It's travel season, and I'm a cheerleader for road trips with the dogs -- especially to dog-oriented destinations. I know that pups as passengers present certain challenges, including muddy paws, furry upholstery, saliva-covered windows and keeping things cool. But they offer rewards and opportunities in more than equal measure.

Having dogs along, you'll stop and sniff places you might otherwise scream by at 65 miles per hour, you'll have conversations with dog-loving strangers along the way, and, even if you're the only biped on the trip, you'll never feel lonely.

I love hiking and camping on the sunny side of the Cascades and Okanogan County. I love the Blue Mountains and Hood River in Oregon, central Idaho (see photos), and the pup-friendly Long Beach Peninsula on Washington's southern coast.

Over the years, I've picked up a few resources for four-pawed adventures, and I'd like to recommend three books for your canine-travel bookshelf. The first is the essential guidebook for any dynamic duo in our region: Val Mallinson's The Dog-Lover's Companion to the Pacific Northwest. My 2005 edition is dog-eared and annotated but still loaded with critical information and inspiration. I hear Val's busy updating the next edition.

If backcountry trails are your aim, I suggest a destination-appropriate volume from The Mountaineers Books' Best Hikes with Dogs series. I rely regularly on Best Hikes with Dogs Western Washington by Dan A. Nelson and Best Hikes with Dogs Inland Northwest by Craig Romano. We're talking the cream of dog-friendly hikes vetted for you; no more showing up at distant trailheads to discover you're in a no-dog zone. (The series currently includes Oregon, Southern California, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont and trails in and around Boston, the Bay Area, and Las Vegas.)

Finally, even though it sounds cliché, I'd add John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley to your reading list. I picked up the book not long ago. It was on the bedside table in my sister's guestroom; I'd finished my airport read, so I decided to sample the first few pages. I couldn't put it down. Steinbeck's 1960 travelogue covers his 10,000-mile journey across America with his black standard Poodle in a custom-built truck/home. It's a classic read, filled with quirky dog moments, lefty politics and mid-century Americana crafted by a deft, insightful dog-loving master writer. If you don't believe me, check out this classic book review from The Atlantic Monthly.

FYI, I have also traveled with cats. When I lived in New York, I made regular four-hour journeys to Shelter Island with my ex-mother-in-law's two Siamese. They moaned like air-raid sirens and worked up so much foam they looked like little Gandolfs in a crate. It's not something I can recommend as relaxing or rewarding.

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