By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate When I lived on the North Shore in 1978, there was not one home on the shore of horseshoe-shaped Hanalei Bay. The notorious Taylor Camp treehouse colony, populated by hippies living off the land, was in full swing. The now famous Tahiti Nui featured in the film The Descendants was a hole in the wall. I could hike the Kalalau Trail, tracing the rugged Nāpali Coast up to the roaring Hanakapi’ai Falls, and take a dip in the pool below, without seeing another soul. I never made it to the site of the sacred Hawaiian village at the end... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate  Po‘ipū is the favored spot by visitors to the Island because it guarantees full blown sunny beach days. In 1978 Po‘ipū Beach was a deep azure plunge where I floated in ecstasy. But in 1992 Hurricane Iniki carved out a new coastline. Today the crescent shaped white sand beach is still a favorite of sun worshippers, but the water is shallow with a bottom littered with coral rocks. It is popular with snorkelers and small children but is no longer the best swimming beach on the South Shore. Numerous resorts and condo complexes now line... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate As a young woman, I had dropped out of society and landed on the North Shore of Kaua‘i. It was a head-spinning transformative time in my life. There, I was introduced to people experimenting with alternate lifestyles and those leading highly creative lives. After a year of Island life, I was brimming with good health and ready to face the future. Now, 45 years on, I yearned to return to the nurturing clime to know how both the Island and I have changed. Kaua’i is lush with foliage, resplendent with waterfalls, and isolated by tumultuous... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Readers, I am working on a new book, which is very close to publication, to be called Lost Angel Unleashed: Stories From the Heart, as well as my Lost Angel Adventure Series. Today I’d like to share some of my very favorite places to visit in one of my favorite cities, Santa Barbara. I hope you will enjoy my list and will consider visiting this charming city soon. Please check out the links for more information… State Street Promenade — A Taste of Europe The heart of Downtown Santa Barbara’s entertainment and retail district... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate I love this interview with Brett Wilson at The Rocky Mountain Channel podcast. I felt relaxed and welcome. He wanted to know what prompted me to follow in the hoofprints of the indomitable Isabella Bird from pristine Hawai’i to untamed Colorado in 1873. We talked about how Isabella and Rocky Mountain Jim were two seriously damaged people who found their salvation in nature. Isabella describes their legendary romance and the ethereal beauty of the region in her book A Lady’s Life in the Rockies. Her vivid descriptions of the region drew... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Isabella Lucy Bird was a Victorian Age adventurer who endured tremendous hardships in her explorations of the Rockies in 1873. She became the best-loved travel writer of her time, and was the first woman inducted into the Scottish Royal Geographical Society. In my book Embrace of the Wild, I share Bird’s most transformative journeys. A fierce spirit trapped in a frail body, Isabella rode through raging waters on the Hamakua Coast, up the flank of a volcano, and into the Waipio Valley in Hawai’i. Her exploratory adventures began at the... Read More

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 it takes to write a travel book. How to make travel writing work for you. Taking time to be in nature each day Forest Bathing and Hozho Seizing opportunities opening up in the travel world. Some of my favorite daytrips on the Coast of California My latest... Read More

Mark Twain described the Hawaiian Islands as the “prettiest archipelago ever to lay anchor in the South Pacific.” I agree, but so do millions of other travelers! Still, you can find serenity in a sublime setting if you bend an effort to get off the beaten track. Here are a few of my favorite less-traveled trails. Maunawili Demonstration Trail, Oahu Oahu, the gathering place where millions enjoy the healing waters of Waikiki, is perhaps the hardest island to find respite from crowds. On a recent trip, however, I stumbled upon the Maunawili Demonstration Trail, a high and dry path hugging the... Read More

By Linda Ballou NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Many retirees can’t wait to hit the open road as soon as they have been freed from their 9 to 5 job. This means new retirees are often traveling while they’re still new to Medicare.  Therefore, knowing how Medicare covers you while you travel is something you should learn sooner rather than later. Medicare covers its beneficiaries differently depending on where you travel and how you elect to receive your coverage. Below, I share a conversation I had recently with Danielle K. Roberts, co-founder of Boomer Benefits in which we... Read More

By Linda Ballou NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate It seems everyone I know has been to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks in the Red Rock Country of Utah. It was high time for me to experience the soaring ramparts with majestic views, the splendor of sculptured slot canyons, and the magic of hoodoos millions of years in the making. I chose mid-April for my visit to cash in on wildflowers, cool temps, and waterfalls that are fed by melting snowfields and dry up in the heat of summer. Zion and Bryce are located on the western edge of the Colorado Plateau in the four corners of Utah, Arizona,... Read More