While putting together this issue, I got to thinking about “the road less traveled”—a concept that seems harder and harder to find authentically in a world where there are so many people, each one of them also trying to live a fulfilling, unique life. Sometimes it feels like everything has been done before.

And the more I considered it, the more I reflected that the road less traveled is less about the big steps to me—career changes, sprawling trips and traditional milestones—and more about the small things we do to make our lives more pleasurable, more novel, more flavorful. It’s about taking things slow, spending your precious days off soaking in the good stuff around you.

We’re lucky enough to live in a region bursting with interesting things to do, and captivating places to see, so we’ve spent this issue celebrating the good things right in our own backyard. Together, we’ll explore our local islands, a thriving place for food, art and wild spaces—and hear where a few of the locals like to spend their days off. We’ll travel north across the border, to one of British Columbia’s booming cities—and do a little globe-trotting through food. Journey with us through Cascadia to sip the many tasty variations already cropping up of American single malt whiskey, which finally has its own unique designation, reflective of our spectacular landscapes.

They say the journey is just as important as the destination. Sometimes to find your own road, you have to take some detours, and we talk about that in this issue too, with a farmer who found her way back to the land.

Whatever journey you’re on, thanks for joining us here and now. We’re grateful to share these stories, these lands and these recipes with you.

See you on the road,

Lindsay Kucera
Editor