The Women's Wilderness Institute

  When I was an Outward Bound Instructor one summer, I concluded that while some kids could have an amazing experience, it worked much better for boys than girls - at least in a mixed gender setting. Laura Tyson thought exactly the same thing and did something about it: she founded the The Women's Wilderness Institute. Despite the name, the heart of their programming is the girls' program. If there is a teenage girl in your life that could benefit from the empowerment of outdoor adventure (and what girl couldn't), take a look at their programs.

But you don't personally have to know any girls. If you understand how strong girls can lead to a better world, we encourage you to support their GirlsÕ Wilderness Program. Their research-proven, girl-positive outdoor programs inspire girls to lead bigger, bolder lives, and your support can help make this program accessible to girls whose families are financially challenged. TWWI has received a $25,000 Challenge Grant to match, dollar for dollar, all gifts from new donors. Adventures in Good Company has become a corporate sponsor and, as you ponder your year end contributions, we hope you'll consider supporting them too. To donate,go to www.givingfirst.org/womenswilderness .

2010 Holiday Gift Ideas

Do you have trouble thinking of what to give others? Or what to ask for for yourself? Yup, me too. So I asked our guides for suggestions. As always, they rose to the occasion and have some great ideas! We've been posting the suggestions, one a day, on our Facebook page. But now with the shopping season fully upon us, I wanted to give you the whole list.

The one that has gotten the most "Likes" on Facebook so far was Katie Flanagans: "As a new dog owner, this year I purchased a backpack for my pup. The pack is made by ÒOutward HoundÓ (it gets extra points for the cute name) and comes in all sizes and colors (even pink for my mountain canine ÒHeidiÓ). My new hiking companion can carry her own bowl, food and snacks. She doesnÕt complain about blisters, is a great pace setter, provides a sense of security and is a my new favorite hiking buddy!"

You can see 18 other suggestions here.

Trip Reviews

We have been implementing a new blogging system which, among other things, allows us to easily collect and post reviews women have written about their trip. Unfortunately you can't just look at reviews people have written about the specific trip you're considering - that will have to wait for the next major website update. Since we implemented this after our trips ended for the year, we asked different people to write retrospective review. If you want to see all of the reviews, go to http://blog.adventuresingoodcompany.com/blog/reviews. And if you were on a trip in 2010 and want to write one, click here.

A Miscellany of Things

None of which deserve their own headline:

1) All 2011 trips are now up on the website. We ran into permit problems with the Sierra Backpack and probably won't be able to run it this year. We're still hopeful for next.

2) If you have looked at our Cruising the Turkish Coast but saw that the flight from Istanbul to Dalaman was not included, and then searched an internet flight and saw that Turkish Airlines was charging an outrageous price, there is good news. Pegasus Airlines, a reliable discount airline, came out with their Spring schedule and I just bought round trip tickets for everyone for $80 each. We have 4 spaces left and, if you want a truly relaxing vacation with excellent food and hiking in a very different setting, we would love to have you join us.

3)We are having a major Kafkaesque experience with Facebook, where they are not allowing us to link to our website from our Facebook page. Remember the Kafka story where the powerless person is accused, tried and convicted but he doesn't know who accused him, what the charge is, or who convicted him? It's like that. If you're on Facebook and have a minute to help, please read our blog post.

4. We recently posted videos on YouTube of our Death Valley Delights and Island Hopping the Greek Islands, which are also embedded in their respective trip descriptions. Deb and I aren't ready to quit our day jobs to become videographers but they'll give you a better picture of the trips than pictures alone can do.

Final Words

I published this month's newsletter early so you could have access to gift ideas this weekend if you needed them. Next weekend seven guides and I are getting together at Leigh's hostel for 3 days of hiking, eating, laughing, chatting and planning. Since we're spread out all over the country and only get together once a year at most, and since we all really like each other, we're pretty excited about it! The next newsletter will be next year. We hope you have a good holiday season, whether that is Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or have simply noticed that it's a great month to get lots of work done because no one is around. -- Marian. for all the guides at Adventures in Good Company.