Facets of Our Lives

Recently, a reviewer of timeshare properties talked about locations that specifically did not have provisions for "family activities", as he and his wife were childless. He was accused of hating children and being an inappropriate reviewer. Nothing could be more inaccurate, and it was a knee-jerk response. I have a lot of friends with small children. All your kids are great, I'm sure. But there are some places that kids are not supposed to be. It's not about not liking kids; it's about not being obligated to safeguard your kids, tolerate their tantrums, or play peek-a-boo against my will. I can count on one hand the number of children I have encountered in my travels who behaved appropriately. I can count on one finger the number of parents who have made a point of apologizing to me when their children did not (and I thanked him very sincerely for making that effort, as I'd never encountered it before or since). And it's everywhere. Restaurants. Hotel...

In last week's pet post, I talked about the benefits of teaching my dog to poop on command, as it made traveling easier. Traveling with your pet, however, is a whole other topic. Dogs, in particular, like a change of scenery periodically, just as their humans do. My dogs like bodies of water and to splash, but they also just enjoy riding in the car. As I said last week, they have been from Boston to Phoenix, and to more US states and time zones than many of my friends. But this did take some doing. The map below represents all of the states where the dogs have been, either to spend the night or to "leave their mark" so to speak. :-) Scroll over the map with your mouse to learn our experiences by state. This application is created by interactive maps. You can also have your visited states map on your site. If you see this message, you need to upgrade your flash player. Make your visited states map HTML5 charts First, many hotels allow you to bring your pet...