ADVENTURE
Traveler
Anne Dowdle always
planning her next trip
V
Story by Erin Kelly
Photos by Paula Merritt & submitted
isiting Anne Dowdle’s home in Meridian is like stepping
into a world market.
There’s a watercolor painting from Haiti in the
kitchen, near a photo of a Buddhist monastery in Bhutan.
In the dining room, you’ll find coasters from Israel, Kenyan
sculptures, Croatian glass and a puppet from China on the wall.
Each treasure holds special memories for Dowdle, an adventure
traveler, who at 75, has no intention of letting her passport collect
dust.
She’s been to six continents, 74 countries and 28 U.S. states, and
seems to be perpetually planning trips.
Iceland and Greenland are set for June.
Antarctica is on the itinerary for next February.
“That will make the seventh continent, so I hope I get there,”
she says.
Dowdle retired from Meridian Community College as direc-
tor of institutional advancement around 20 years ago.
“When I retired, I decided I did not want to do the same old,
same old.”
Far from it.
Dowdle has hiked the Himalayas, cruised the Amazon,
jumped out of an airplane for her 60th birthday, tracked Bengal
tigers in India, run a half marathon in South Africa and milked
a yak in Mongolia.
She recalls a highlight from Costa Rica with a smile.
“The first time I took a zipline, I had never heard of them
and I was halfway through to the first stop and I thought,
‘What am I doing up here?’ But I loved it.”
Dowdle often plans her trips through a Boston-based compa-
ny, Overseas Adventure Travel, which calls itself “the leader in
small groups on the road less traveled.”
“It’s a hands-on type of tour and you always have a native
guide,” says Dowdle. “You visit at least one to two families in
their home for a meal and it’s really wonderful. It’s not travel-
ing in a bubble.”
continued on page 15
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Adventure traveler Anne Dowdle,
75, often takes long walks at
Bonita Lakes with her rescue
dog Miss Zoey to prepare for her
travel adventure. According to
Dowdle, the trips can be physi-
cally demanding, so she walks and
practices yoga to condition her
body.
TIMELESS MERIDIAN