Lame Travels: To New York and Back Part I (days 1-8)

About a month ago, my mom, dad, sister and I all piled into our minivan with the destination of New York City in our minds. The first stretch of driving was simple and easy; we have traveled from Bellingham to Spokane many times. In Spokane, we stopped for the night; we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. We try to stay at a Holiday Inn Express as many times as we could since  Holiday Inn Express tends to have a standard and we know what we are going to get. However, Holiday Inn Express, along with the majority of other hotels, do not have handicap rooms with two beds. We as a family of four have learned to adapt to this and we just get a room with two queen beds instead of a handicap room with a single bed. I have never stayed in a Holiday Inn Express that does not have an elevator and the majority of them have an adequate amount of room for me to maneuver my chair. It also could be that they serve cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I think this is the real reason.

My dad's yummy breakfast

On our next chunk of millage, we drove for thirteen hours though all of Idaho, the majority of Montana, and a corner of Wyoming in order to get to Rapid City, South Dakota. On the way there, we used three different rest stops, which all had handicap door openers. I only have seen this out of state; never in Washington!
When we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Rapid City, to my surprise, there were automatic door openers there too! I have never seen door openers at a hotel before! That was not the only thing that was super amazing about this Holiday Inn Express. They had a handicap room (and yes it actually was accessible) that had two queen beds! And they did not stop there! In this hotel, I found the best handicap accessible bathroom ever. It is the bathroom located in the lobby. This handicap bathroom was larger than a typical handicap stall; I had enough room to turn around in front of the toilet and exit the bathroom forward (a luxury)! But what made this bathroom even more extraordinary was that the stall was big enough for the door to open in. This is so convenient as it is extremely difficult to shut the stall door when using a wheel chair and the door swings out. When I still had the ability to take myself to the bathroom, I had to have someone shut the door in order for me to lock the door (or if this person was a friend, they would just hold the door). Now whoever assists me, shuts the door. However, in this bathroom in the Rapid City Holiday Inn Express, I could shut the door by myself!

The best bathroom stall ever!

We stayed in Rapid City, North Dakota as Mount Rushmore stands nearby. I was so excited to see Mount Rushmore and when I finally arrived, I was not disappointed! The location of this amazing national memorial is so beautiful and on top of the natural beauty, the artistic ability of the men who chiseled the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln into the side of a granite mountain is spectacular! Gutzon Borglum had a spectacular idea and I am so glad that the majority of it was carried out and that I had the opportunity to see this spectacular sight in person. What made this place even more special to me is how accessible the grounds are. First of all, there were so many handicap spots to choose from! There were spots to CHOOSE from, and I do not mean like two or three! There is an elevator from the parking garage right up to beginning of the walkway to the memorial and a ramp located right next to the stairs; not way off somewhere else that specified that it is only for those who need it. The trek to the face of the mountain was smoothy paved and easy to navigate. I noticed many other people in wheelchairs roaming around the grounds of Mount Rushmore as well. I thought this was pretty neat, as I almost never see more than a couple people in wheelchairs in one place at the she time.   

Dad, Mom, Gina and I at Mount Rushmore!

After our time at Mount Rushmore, we decided to stop at a dinosaur park that was created by the WPA during the time of FDR's presidency. I enjoyed stopping at a piece of history that was unknown to me. Even though it is not handicap accessible (there are handicap parking spots, but stairs up to the dinosaurs), it was still a great experience. Gina, my sister, carried me up all the stairs so I was able to have the opportunity to see the stoned dinosaurs. I would love for this park to be updated, so therefore it would be made handicap accessible. However, this park is so old and not a "mainstream" tourist site. So, if someone complained about the unfriendly access and demanded a remodeling of the park, this cool piece of history would probably just be torn up so it would be equally fair for no one to see. It is just easier that way.

 Gina has been training for this all year!

Mom, Gina and I posing with the T-Rex

When we completed our historical site seeing in South Dakota, we jetted up to North Dakota; we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Bismarck. This hotel was pretty nice, but did not meet the standards that I had created from our stay the night before in Rapid City. Even though there was not a handicap room with two beds, this hotel did have pretty big rooms (I had plenty of space to turn my chair around in front of the beds)! While we were in Bismarck, I experienced on of the most intense storms I have ever witnessed. The lighting was ridiculously awesome; continuous flashing and sporadic bolts that would streak across the sky! On top of the amazing lighting, the storm also brought a downpour. The window was not dotted with rain drops nor had many little individual steams running down it, but it looked as if one large single stream was running down it. To me, it looked as if someone was washing the window. Not only was the lightning and the rain crazy, but the wind was crazy as well. The wind was so strong that the window was moving! I heard on the news that there were gusts of wind up to 75 miles per hour. There was also hail at one point. Fortunately it never got too large. There were warnings of potential golf ball sized hail, which can be destructive. Since we were at a hotel, there was not a spot to park our van under shelter in order to protect it, so my dad ended up parking the front half under a bank drive through until the worst of the storm was over (other people had the same idea, as there were a couple cars parked there as well). Parking our car under a bank drive through is not the only cleaver idea that was carried out while we were on our trip. My mom and sister ate Bismarcks in Bismarck! 

Gina and Mom eating Bismarcks in Bismarck!

After experiencing crazy storms and donuts, it was time to venture on to minnesota to visit my uncle, aunt and cousins. They live in Grand Rapids, so that is where we stayed for two nights. In Grand Rapids, Minnesota, there is not a Holiday Inn Express. Therefore, we stayed at an AmericInn. This hotel was a little older and did not have an elevator. On the bright side, the hotel did put us on the ground floor and the rooms were huge; I could easily maneuver around the room, all except for the bathroom. It was really nice to visit my uncle, aunt and cousins. On the first night, we went to my aunt's parent's house to see them and to have dinner. Later that night, my mom, dad and sister all played pool in the pool room back at the hotel.

Dad playing pool in the pool room

The next day, we all went to one of the thousand lakes in Minnesota. The park we went to had multiple handicap spots (which it did not need to legally) and the area was pretty accessible. It was also a beautiful day to spend outside; the sun was shining and the sky was so blue. We all had a picnic lunch and my cousins cooled of by going for a swim. I am so glad we got to spend time with them and soak up some sun!

My mom, uncle, cousin and dad eating lunch.

After hanging at the park, Mom, Dad, Gina and I went back to the hotel. Mom and Dad went out for a bit, while Gina and I relaxed at the hotel. When Mom and Dad returned, Gina and I decided to explore the town of Grand Rapids. Earlier we had driven by some cool looking old buildings that had been turned into many little shops and we thought it would be fun to check them out. However, we were disappointed when we found out that I could not get in. The buildings are old and probably have not been recently remodeled, so they do not have to be accessible. It was still sad that I could not get in. Instead, we took our business elsewhere. We went to Grand Rapid's actual mall and my cousin was not kidding when she said there are very few stores there. After our quick walkthrough, we went to the new part of town. There we went to Maurices, a store that is not new to us, but is new to Grand Rapids.  We found an interesting sight at this Mauricas: the handicap parking symbol. The head is huge!

Did someone make a mistake or are they trying to say something?

Look at that big head...

Gina and I browsed around the store until we ran out of time. We drove back to the hotel to pick up Mom and Dad. We met my uncle, aunt, cousins and my aunt's parents at Cedars for dinner. The building is accessible and the handicapped spots are right in front of the building. The drive was pretty wide; other cars had plenty of room to get by. When pulling into the parking lot, the drive loops in front of the building then down and around below the building. Another section of the parking lot sits about five feet below the building.

At dinner with the fam 

When we were all finished eating, we went to my uncle's house to say goodbye. We then went back to the hotel to go to bed. The next morning, we got up and drove to Madison, Wisconsin. Here we ate dinner at a fun little shop where everything on the ceiling moves and there is a carousel outside! I had a delicious salad and mom and I split a yummy ice cream cone.

Hot air balloons just floating around 

Dad, Mom and I in front of the carousel with some ice cream!

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Madison. This hotel was pretty nice, but was the squishiest hotel that we stayed at; the room was small and it was hard for me to maneuver around the room. However, at this hotel, they gave every guest two free drinks before 7:00 P.M., along with the continental breakfast! And they also had fresh lemon ice water in the entry upon arrival; a refreshing treat after a hot days ride.

When we got up the next morning, we ate breakfast and then we were on our way to Sandusky, Ohio, via Kalamazoo, Michigan. Here we met up with Gina's best friend and her family for lunch! It was so fun to see her across the county and to meet her mom and little brother. We then continued on to the Holiday Inn Express in Vermillion, Ohio (right outside of Sandusky). This hotel room was pretty tight as well, but that is the toss up we have to deal with when we rather have two beds. On a positive note, being in Sandusky meant that we were now on the home stretch for reaching New York!