Cabins that take us away from the everyday.

Like a tannenbaum, a good cabin is perennial. ‘Tis always the season for the rustic getaway house, a place to deck the halls with home-made brew and extended relations. Some of the cabins featured here are too tiny for second cousins; others foreign and thus, impractical for a long weekend. But all are perfect and lust-worthy, especially for the cabin-less who really just want the courtesy of an invite.

Failing that, there’s always Cabin Porn.

Rustic Iceland

Caney Fork Creek, Williamson County, Tennessee

Rural Finland

Northwest Scotland

San Juan Island, Washington

St. Helens, Oregon

Warren, Vermont

Harads, Sweden

Northern Sweden

Dungeness, Kent, England

The Parabolic Glass House, Northern California

Skylonda, California

Parque Nacional Huerquehue, Chile

Allegheny River, Pennsylvania 

La Jolla, California

Lake Tahoe

British Columbia, Canada

Western Illinois

Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

San Francisco, California

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Appreciate them now before it’s too late.

It seems that every other day, a new study is released predicting the catastrophes that will result from a continuation of worldwide climate change. For most of us, these forecasted disasters seem lifetimes away. But one immediate effect of global warming that we can’t ignore, is the shrinking of the world’s glaciers and ice caps. In addition to causing an alarming rise in sea levels, the phenomenon is also destroying some of the world’s most stunning landscapes, such as the ones depicted in the photos below.

(above) Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica

Marmolada Glacier, Italy

Chenega Glacier, Alaska, USA

Potaniin Glacier, Mongolia

Fox Glacier, New Zealand

Portage Glacier, Alaska, USA

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

Glaciers on Mt. Kenya, Kenya

Glaciers of Greenland

Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

Monte Rosa Glacier, Switzerland

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska, USA

Victoria Glacier, Alberta, Canada

Pasterze Glacier, Austria

Athabasca Glacier, Alberta, Canada

Karola Glacier, Tibet

Vatnajökull Glacier, Iceland

Grey Glacier, Chile

Concordia, Karakoram, Pakistan

Glaciers on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Northern Inulchek Glacier, Kyrgyzstan

Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska, USA

Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland

Nigardsbreen Glacier, Norway

Himalayan Glacier, Southern China

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North America’s beauty spreads from sea to shining sea.

When wanderlust strikes, there’s the tendency to picture oneself overseas. My personal fantasies bring me to deserts in Morocco, beaches in Goa, hole-in-the-wall salsa clubs in Havana. I tend to forget the bounty of natural beauty that exists right here in North America. These pictures showcase the stunning vistas, cultural relics, and breathtaking natural phenomena that exist right at our front doors, or at least within a few hours drive.

(above) Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, USA

San Jose del Cabo, Baja California, Mexico

White Sands, New Mexico, USA

Washington, D.C., USA

Venice Beach, California, USA

Crater Lake, Oregon, USA

Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm, White Water, California, USA

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Banff National Park, Canada

Coyote Butte North, Arizona, USA

Henkel, Colorado, USA

Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Kent, Washington, USA 

Pagosa Valley, Colorado, USA

Lackawanna State Forest, Pennsylvania, USA

San Francisco, California, USA

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Santa Cruz, California, USA

Galveston, Texas, USA

Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA

Bitterroot Mountains, Montana, USA

Cimarron National Grassland, Kansas, USA

Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Yosemite National Park, California, USA

U.S. Route 66, Arizona, USA

Mule Canyon, Colorado, USA

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Everglades, Florida, USA

Sequoia National Park, California, USA

Anne’s Beach, Florida Keys, USA

South Dakota, USA

Quechee, Vermont, USA

Riverwood Park, Mississauga, Canada

St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Bountiful, Utah, USA

Big Moose Lake, New York, USA

New York, New York, USA

Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, USA

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Travel journal: No matter where we live, we need nature.

Where are we without nature? This question has struck me over the last week, spending time in the Canadian Rockies, far from city life and away from the usual distractions that keep life busy. It’s cold. There are mountains all around. It’s easy to walk ten minutes and feel in the middle of nowhere.

In a recent conversation about the importance of taking advantage of the present, a friend said “you could get killed by a bear on your run today,” I stopped at the reality of that sentence. Yes, I could get killed by a bear. I wouldn’t put it past the Canadian wilderness. There’s a sense of grounding in that reality.

I love being an urban dweller. But with a childhood of living in a hand-built house in the forest, there’s a part of me that needs the solace that can only be found in quiet spaces. Trade out the usual high density lifestyle for a few moments in mountain air and you’re immediately transported to a different mind space.

Nature fuels creativity, as is clear spending time at the Banff Centre for Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. Our brains need time to disconnect, to readjust to a more natural rhythm, one that begins with a sunrise over the peaks and an afternoon of alpenglow. One where the sound of a raging river is ever present. One where clean air is a given. One where you take in the natural world, not because you choose to go out on an afternoon hike, or take a weekend drive to the country.

As Andrew Weil wrote in an article in Newsweek, “Human beings evolved to thrive in natural environments and in bonded social groups. Few of us today can enjoy such a life and the emotional equilibrium it engenders, but our genetic predisposition for it has not changed.”

I think often of author Richard Louv and his aptly coined term Nature Deficit Disorder. He is right in saying that “The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.” We need to find our balance, the balance that our bodies need and crave, and without, puts us on a path of modern physical and emotional pains. Stress and depression are all maladies of modern society.

Not that picking up your life, buying a cabin in the middle of the woods and settling down to write your memoir in a weathered leather journal by candlelight will solve all problems. Since we live in modern society, we must learn to function within its confines. To find a new balance, one that allows us to enjoy the amenities of urban life but that doesn’t keep us from forgetting how big of a force nature is in keeping us alive.

And not only alive, but fueled and inspired.

Images: Anna Brones

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