Our favorite travel photos of 2013

From New England and beyond, check out some of our favorite travel photos of 2013.

Ohio’s Carl J. Jara took both first place and the people’s choice awards at the 13th Annual Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Competition at Hampton Beach, N.H.

On a survey flight off Chatham, George Breen spotted this white shark which wass estimated to be approximately 15 feet long.

A woman enjoyed the first beer at the opening day of Oktoberfest at the Hofbraeu tent.

An early morning frost covered the foliage of changing leaves at the base of Mount Washington in October.

A view of Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in November.

An Indian youth dressed as a tree looks on during an awareness event commemorating Earth Day in Allahabad.

A skier made his way down the Left Gully, a backcountry ski run with a 40-degree pitch, on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. The mountain is considered to be the birthplace of backcountry skiing in the East, providing skiers with some of the most challenging terrain in the country.

A sign at the entrance of the USS Constitution told the story when National Parks were the victims of the government shutdown.

Limousine tour guide Harold Davis dressed as “Breaking Bad” character Walter White. Albuquerque, N.M. saw a spike in tourism as the hit TV show enjoyed its final season.

An aerial view of the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

The Zakim Bridge was the inspiration in creating the new Frost Ice Bar at Boston’s Faneuil Hall.

The cute and comical seabirds called puffins have returned to several Maine islands and are finding plenty of food for their young chicks unlike last summer when many starved. Young puffins died at an alarming rate last season because of a shortage of herring, leaving adults to try to feed them another type of fish that was too big to swallow. Some chicks died surrounded by piles of uneaten fish. – By The Associated Press

Pumpkin People at the annual fall festival in Jackson, N.H., atop a makeshift Green Monster at The Seasons Resort.

Revellers arrived to attend the celebration of the summer solstice at Stonehenge, near Salisbury, Britain. Thousands annually meet at the 5,000-year-old stone circle at Stonehenge to see in the sunrise of the solstice, which marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Researchers placed new-born panda cubs on a crib during a press conference at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan province. Fourteen giant panda cubs born in 2013 were presented to the public at the press conference, during which the research base introduced the global breeding situation of giant pandas this year.

A male giraffe named Benny is seen at the Paris Zoological Park in the Bois de Vincennes in the east of Paris.The giraffes, one male and sixteen females, remained at the zoo during the period of renovation. Inaugurated in 1934, the Paris Zoo will reopen in April 2014 after being closed for four-years for renovation, transforming the zoo with new quarters for animals and greater information for visitors about the animals and their environment.

Endrik Erpen in action during Bekudo Bono festival at Kampar river in Teluk Meranti village, Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The Bono tidal wave occurs throughout the year at certain days around the full moon and new moon, however during the rainy season due to the higher volume of water the waves are stronger and bigger. Surfers travel from all over to ride the waves of the Kampar river which can be grow to as high as 10 feet.

Joulupukki, the Finnish Santa Claus figure from Lappland, waved as he arrived at Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest, Hungary.

Fall leaves hung on a tree near the Old West Church in Calais, Vt.

The Cape Cod National Seashore’s Nauset Beach Lighthouse.