends Vanya and Deyan. They had just returned to Hawaii that summer after a couple of years on… Read More

[Lake Oswego, OR, Jul 4, 2019] I was sad to leave Bend, but I was excited to head to Portland to visit my friend Megan. We met in Los Angeles in 2010 when we ended up in the same MBA program. I was immediately drawn to her vivacious, bubbly personality. She lived close to me, which, in the traffic nightmare that is LA, is invaluable. She helped me train for my first… Read More

[Los Angeles, CA / Boynton Beach, FL, Dec 22-24, 2017] Last year’s holiday trip to Florida did not start as planned. We were supposed to take a red-eye on Dec 21 and make a beeline for Key West and Dry Tortugas National Park before returning to the Palm Beach area on Dec 23, in time to spend the Christmas holidays with family. Unfortunately, our flight was one of over 200 canceled (many… Read More

[Keaau, HI] The highlight of our day today was supposed to be a sunset tour of Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain on earth when using the height of the mountain from the seafloor up (rather than from sea level). However, the rain that we encountered yesterday had apparently continued on today on the mountain, and the road between the Visitor station (at ~9000 ft) and the summit (~14000 ft) was closed. Our… Read More