Trips with early bird discounts expiring before 1/15/06

Women on the Rocks (11/18)

Havasu Hike (12/9)

Hiking Alaska'S Mountains (12/10)

Wildflowers & Waterfalls(12/16)

Sea Kayaking Alaskan Fjords(12/19)

El Camino de Santiago (12/24)

Backpacking the Appalachian Trail, Section by Section (12/30)

Bulgaria's Mountains and Monasteries (1/2)

Almost Heaven, West Virginia (1/4)

Please give us feedback- I'm sure we'll be tinkering with this for awhile and we would love to get your input.

If you've never traveled with us, you may have wondered how you can get a feel for our trips without actually going on one. Well now you can check out the slideshow on our homepage, created by one of our incredibly talented participants! Alena, who joined us on a backpacking trip in Mt Rainier in 1999, was one of our very first participants. Over the past 7 years I have watched her develop her photographic skills and more recently her technological skills. She has put these to good use in creating a slideshow for Adventures in Good Company. There are two sizes: for those with slower intermet connections, click here. With fast connections, click here. Unfortunately neither of these work well for dial up connections.

In 2005 our registrations were up by 60%. To help us cope with this explosive growth, our latest addition to the team is Jesse Baines. Growing up in Maine, where her Dad is a lobsterman, Jesse totally understands the need for outdoor recreation. She is an experienced traveler, having visited Greece, Italy and the Dominican Republic as well as lived and worked in Scotland. Her favorite outdoor activities are hiking and kayaking. She was a graduate student in humanities when she started working here and will resume graduate school in business next fall.

More importantly, she is both computer savvy and very customer service oriented. But as is true in any new job, she has lots to learn and part of that is making mistakes- nothing serious and I think we've worked out a new system that will catch most of them before you see them.

Speaking of recent additions, Dale Bowers is one of our more recent additions to the guide team. She brings an in depth knowledge of horsemanship that will enhance Hoofin It in the Tetons and Living the Cowgirl Life. As well she has a cheerful optimism and organizational ability that every mother of two young children needs to survive. We are delighted to have her and here's her introduction:

My zest for adventure began at the young age of 17 when I left home alone to travel halfway around the world to live as a Rotary Exchange Student for one year in Newcastle, Natal, South Africa. I have since traveled to several countries in the world, and I love to visit different places and peoples, learning their about culture and diversity.

After returning from South Africa, I entered the University of Georgia where I received a degree in Animal Science and International Agriculture. During my studies, I was awarded a six month internship through the New York Zoological Society’s Endangered Species program on St. Catherine’s island off the coast of Georgia. I had the unique opportunity to work with many different endangered species studying their habits, and learned how to better protect and possibly reintroduce endangered species back into their natural habitat.

After college, I was selected by the State of Georgia to become a Game Warden, one of only five female Game Wardens in the State at that time. During my years as a Conservation officer, I was instrumental in not only effectively combating poaching and illegal activity in my county but made great strides in teaching the general public about protecting their natural resources. I was also central in the initial rescue phase of one of Georgia’s great disasters, the Albany flood of July 1994. By establishing the central command, the operation was successful in rescuing many lives and making the overall process continue to run smoothly. Being a Game Warden allowed me the opportunity to be outdoors and make a difference in our natural resources.

I currently live in Moreland, Georgia with my husband and 2 daughters. We own and operate Point to Point Farm raising cattle and horses and operating “The Last Resort” animal rescue. Besides my passion for horseback riding, I love nearly any sport or activity that involves the outdoors, whether it is warm or cold, but I especially love to paddle and bike. I also enjoy playing around with nature photography, reading, and playing card games.

Guiding with Adventures in Good Company allows me the chance to meet and interact with many amazing and interesting women while indulging my love for travel and exploration and experience great adventures in our incredible outdoors.

Anyone who is a regular reader of this web site knows that I am always trying to find the cheapest airfare for my guides, who live all over the country and travel all over the world. So I was really excited to find this web site, the work of George Hobica, a man who focuses on detecting the airfares that may not be widely publicized. Better yet, you can sign up for 2 newsletters: one choice is the Airfare Junkie Report (a list of the lowest national air fares of the day, which can be sent up to 7 times a week); or Nationwide Airfares (sent 1-3 times a week, you will miss out on many unadvertised deals by not seeing the Junkie Report, but a better choice if you don't like too much email). In addition to signing up for one of those, you can also sign up for one that just focuses on the airport you fly out of. So what is the price for this invaluable service? It's free. All George wants is for you to book your airfares through his web site if you use one of the sites he has a link to. Which seems like a very reasonable request. To check out this web site, go to http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/. I haven't been getting the newsletters long enough to tell you how much I've saved but I'm quite confident it will happen.

I regret to say that I have been reading very little lately, and most of it I can't recommend. Fortunately Mary Anne, one of our frequent participants and a guide in training, often sends excellent suggestions (which means I like the same books) and this month I pass on the suggestions that she sent in an email after Hoofin It in the Tetons last year.

I finished reading "The Solace of Open Spaces" on the trip back. I was glad to have read some of it pre trip and then concluded my visit by reading the rest. I was delayed in Cincinnati on my return trip so got to start on the other book I had with me: "Holdfast, At Home in the Natural World" by Kathleen Dean Moore. I happened to show the book to Deborah while we were roommates and she exclaimed that Kathleen was a colleague of hers at OSU. Anyway, the two books dovetailed together quite nicely and I would recommend "Holdfast".

Additionally, I had found a book on one of my favorite booksellers list, Daedalus, www.salebooks.com , about the Snake River: "Wyoming's Snake River. A River Guide's Chronicle of People and Places Plants and Animals". The author is Verne Huser. It did not arrive prior to the trip but I received it yesterday and sat in the extreme heat and humidity and began reading and daydreaming of being back on the river. An interesting read and one you may want to look up.

Two other titles from my list this year are "The Adventurist; My life in
Dangerous Places" by Robert Young Pelton. It's an engaging account of how he got involved in the life he leads; and "Steady as she Goes; Women's Adventures at Sea" a collection edited by Barbara Sjoholm. Both memorable. (in case you didn't notice, I am providing you with titles to start your ongoing list for your website)

In case you don't already know this, we don't ever charge a single supplement unless you want to be assured that you have a room to yourself. Otherwise, since most of the women who join us do so on their own, we pair up roommates and then change several times during the trip. But if you want your own room and are willing to pay the extra it costs us and it's a trip that allows for that, then we're happy to arrange that for you.

But what if you want your own room and don't want to pay for it? We suggest you take a careful look at two trips in particular where everyone has her own room: Winter Medley and Wildflowers and Waterfalls. Now we don't think many of you will choose a trip simply based on having your own room, but there are many reasons to choose either of these trips (beauty and fun being the top two) and having your own room is merely the icing on the cake.

One of the many great things about this job is all the pictures women send us after their trips. This one (the one on the left), entitled Hard Core Adventure Chicks, is from our Harpers Ferry Holiday

Got a web site? Want to exchange links? If there is enough interest, we'll add a new links page in our Resources section called Links with our Friends. Do I need to say the obvious about no pornography etc? I didn't think so. Email marian@goodadventure.com if you're interested.