By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Winter on the Central Coasts means fewer tourists and plentiful wildlife. Birds and marine mammals gather there in chaotic profusion from December to February. Every year, hundreds of birders flock to the sleepy fishing town of Morro Bay on California’s Central Coast to take part in the Audubon […]
By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Every bend of the river beckons—every pool may bring better luck. Life should be like that. — Zane Grey The Rogue River is a vital artery in southwestern Oregon that flows 215 miles from Crater Lake to Gold Beach on the coast. Rainie Falls is the take out […]
By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Years ago, when I lived on the beach in a pole house on the north shore of Kauai, Hawaii, we loved the wild storms that would blow through, threatening to wash us away. The wind whipped the palms wildly and scared us to pieces. But it was magical […]
By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate After eleven years, I decided it was time to deliver the fruitcake my mother had sent me in 2009 just before she passed away. I would take it to the meadow where I had scattered her ashes. I had kept it in my freezer (even through a severe […]
By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate In writing Embrace of the Wild I hope to have turned the lemons of Covid-19 into limoncello—a zesty elixir that excites and satisfies the senses. In early 2020, I returned from a whirlwind tour of Australia just in time for the Covid-19 lockdown. I was grateful to be back […]
I was not initially familiar with the story of Englishwoman Lady Isabella Lucy Bird, so I didn’t know what to expect when I began reading Linda Ballou’s newest book, Embrace of the Wild: Inspired by Equestrian Explorer Isabella Bird. However I was lucky enough to read it just days after publication, and am pleased to tell you […]
By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate It is hard to think good has come from the virus that has forced all of us to isolate ourselves and not be able to move freely in the world. But, there have been many beneficial outcomes for those eager to tick travel experiences off their bucket list. […]
By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate It’s a wrap! 2020 is coming to a close. Adventure Travel Writer, Linda Ballou, shares highlights of her year in this interview with Adam Asher and Zanne Merkel on their podcast, Wander to the Edge. Topics in our discussion included: Why I need to be on the travel edge. What […]
By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate In the words of Edward Abbey…”I am not an atheist, I am an Earthiest!” Earthiests are people who literally need to plug into the planet to recharge. Whether sitting on a rock warmed by the sun, or face planted down on the sand at the beach, standing on […]
“We belong to the earth. It does not belong to us.” Aboriginal saying Since time immemorial Tubowgule, the tidal island on which the Sydney Opera House stands, has been a place of gathering for Aboriginal peoples. The clans would meet there to dance, sing, feast, and share their stories. Today that piece of land that […]
