United States
Wanderer, writer, witness.
Famed for its artistic traditions in weaving, pottery and painted wooden animal carvings known as alebrijes, the Mexican city of Oaxaca is also brimming with contemporary art. Museums and galleries dot the central area, particularly north of the Zocalo, the central plaza, but Oaxaca also has a thriving street art scene.
"Ferries are for wimps," our guide Tim's t-shirt read. It was a motto befitting my tour groups' plan to spend a week swimming 5km a day between and alongside the Sporades, a cluster of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. I'd traveled to Greece with four friends, some of whom I'd known for more than 25 years.
Seventeen miles down a gravel road that cuts through an empty expanse of desert to reach the northeastern edge of Utah's Great Salt Lake is an enigmatic art destination that's worth the pilgrimage. And pilgrimage it is. Robert Smithson's environmental artwork, Spiral Jetty, is not someplace you happen upon.
Everyone in my family has a different vision of what they want from a winter beach vacation. My husband, who works long hours, likes to be steps from a swimmable ocean with good restaurants nearby. My teenage daughter wants to sleep until noon and then is ready for either adventure or a good book.
Tucked in the rugged North Cascade Mountains near the Canadian border, is a town unreachable except by ferry, foot or flight. Remote as Stehekin is, the Washington town is a hub for nature lovers looking to hike, kayak, ride horses or fish in a national park whose glacier-tipped peaks are difficult to access.
Last year, published stories about people and places all over the world. Our writers told stories that helped our readers make deeper connections to a community, understand more about a foreign place while traveling more mindfully.