Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

Date of Visit: June 25, 2026

As we had not visited Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, our visit was for more than just an America 250 stamp. However, as there was not much for Mik to do, it was not that much longer of a stop than the places we have revisited this year just for a 250 stamp.

The access ramp to the sidewalk was a little awkwardly placed at back of the first parking spot, which could easily end up being partially blocked if the person parking there does not pay attention.

Not sure if it is often this way or just the day we were there, but there was a hose across the path to the main entrance of the visitor center. There was a "ramp" over it, but it was narrow and steep to cross over meaning it was safer and easier to just go over the hose only.

The visitor center has a side door that leads out to the mounds, which can be also be accessed by following the path around the building, that we used to go in and out once we realized that was an option.

The visitor center did not have much to see. The only exhibit was of tribal nation flags of tribal nations associated with the site. There was an interactive language thing, but it was being used by other visitors and it seemed it would be awhile before we could have a turn. I think they might have had a movie, but this was a rare site that the rangers were not all that engaging and were too busy talking with each other to have been directed to it or be told when it was showing next.

There is a sidewalk that leads up to the entrance to the mounds area and that is as far as Mik could go.

It is understandable that they do not want to disturb the mounds area and add sidewalks to be provide access to the mounds and the signage they have out there. However, it does not make sense that the first sign is not put near the end of the sidewalk so at least that one could be read.

There are some signs about the mounds near the visitor center. However, since there are not really any informational or artifact exhibits inside the visitor center, for Mik this site felt much like one of our quick visits to a NPS site just for the 250 stamp, although he did let me go walk around the mound area while Dad and him sat in the shade by the visitor center.

Destination Info:

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

16062 State Route 104

Chillicothe, OH 45601

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Canyon Rim Visitor Center

Date of Visit: June 24, 2026

Our visit to Canyon Rim Visitor Center was mainly to get the America 250 stamps they had there. Dad and I had visited here before, but since it was Mik's first visit, we also walked out to the overlooks so he could see the river and the New River Gorge Bridge. As we wanted to make sure we had enough time at our next stop of the day in Ohio, we did not end up seeing the movie in the visitor center.

There is a good overlook of the river out the back door of the visitor center. You can also view the river out the back windows from inside the visitor center, but Mik found the frame lines of the window were right at eye level for him when Dad rolled him up to the window.

To see the bridge, there is a short boardwalk trail off to the side of the visitor center.

The trail continues down steps including a warning to know your limits as going down is optional, but coming back up is not. Even without going down the steps, you can get a decent view of the bridge.

Destination Info:

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Canyon Rim Visitor Center

162 Visitor Center Road

Lansing, WV 25862

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Sandstone Falls

Date of Visit: June 24, 2026

Dad and I previously visited in 2016 when it was a National River. That trip we only visited the Canyon Rim Visitor Center. This trip we also visited the Sandstone Visitor Center partly because they had some different America 250 stamps than Canyon Rim, but also because we wanted to explore more of the park this trip.

We ended up getting to the visitor center a little before closing time, so just Dad went in to get the National Park passport stamps. While doing that, he found out there was an accessible trail to see Sandstone Falls, so we decided to go do that before going to the hotel.

The drive from the Sandstone Visitor Center to Sandstone Falls is a scenic drive that takes you along the river on one side and then back on the other side to where there is an accessible boardwalk trail to view the falls.

While the trail is accessible, the parking is mostly not. There was accessible spots right at the boardwalk start, but they were occupied. Most of the parking is on another level of the hill and it is rather steep going between the levels. Thus, we unloaded Mik and then Dad parked. He did end up with a spot on the lower level by the trail. Even though the car next to us left just as we we got back to the truck, Dad had to pull out for us to load because there was a giant water puddle there.

Mik said it was a rather smooth boardwalk trail other than the initial transition up on to the boardwalk was a bit of a bump.

Just a little into the trail, there is a good viewpoint of Sandstone Falls.

At the end of the trail, there is another farther view of Sandstone Falls. Mik preferred the first view of the falls, but the whole trail was still worthwhile as the end view was a good view of more of the river.

Destination Info:

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Sandstone Visitor Center

330 Meadow Creek Road

Sandstone, WV 25985

Hotel El Paso Review - 1 King 1 Futon Suite Communications Mobility Access Tub

Date of Visit: June 4-5, 2025

Hotel El Paso is a very basic hotel, but the price was only about $75 after taxes and fees, which was at least $50 cheaper than other options that night. Finding the hotel seeming looking abandoned and under significant renovations with no warning on the IHG website was a little off putting, but still worth the savings for us.

The bathroom did have grab bars by toilet, but it did not really have much space for the wheelchair. This may have been one of the few places Mik could get on the toilet himself, but I do not recall one way or the other.

The tub had quite a few grab bars and the seat seemed decent in how it flipped up out of the way, but none of us ended up using the shower.

The room was overly furnished with a table and chair that made it difficult to get into the room and then not enough room to actually use the futon/sofa bed and even walk through much less roll a wheelchair.

The mini fridge and microwave area was past the other bed and this was the area Mik found to be the best for his floor area space.

Overall this hotel worked out for us even though it was overly furnished and would do again if passing through and it was that much cheaper than other options. We really feel that it should have a renovation warning when booking, though, as it is very much feels like it a construction zone once you go inside. The rooms are definitely still old and worn, but everything other than the outlets being too lose to keep my charge in overnight worked and it was clean. There was no breakfast, but they do have coffee and put out little packages of mini donuts in the morning.

Destination Info:

Hotel El Paso (IHG)

949 Sunland Park Drive

El Paso, TX 79922

Some of our other El Paso Area Posts:

• Chamizal National Memorial
• Our Koffee Trail: The Coffee Box

USS Midway Museum

Date of Visit: June 2, 2025

Instead of going straight to our hotel and hoping to be able to check in early, we decided to visit the USS Midway Museum to pass the time until hotel check in. As Mik has long been interested in military and particularly the Navy, the Midways is something we have considered the past few trips to San Diego, especially since we had been downtown to leave on a cruise, but we were not sure if it would be accessible enough to be worth it. The night before I had picked up the brochure for the USS Midway Museum at the Yuma hotel and one of the things it mentioned was 70% of exhibits had elevator access, which convinced us it was enough to be worth visiting.

After going through security, there is an elevator up to board the ship.

On the main deck, Mik enjoyed looking at the aircrafts. We also found that there was an ADA Video Tour kiosk with videos about the areas that were not wheelchair accessible in this area. Mik really enjoyed this and was then disappointed when the one up on the Flight Deck was out of order. There is an audio tour available, which you can use their devices or use your own phone, which made us extra disappointed that they then did not have an option to use your own phone for the ADA video tours.

Mik really enjoyed that he could go into the CH-46 Sea Knight via the back.

It is very steep, though, so it was a little scary on the way back out.

Before going to the Below Decks area, we had lunch at the cafe. It was rather overpriced, but not any different than other tourist attraction type places and the food was good (Mik got fish tacos).

A good portion of the Below Decks is not accessible and we forgot to check for the ADA Video Tour on this level, but we still really enjoyed this level because they do have a lift to go into their newest exhibit area about engineering was really well done.

It was good the I rode with Mik and not Dad as at the top it has a a low overhead to watch out for.

Mik enjoyed the area where you could touch the objects on the table and it would tell you about it.

The exhibit about shipboard fire is also impressive.

Overall we really enjoyed the USS Midway Museum and did not feel like we missed out by not going to the areas Mik could not. I think it would have been good to see the movie, but we kept being in that area right after it started and Mik did not want to wait around for the next showing.

Destination Info:

USS Midway Museum

910 N Harbor Dr

San Diego, CA 92101

Some of our other San Diego Area Posts:

• Cabrillo National Monument
• Hampton Inn San Diego-Downtown
• Holiday Inn Express La Mesa near SDSU
• Our Koffee Trail
• Dark Horse Coffee Roasters
• Lemon Grover Coffee
• Pink Rose Cafe
• PetCo Park
• San Diego Automotive Museum
• San Diego Model Railroad Museum

Holiday Inn Express La Mesa near SDSU - 2 Queen Standard Accessible Tub Kitchenette

Date of Visit: June 2-4, 2025

Pretty sure I had booked the room as roll-in shower, but we did end up with an accessible room and probably would not have even used the shower if we had it, so we did not even try to get it fixed when we got to room and found out it was a tub instead of shower.

The bathroom was almost a good design. Biggest problem was that the sink comes out too close to the toilet and we had to take the armrest off to be able to put the wheelchair by the toilet. Also, the toilet seat was very loose.

The lotion and handwash was mounted at least on the edge of the sink area, but because the counter comes up, they were kind of high. The sink is also a nice idea of it being on the side so easier to reach for those in a wheelchair, but it was too close to the edge of the sink that it was hard to wash hands and not bump the edge of sink.

The room area was spacious with plenty of floor space for Mik.

The kitchenette area had a small mini fridge, microwave, and shelves with space to actually put some of your own things.

Overall this hotel worked well for us. The location was perfect for visiting our relatives and also lots of good coffeeshops nearby to try. The breakfast was also decent.

Destination Info:
Holiday Inn Express La Mesa near SDSU

8000 Parkway Drive

La Mesa, California 91942

Some of our other San Diego Area Posts:

• Cabrillo National Monument
• Hampton Inn San Diego-Downtown
• Our Koffee Trail
• Dark Horse Coffee Roasters
• Lemon Grover Coffee
• Pink Rose Cafe
• PetCo Park
• San Diego Automotive Museum
• San Diego Model Railroad Museum

Tohono Chul Park

Date of Visit: May 31, 2025

We had done all our must dos in Tucson the day before, so we really did not have a plan for this day and did not decide until mid-morning to go to Tohono Chul Park. We knew it was hot, but it is all relative because dry 100 in Tucson does not seem anywhere near as bad as the humid 80s and higher in Myrtle Beach. However, if we had planned to visit Tohono Chul Park, we definitely would have chosen to go earlier in the morning to enjoy it more, especially for Mik who found it too hot for him after about an hour (and we may have ended up spending more time browsing the gift shop than out in the park).

When we pulled into the parking lot, we found all the accessible parking spots in front taken and just took two spots after making the turn to the rest of the parking lot. When we walked over to the entrance, we discovered that we should have kept going and there were more accessible spots lined up with the entrance that you just have to cross the road to get to the entrance rather than the others that are right there.

While we did not end up going through much of the park, Mik did enjoy that the paths we did go on were mostly wide sidewalk paths.

We did go for a bit on dirt path that was not difficult to roll on, but did have to watch out for some bumps and more gravelly parts.

At one point we sat in the shade, where we thought we were looking at a tortoise statue. Then we realized it was an actual tortoise.

Mik's favorite of the little we saw was this horse statue.

Overall it was kind of a wasted trip because Mik got too hot to really see much of the place, but he saw enough that he would be interested in going again on a future Tucson trip if we just went earlier in the day.

Destination Info:

Tohono Chul Park

7366 North Paseo del Norte

Tucson, AZ 85704

Some of our other Tucson Area Posts:

• Hampton Inn Tucson Airport
• Our Koffee Trail: Chocolate Iguana
• Titan Missle Museum