This past weekend, my human companions went to Western Massachusetts for a college graduation at Amherst. And because they booked a pet-friendly hotel, I got to go along!
We stayed at a La Quinta in Springfield, on the sixth floor, which is reserved for pets and their human friends. Maybe I barked a little too loudly in the lobby, but the staff didn't seem to mind. I was just trying to show my excitement at going on a trip "out West." It reminded me of my days with the kind folks of Westie Rescue in Palmer.
Western Mass. is on my mind for another reason. To me, the pet-friendly hotel is a sign of progress in the region ... a sign of the bold, forward-thinking philosophies that will get the state, and the nation, through this difficult economy.
Yet I feel the region is at a critical crossroads, especially now that Lieutenant Gov. Tim Murray has resigned as the second-in-command to Gov. Deval Patrick.
Murray leaves under clouds as gloomy as the ones floating above me on my morning walk today. He crashed his state car after going over 100 mph on the Mass Pike in 2011, and gave conflicting reasons why. His campaign accepted donations from corrupt Chelsea politician Michael McLaughlin. Murray, a former mayor of Worcester, is hightailing it back to his hometown, where he will head the Chamber of Commerce.
Even so, there is sunshine amid the clouds. In the hotel, I read the local press while my human friends had lunch in nearby Northampton, and it seems that while Murray was in office, he did much good for the region he came from.
The Springfield Republican noted that "many folks in Western Massachusetts were disappointed with the prospect of losing such a strong advocate" and that Murray "promoted manufacturing, workplace training and rail expansion for Western Massachusetts."
Now that Murray is gone, I hope it's not back to business as usual, and that Gov. Patrick, whose home in Milton isn't that far from Boston, does not ignore the region that his running mate came from ... its promise, its progress, and yes, its pet-friendly hotels.
Daisy is a West Highland white terrier living in Cambridge, Mass.
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