Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Date of Visit: March 25, 2012

Last year the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial construction made going to the Tidal Basin memorials from the Lincoln Memorial confusing, but now that it is a memorial to walk through to get to the Tidal Basin path.  We came from the Washington Monument and entered between the two big rock shapes, which is the same way you would come from the Lincoln Memorial.  However, if you came from the Tidal Basin, such as from the FDR or Jefferson Memorials, than you would first see the Martin Luther King Jr. statue part of the memorial.

The MLK Memorial includes walls stretching out on both sides from the rocks and center path.  The walls have quotes from speeches.  In the center of the Memorial is another giant stone.  It seems just like another stone from the way we came in, but as you get to the side of it you will see that on the other side is Martin Luther King Jr carved out of it.   On one side it says "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

The MLK Memorial is now the newest of the many memorials worth seeing in the National Mall area, but the part Mik loved the most was the bookstore and restrooms building.  Like many of the bookstores and monument doors in the area, it does have button operated automatic doors.  The part that most impressed Mik, though, was that it was the first time he had seen the buttons used for the bathrooms.  Mik especially appreciated that there was a Family Restroom and even it had a button outside and inside, although it was a little on the small side and would have been somwewhat difficult to go in there with him in his power chair.  Still it is adequate and much better than the older facilities in the area.

Also, in the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Bookstore we got 3 more National Park Passport stamps.  The first one we got was the Martin Luther King Jr MEM one, which filled up the last spot in our National Capital Region section of our 25th Anniversary Passports.  The way I do it we fit 40 stamps on the 5 pages with 13 of them being from last year's visit when we first bought them after forgetting our original passports at the hotel the day we did the memorials.  This time I did not forget those ones and the extra 2 at the MLK Jr Memorial (National Cherry Blossom Festival and National Mall & Memorial Parks ones) are the first ones in the National Capital region of those passports.

I was really excited about doing those stamps in mine because now my passport has a stamp in each region.  I started my original one in 2007 and after the ballpark trip in 2009 I had stamps in all regions except the National Capital region.  It was driving me nuts that I did not have any in that region, especially since I lived in the DC area between September 2007 and April 2008.  Not to mention I could have gotten some on the ballpark trip, but did not think of it at the time.  Mik only got his original in February 2011, so he only has one Western region and now 2 Capital region stamps in his original.  In the 25th Anniversary ones we do not yet have any from the North Atlantic or Southwest, although this summer we will hit some in the Southwest region.

Destination Info:
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
On Tidal Basin near intersection of Independence Ave and West Basin Drive
Washington, DC

Washington Monument Bookstore

Date of Visit: March 25, 2012

The Washington Monument is currently closed from earthquake damage that occurred back in August 2011.  You can still go up pretty close to it, but if you cannot go up it, it is kind of better to just view it from afar.  There is a typical sloped path up the hill to it for those that do want to walk or roll up closer.  The main purpose for our visit, though, was to get all the National Park Passport stamps they keep at the Washington Monument Bookstore.

The Washington Monument Bookstore is located at the bottom of the hill on the east side of the monument (i.e. on 15th Street).  The bookstore is very small and barely has just enough room to fit the wheelchair through, but not so much with it being crowded with people.  I just left Mik right inside the store. There was still just enough room for others to walk around him while I went over to the stamping station, which is on a high counter that Mik would not have been able to see or use unless he enter with his powerchair in a standing position, but then again he probably would not have been able to manuever through the small store like that anyways.

Mik felt claustrophobic having to wait for me, but he did like the warmth of the store.  If the weather was nicer, he would have much preferred to stay outside.  For most National Park Passport stamping locations even waiting in a tiny store would not have been annoying for Mik, but he had to wait almost 10 minutes for me because there were 24 stamps to get, which means me stamping 48 times (once for each of our books).  At least there was not a line when I got to the stamping station, so I got done as quickly as possible, but there was several people waiting to use them by the time I finished.  Mik got concerned about where I was and he was stuck with people on all sides and could not go anywhere, but he also liked that we got a bunch of stamps and they are all places we have been to and many we had never got the stamp for before.



After getting the stamps at the Washington Memorial Bookstore, we only had room for one more stamp in the National Capital Region of our 25th Anniversary Edition National Park Passports.  It was a good thing I brought our older regular National Park Passports because now we collected some in the National Capital Region of those instead of putting the extras in the Additional Cancellation pages, which I want to save until we fill a particular region pages in both books.

Destination Info:
Washington Monument Bookstore
East of Monument at bottom of hill
Washington, DC

White House Visitor Center

Date of Visit: March 25, 2012

The last time we went to the White House Visitor Center was back in 2006.  It really has not seemed to changed much since then other than the video they show is at least partially updated with there being footage of the Obamas.  Interestingly, though, some areas still do not include them, such as the Presidential medals display not including Obama.  If it was 2009 or even 2010 that would be understandable, but seriously its 2012 and it seems ridiculously outdated.  Now if they just stopped doing the Presidential Medals, then it should at least say something about it.  However, I rather doubt the tradition has ended.


The Visitor Center was still worth a visit for us, though, as we got 2 stamps for our National Park Passports.  One is for the Star-Spangled Banner National Trail and the other is for President's Park - The White House.

Overall the White House Visitor is still a nice stop, if you have not been there, yet.  They have a button operated automatic door.  The security check requires all bags and stuff in your pockets to be put through machine, but they did not do a pat down of Mik like at the airport.  However, they did ask for him to lean forward to make sure he was not hiding anything behind his back.  Also, if you walk through the metal detectors are on here, which is not always the case at the Smithsonian Museums where at least this time of year are usually just looking through bags.


After the Visitor Center we were going to just head over to some memorials on the National Mall, but I realized Mik did not remember ever actually seen the White House in person.  He might have when he was little, but I am pretty sure even in 2006 we did not walk up to it.  We just went and saw it from the Ellipse side, which coming from the Visitor Center required a rather round about way of going the long way around a statue (Sherman?) due to the road blocks and steps by the quick way to walk in.  However, it is not a big deal and really it is better to walk further and view the White House from the Lafayette Square side, which provides a closer view and there are some good statues to look at in the square.  It was cold and we were trying to get the memorials done as much as possible before it began to rain, so Mik was only up for the viewing it from what was closest for us at the time.

Destination Info:
White House Visitor Center
Southeast corner of 15th and E Streets
Washington, D.C.

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy Gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery

Date of Visit: March 24, 2012

It was a rainy day, so we took Mik's manual wheelchair.  We planned to go all the way up to Arlington House (the actual National Park), but we only got as far as the President John Fitzgerald Kennedy Gravesite before the rain began to really come down and it got to be too hard to keep pushing Mik up the steepness.  This would have been much better with the power chair if only it had not been raining.

The cemetery's website notes on accessibility only mention that you can get a pass to drive your vehicle to the sites by showing your handicap placard at the visitor center.  They do have a tour bus option that you can pay for to take you to the main places, but not sure if they are easily wheelchair accessible because I did not want to pay the $8.75 per person even if it was.

To get up to the JFK gravesite there is handicap ramp up to the right.  Once you get to the top there is another smaller ramped path up to the eternal flame.  There did not seem to be access to the area of the memorial with steps up to it at top of first ramp and before the stepped way up to the eternal flame.  However, it really started to rain when we got up here, so did not even go and see that part myself.


Overall the ramps to the gravesite and eternal flame are fine.  At least grade wise they are good.  The only problem was that as we came down the narrower one from the eternal flame it is not quite even with the main path.  Mik's front wheels do rather stink on his manual chair compared to past ones, so even this minor unevenness meant trouble.  Normally I can tilt the chair back and the little wheels off the ground, but due to the backpack and going down an incline there I had to turn the wheelchair around to get over the stupid little bump.  On a good weather day I probably would not have mattered, but when it was rainy and slippery it seemed like a big thing.

Even though we did not get up to the Tomb of the Unknown or Arlington House, it was worth just going to the Eternal Flame.  This was Mik's first time here and he was pretty impressed seeing a flame as we got up to the gravesite and it was raining.  Of course, at the time he only knew we were seeing JFK's grave or I did not tell him it was called the Eternal Flame.

Destination Info:
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy Gravesite
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia

Arlington National Cemetery Visitor Center

Date of Visit: March 24, 2012

Our goal for the day was to see various things at Arlington National Cemetery.  Because of the rain, we took Mik in his manual wheelchair.  Because of the hills and the rain, we did not see quite as much as we planned, but we did at least get some National Park Passport Stamps, which was a top priority for us.

We started with a stop at the Arlington National Cemetery Visitor Center.  There are ramps up and automatic doors to enter on the far end.  Inside we grabbed a map to help guide us to the other places we wanted to go.  Mainly, though, we just headed to the bookstore.

At the bookstore we got four stamps for our National Park Passports.  The stamps were for George Washington Memorial Parkway, Marine Corps War Memorial/Netherlands Carillon, Arlington House - Robert E. Lee Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery.

Destination Info:
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia

First Adventure Travelling with Power Chair on Airplane

Mik got his awesome power chair that can put him in a standing position back in December 2011.  Yesterday was the first time we took it on an airplane.  We suspected it could be an adventure/misadventure, as there always seems to be a high probability of one every time we fly.

In Chicago as the boarding was finishing for our flight to DC, the gate agent came in and asked if the back can be taken off the wheelchair.  Since, we had just gate checked the manual wheelchair, I thought she was taking about it and told her there were release levers for it.  She came back a few minutes later and asked me to come show them.

I thought the manual chair was just outside the door and I would quickly help them.  Well, they then escorted me down the steps to below the plane and around to the cargo loading area.  It turned out they wanted to reduce the height of the power chair.  I do not know how they did in on the first flight, but here they were trying to not put it on its side and did not know how to make it flatter.

I have not done much playing with Mik's controls, but I knew if could lay flat since it can go laying to standing.  It took me about 5 minutes, but I figured out the recline mode and got it flat so it could go in the cargo area without being laid down.  It was then kind of funny to watch them roll it up on to the conveyor belt tilted down as they had to release the brakes to roll it up there and then of course with the brakes released it tried to roll backwards.

As usual our flight out of Chicago was delayed.  I am pretty sure it was pretty much entirely the power chair's fault, but it was nice that they cared about not putting it on its side if they could avoid it.  Now I know to lay it flat when we check it in, but I kind of liked getting the adventure of going below to see them load it.

Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom - Stitch's Great Escape

Date of Visit: July 31, 2011

Stitch's Great Escape is a rather weird attraction, but the special effects of the thing coming down around your neck is kind of cool.  There are even several spots for wheelchairs to park and have a thing come down to be able to experience the special effects.  The funnest part, though, was seeing Mik's wheelchair glow in the dark.  There are a few other rides it glows well in (Haunted Mansion for one), but this one is the best because there are parts of pretty much pitch black.  Overall the whole thing was not really our type of thing, as it is mostly just dark and Stitch escaping and such, but it was worth it to see Mik's wheelchair glow.

Destination Info:
Magic Kingdom - Stitch's Great Escape
Lake Buena Vista, FL