Sure, Grand Isle is a famous fishing village in South Louisiana that has endured more than its share of hurricane misery, most recently from Gustav. It's also the name of a new dining spot in New Orleans that captures some of the soul of the Lousiana coast in all its funky appeal.

(Photo: Ken Walker)

I’m like a moth to a bug light when I see a front porch like the one in the painting above. It’s like a mood ring. In a cheery state of mind, I see the light emanating from inside and immediately hear music and voices, expecting the door to swing open and the party to spill outside. In more introspective moments, I focus on the emptiness, the tidiness, the skull, as metaphors for the spent spirit after a long day…and wonder how long before that party spills outside.

Continuing our local's look into the city of Dallas, here are the next five reasons to visit Big D. Also, I didn't mention that this list of 25 is not ranked. It's a sum-greater-than-the-parts deal. OK, let's get to it.

16. They've painted the town.

Check out two more vintage covers from Southern Living's early years. Other than the hairdo, Jackson Square's sidewalk art still looks pretty much the same. If you readers have any SL's from the 60's and 70's, feel free to share favorite story subjects, pictures, or advertisements.

In the February issue of Southern Living, I wrote about "the most misunderstood metropolis in America" --- Dallas. Big D. The Other Dubai. The Central Coast. Where the east ends. The nicknames help to push this fashionable boom city into unflattering light. Fortunately, we don't research with Wikipedia. Truth be told, Dallas is a killer town. I've never in my life been more welcomed into a big city. It's very local, if that makes any sense. And I've never been more happily surprised to find indie music joints, laid back beer gardens, ambitiously green locals, and enough material to warrant a follow-up, top 25 list of reasons to kick it in Dallas sometime soon. So here we go...

21. They are building a waterfront.

January 20th 2009, Washington, D.C., 9:34 a.m.

"Twenty degrees up here feels a lot colder than twenty degrees in Birmingham," says Southern Living assistant travel editor Farrah Austin.  She called us this morning from her spot alongside thousands and thousands and thousands of people in front of the nation's capitol building.

There's a buzz in our magazine's offices, but it hardly compares to Farrah's perspective...

(Tungurahua as seen through our bus's window.  --photos by Tanner Latham)

It’s roughly a four hour bus ride from Quito to Ambato.  We rolled south on the Pan-American Highway, also called the avenue of the volcanoes. About 45 minutes from our destination,

(Plaza de San Francisco, Quito, Ecuador--photo by Tanner Latham)

Photographer Cary Jobe and I were in Ecuador for a week last year researching "The Common Language of Caring," a story that starts on page 74 in the February '09 issue of Southern Living.

A medical mission team, comprised of many Southern doctors, nurses, medical techies, and volunteers, returns each February...

The towns of Marfa, Alpine, and Marathon embody the far west Texas spirit of wide open possibility. If you react like locals to the almost endless spread of landscape, you'll be on the next plane to El Paso. For some backstory on the assignment and my three trips out west, watch the audio slideshow.