Take Paws The official pet travel blog of GoPetFriendly.com

GoPetFriendly.com – Top 10 Posts of 2010

It’s the time of the year for reflection and resolutions. We pull out our goals from last year, celebrate our accomplishments, and take a look at where we’ve fallen short.  We then lean into documenting our desires for the coming twelve months.

As a “recovering accountant” I tend to be very quantitative in my goal setting. It’s what I was taught – if you can’t measure your progress, you’re not making any. But when I started to think about my goals for 2011 in terms of number of website visitors, blog readers, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers, it didn’t feel right. Forecasting these figures may be the “accountant’s way” of looking at things – and while I could just write it all down and check this task off my to-do list – the truth is I don’t care about the numbers. What gets me excited is meeting the people, building the relationships, and living the experiences. Attaching numbers somehow seems degrading. Perhaps I’ve crossed over and am now a “recovered accountant?”

Thanks to a retweet by @FoxNomad I caught a post titled Numbers vs. Feelings – 2011 Goals on OttsWorld, a travel blog I hadn’t visited before. I’m not quite as rebellious as the author (I sometimes do things just because everyone else is), but we do share the “busy person” syndrome. Her post helped me crystallize my goals for 2011:

Be relaxed – take time to enjoy our travels and to connect with family and friends (old and new)

Have fun running GoPetFriendly.com and writing the blog

That’s right – not a single number. At the end of next year, I will be the only one who can determine if I’ve made progress toward these goals – and that’s just fine with me.

To get off on the right foot I want to share my ten favorite posts from 2010 with you. These are the ones I enjoyed the most – and are examples of what you will get more of in 2011.

10. Tips for Drive-by Shootings – Our advice on taking photos from a moving vehicle.

Tips for Drive-by Shootings

9. Ty’s Too Sexy – A creative solution to help our fearful dog.

8. Uncorking the Finger Lakes Wine Country – A bit about our visit to central New York.

7. GoPetFriendly’s Manifesto – Probably the most important things we wrote in 2010.

6. Achieving Balance with Pets in Yellowstone – A way to enjoy the National Parks, despite their strict pet policies.

5. Famous People Pose with Ty and Buster – The boys love meeting other celebrities along the way.

4. Doggone Good Time in Charlevoix, Michigan – I think the title says it all.

3. Coming Soon to a Driveway Near You – Be careful what you ask for!

2. Let’s Keep it Clean – Commentary on one of the challenges of pet travel.

And my favorite post of the year:

Birthdays are Special at GoPetFriendly – Because, it’s all about the dogs, after all!

Happy New Year to all of you! May 2011 bring you much happiness, health and love.