Balabanova All Over

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[Park City / Salt Lake City, UT, Oct 6, 2019] Our flight back to LA was not until 5 pm, so we had an almost full day to explore. We decided to split our time between the mountains in the city. First, we headed east of Park City towards the Uinta Mountain range. The Uinta Mountains are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains and run east-west. Peaks range from 11,000 ft (3,500… 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

[Crater Lake National Park, July 3, 2019] You may have seen that instantly recognizable Crater Lake photo – a little cone-shaped island in the middle of the bluest of lakes. That was the image I had in my mind from the many photos of Crater Lake I’ve seen, but I was still excited to see it for myself. Crater Lake was born out of the ashes of the volcano that stood in… Read More

[Rila National Park, Bulgaria, Sep 15, 2018] The Seven Rila Lakes are glacial lakes located in the northwestern corner of Rila mountain, about 2 hours from Sofia. Since I didn’t want to drive myself or make my parents come with me, I booked a day trip through Globul Tours. I talked about how we decided which tour company to trust in this post. To preserve the mountain and its ecosystems, Rila national… Read More

[Olympic National Park, July 19, 2018] After three nights in Port Angeles, it was time to leave. Our plan for the day was to exlore the Hoh rainforest and one of the beaches on the west side of the park before overnighting at Lake Quinault. Driving directly to the lake was about 2.5 hours. We expected our detours to add another 3-4 hours to our trip. I also thought about detouring to… Read More