Doggin' The Big City

If you watch David Letterman at all this fall I can guarantee you will hear him say that this is the best time of year to visit New York City. He says it every year about the fall weather in NYC. So what if you want to take a trip to New York - or the other big cities of the Northeast that are similarly at their most attractive - and want to take your active dog...

BOSTON
Boston Common is the oldest public park in the country, created in 1634 as a "cow pasture and training field" for common use. Cattle grazed here for 200 years, and could look up every now and then to see the occasional public hanging that took place in the Common. The park is about 50 acres in size and is the anchor for the Emerald Necklace, a system of connected parks that visit many of Boston's neighborhoods. Dogs are welcome on Boston Common and can even run off-leash from 5-7 a.m. and 5-7 p.m.

bounded by Beacon, Charles, Boylston, Tremont and Park streets

NEW YORK CITY
Chances are your dog will enjoy America's most famous park in midtown Manhattan as much as you will. Dogs are not allowed everywhere (Elm Islands at the Mall, Sheep Meadow, East Green, or Strawberry Fields are among the main prohibited areas) but can go off-leash before 9 a.m. where allowed. Keep an eye out for horses and city streets that cross the park. Bring a water bowl on hot days - the only current fountain outfitted for dogs is at the entrance on East 90th Street. Architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed the park to remain in a naturalistic setting so even in New York City you can lose yourself on woodland paths.

from 59th to 110th streets and from Fifth Avenue to Central Park West

PHILADELPHIA
Fairmount Park is the largest contiguous landscaped municipal park in the world with nearly 9,000 acres began with just 5 acres in 1812. It is the bucolic home to an estimated 2,500,000 trees. The backbone of the park is the Forbidden Drive, so named when it was closed to automobiles in the 1920s. The 7-mile paved trail travels along the Wissahickon Creek to the Schuylkill River; canine hikes can be shortened by several bridges across the Wissahickon. In addition, there are many blazed single-track trails climbing steeply out of the Wissahickon Gorge.

the Andorra Visitor Center is on Northwestern Avenue between Ridge Avenue and Germantown Avenue

BALTIMORE
The city of Baltimore paid $475,000 for the Rogers family estate in 1860 to create the jewel of its park system, Druid Park. Colonel Nicholas Rogers designed his property to resemble a pastoral English park and the city continued the theme with picnic pavilions, grassy promenades, statues and fountains. A massive Tuscan Doric entrance-way was built of Nova Scotia sandstone in 1868 at the cost of $24,000 and Druid Lake was formed in 1871 behind the largest earthen dam in America to provide drinking water. Today the historic park covers 600 acres with winding roads and grassy lawns for canine visitors.

on Druid Park Lake Drive via Pennsylvania Avenue, Eutaw Place or Mount Royal Terrace

WASHINGTON DC
In the words of Calvin Coolidge, "any man who does not like dogs and want them does not deserve to be in the White House." Across the street, on the National Mall, dogs are not only welcome but often celebrated. The finals of the canine frisbee disc championships have traditionally been held on the dog-friendly National Mall. The patchy grass squares make a fun place to play with your dog or the Mall can be the setting for a people- watching canine hike of almost two miles from the Capitol Steps to the feet of Abraham Lincoln.

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