I don’t get to travel out of the city as often as many. I’m not among the fortunates who have a house somewhere in the country or at the beach, but I am lucky enough to get invited out by such people from time to time. I fondly think of them as “friends with places.”

Since I got Smokey, such outings are a little trickier, since I don’t like to go many places without him unless I really have to. But I do have “friends with places” who are either dog-friendly or have dogs themselves. This weekend, my host was a little bit of both.