Take Paws The official pet travel blog of GoPetFriendly.com

Aspen is GoPetFriendly’s Most Pet Friendly City of 2010

On our way across Colorado we stopped for a day in Aspen. (Well, it was supposed to be a day – some of you may remember our lost camera debacle.) Such a short stay didn’t allow for our usual in-depth research, but we did want to give you a look at this city because it’s definitely worth a visit.

We’d heard a lot about the area, and even got a few tips from @AspenSpin on places we might want to check out. But, once we arrived, all we wanted to do was make ourselves comfortable and soak it all in.

The best way to explain the aura of Aspen in the summer is “a celebration in outdoor living.” I have never been in a place where the sidewalks and pedestrian walkways were so well furnished! There were flowers, benches, tables, and chairs everywhere – and not just ones owned by the local eatery or coffee shop.  Of course they were there too, but what surprised me was the number of seating areas provided purely for public enjoyment. And, people – and their pooches – were taking full advantage.

Of course, Buster can only sit still for so long, so we did walk around the downtown area and that’s when we figured out how pet friendly Aspen is!

During breaks in the kids’ soccer game, the dogs ran around on the field.

At the Silver Queen Gondola, the first black car after a red car is pet friendly.

And, the mail has been delivered by this carrier and retriever team for more than ten years.

The only drawback we could find is that it’s a pricey place to hang out. There’s shopping at Louis Vuitton and Gucci, where you can easily spend an entire paycheck. There are highly acclaimed restaurants like Cache Cache and Montagna, where you can blow your grocery budget for the week. Given the clientele that frequent these types of establishments you might expect the folks around town to be dressed to the nines with attitudes on the snooty side. You would be wrong.

The people we met were wonderful. It’s possible they were ski bums, living off trust funds and just waiting for snow, but you’d never guess it. To the last, they were friendly and unpretentious.  And the attire tended to be comfortable, bordering on outdoorsy. You’ll fit in perfectly in your favorite t-shirt and jeans.

Thanks to the beautiful weather and the scenery we were able to maintain our self-control. We avoided the shops and enjoyed a late lunch at the outdoor seating area of Poppycock’s Café for a not-completely-unreasonable $32.

Aspen holds the prize for being the most pet friendly city we visited in 2010 – at least, so far. It’s only October, so we can’t say for sure that we won’t have our socks knocked off again before the end of the year, but it will be tough to beat Aspen. I promise that we’ll go back and spend the time to thoroughly research the area. Plus, I have a new friend visit – her name is Bo Derek! :-D