Our Summer 2012 Plans

Tomorrow or Friday we hit the road for the first of four planned trips this summer. This summer was supposed to be just simple seeing the new Miami ballpark to be back up-to-date having seen a game at every current MLB ballpark, but it ended up evolving into more.

First, we decided to add some time at Disney World since our premier passes are good until June 2 and we now have a DVC membership. Then I added some national park trips to the route, since we want to try for the Gold achievement in the National Parks Travelers Club passport stamp thing for this year. At the last minute I tried to revise the plan to catch Strasburg pitch in Atlanta on Saturday, but alas they are sold out of accessible seats. Thus the first trip this summer is 2 weeks long with just one ball game in Miami (still get to see the Nats, just not Strasburg pitch), a week at Disney World, a day at Universal Orlando to see Harry Potter World, and visits to 7 national park units.

The second trip this summer is mid-June and is just Dad and me going to Vegas for the bowling tournament we get to do as part of the league we did this year.

The third trip is Disneyland for Mik's 18th birthday. I celebrated my 18th birthday at Disneyland, so it seemed appropriate to do Mik's there, too, especially since Cars land will be open. We are also finally staying at the Grand California hotel, which especially Mom has wanted to stay out since it first opened. For his birthday meal we got reservations at what will be the very newly opened and fancy Carthay Circle restaurant. We were going to do the Ariel's Grotto World of Color dinner finally, but of course that will be discontinued with the opening of Carthay Circle and now they just have princess things there.

July was supposed to be spent on household projects, but Mom and Dad decided on a two week cottage trip and Mik learning to drive the boat. It will be funner to spend time at the cottage on the island in Michigan. Plus, I am going to make a plan to hit Marceline and at least a few National Parks along the drive to and from the cottage.

It is no All the Ballparks summer, but it sure ended up being more than I thought. That's a good thing, but it will be interesting fitting my weekly discussions and assignments in for my Masters courses. I will be done before summer 2013, but seriously I plan to stick to just the Europe Disney Cruise. Oh, and probably a little Disneyland trip. Oh, and the Arizona national parks we were going to do this summer, but won't get to because school starts beginning of August and everything else that got planned. And thus you can see it quickly evolves into a lot of summer plans. I will say now, though, that I will try really hard to make no 2014 plans so Dad can try and do Alaska like he has always wanted and not the flying through Anchorage checking off the state when we go to Hawaii in October way.

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site

Date of Visit: March 28, 2012

The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site was not much of a visit, but at least I did get us National Park Passport stamps for it and the nearby Carter G. Woodson House NHS (not currently open to public).  I could not find any info on whether this was an accessible site or not, so we went fully knowing Mik might not be able to go in.

It turns out that there are two sets of steps up to it not to mention the tour probably is multiple floors.  Of course, I did not directly ask if there was wheelchair access, but there definitely was not a sign and a Park Ranger was buzzing to be let back in and I would think he would have said something if there was because he passed us on the street while we were still taking photos before I went up to the door.


Anyways, it is a historic house and that's just the way it goes sometimes.  Neither of us actually toured the house (I sure was not going to leave Mik sitting out there by himself!), but we count it as visiting it towards out National Parks visited count as we did go right up to it.  Since we had low expectations, it was not a disappointment and in fact Mik still really enjoyed seeing the flowers in the yard.

Destination Info:
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
1318 Vermont Ave NW
Washington, DC

Francis Scott Key Memorial Park

Date of Visit: March 27, 2012

The Francis Scott Key Memorial Park is located on the Georgetown end of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.  The park is on the site of the house he lived in as a lawyer in the early 1800s.  The memorial area is rather flat, but there is a rather scary steepness down to the canal and waterfront right next to the crosswalk you must use to get to the park from Georgetown.  The other side of the park is accessed directly from the Francis Scott Key Bridge.


Mik was not to into us stopping at the memorial, but only because it was cold and windy that day.  After we got over there, though, he did want me to read some of the informational signs to him.  I think the trees growing up the columns is pretty cool.

Destination Info:
Francis Scott Key Memorial Park
M Street between 34th and 35th Streets (next to bridge)
Washington, DC

Old Stone House

Date of Visit: March 27, 2012

The Old Stone House is located in the Georgetown area of DC and is part of the Rock Creek Park National Park Unit.  Georgetown is the least accessible area of town partially due to the Metro not having a stop actually in it, but also because it is more historic along with hilly like the Virginia side of the river.

We walked the little over a mile to the Old Stone House from our hotel near Rosslyn.  The Foggy Bottom Metro is slightly closer, but if you really want to mostly avoid the hilliness and uneveness of M Street there is a convenient Metro bus that you can take between the Metro stations with stops regularly along M Street.

Mik was not too into the outing to the Old Stone House, as it was so bumpy on the M Street sidewalks and they are slanted towards the street, so he had trouble sitting up straight.  I suspected it was not accessible, but I somehow got the idea that you can access the first floor.  You totally can, however, it is not exactly accessible.

The front door is the one you are supposed to go through and once you get inside it does have a ramp down into the gift shop.  However, outside it is about a six inch tall threshold.  We started by going into the garden on the side before even looking at the front door, so when I went around to the front door and saw it was a big threshold I already knew that the one on the side did not look as bad.


I went in and asked if there was wheelchair access and the rangers looked confused (admittedly it was only one guy's second day) and said yes just this floor and I had to specifically ask if they could open the other door because it looked easier to get in using.  Basically, who would go if you cannot really see the whole house and Georgetown is not the best getting around in a wheelchair.  However, they were friendly and immediately were okay with letting us use the side door.  Only one room and a gift shop to see, but at least Mik could come inside while I got the 7 National Park Passport stamps they have here, which was our main purpose.

Overall the Old Stone House is not really a must see unless you are wandering around Georgetown in general, which is kind of interesting even if it is hilly.  By the way it is not far from the very popular DC Cupcakes featured in the TLC show.  M Street is not too bad, but boy do the hills leading north of M Street seem really really steep!!!  It was still cool to see the only house remaining in DC with its original pre-Revolution foundation and definitely worth it if you collect National Park Stamps.

Destination Info:
The Old Stone House
3051 M St NW
Washington, DC

Art of Video Games Exhibit at Smithsonian American Art Museum

Date of Visit: March 26, 2012

Mik was excited to go see the Art of Video Games Exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (see our accessibility review and more general visit recap from last year here).  The exhibit was pretty interesting showing video footage of a variety of games to illustrate the way graphic art has changed in video games over time.  Mik especially liked the area that showed the different game console systems along with example footage from four different games per system.

Another cool part of the exhibit is that there are some giant screen gaming stations that you can play.  There are a few different games to play from different systems, although the only one I can remember off the top of my head is Pac-Man because we actually tried that one.  Mik could reach and use the controls fine, but he quickly tired of it because he stunk at it.

Overall an awesome exhibit and worth checking out even though we did not want to see anything else at the museum that day.  It was definitely a convenient stop on the way back to the hotel after Ford's Theater.

Destination Info:
Smithsonian American Art Museum (same building as National Portrait Gallery)
Between G St and F St and 7th and 8th St
Washington, DC

Ford's Theater National Historic Site

Date of Visit: March 26, 2012

This time of year we could have gotten day of tickets on the weekday without much trouble, as when we got there to pick up ours most tours had tickets available.  However, our noon tour was sold out and it is worth the convenience fee to have them reserved.  We choose to pick them up via will call because the other options cost extra.

We arrived at Ford's Theater about an hour early for our tour, since I knew I had to at least pick up the tickets.  It took us awhile to figure out that the door everyone lines up outside of for the tour is actually the one to go in for the box office.  Then it took about 15 minutes to pick up our tickets even though we were next to be served because the two ticket people were helping people buy show tickets.  We had purchased the audio tour tickets, but I did not realize we were supposed to then pick up our audio tour things before getting in the ticket entry line.

The walkthrough is self-guided and it is just timed entry.  Depending on the time you choose you get access to the museum and a theater walkthrough or just a visit to the theater for a ranger talk.  You also get access to Petersen House with all tickets, but I do not know how that works since I am pretty sure it is not accessible.  Additionally, you get access to the Center for Education and Leadership next to Petersen House, which I did not realize at the time, although it is accessible since it is new.


Overall we enjoyed the museum, although it was annoying that a school group gathered up waiting for everyone to meet at bottom of stair exit making it hard to view the end of the exhibit.  They did seem to try to be as out of the way as possible, but there just is not much room in the museum.  It would probably be best to hand back while the line comes down the stairs and join the back of the timed walkthrough group.  After the museum you take the elevator back up to the lobby and be confused by there being no sign of what to do next.

We wandered over to the ticket scanning spot and the person who escorted us earlier to the elevator was there and escorted us down the ramp to the theater.  From here you can see most of the theater, although the upper seating blocks the view of the boxes somewhat, although I image if you manage to not skip the balcony access you would get a decent view still.


After we were done looking at the theater, I was waiting at the bottom of the ramp to go back up when the security desk ranger came over and let us out the deliveries door right there.  The timing was right when a tour entry started and I just figured we would wait for the entry line to clear and head back up the ramp.  Going out the deliveries door was fine, although I guess we should have done the balcony before the main theater level.

By the way, I was not impressed with them for not being visitor friendly and informative since they did not tell us about picking up our audio tour first or that we could go to balcony or have a sign or say you might want to go check out the stuff across the street included with your ticket.  Not to mention the ranger in the theater was rather rude to the school group yelling at them to go only one way and not sit down when he could have politely informed them, as they really did seem like a well-mannered group and it would be my guess the signs are not obvious or helpful from the rest of our experience here.

It does not seem right to have to know yourself, especially since the wheelchair route through is not an obvious route.   I kind of get the audio tour thing, but no one ever said anything to us and I did not realize until we were down in the museum that we were supposed to get them up by will call.  Between the person at will call just handing us tickets and the person scanning them it would seem they would tell you, hey go over there to get your audio tour.

The other two things just mean having signs, which would also be helpful for knowing that you do not have to wait for the incoming line to clear for you to go back up the ramp from the theater, but can leave through the delivery entrance right by theater.  However, at the same time this means you do not end up going to the balcony, which you can do from the same elevator that goes down to museum.

Destination Info:
Ford's Theater
511 10th Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20004

U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center

Date of Visit: March 26, 2012

We have been to the U.S. Navy Memorial several times, but somehow never noticed that there was a U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center next to it.  The only reason I knew to look for it this time was that there is supposedly a National Park Passport Stamp for the memorial at the Heritage Center Bookstore.  We did not find it, but then again we did not ask about it and the whole place seemed to be in a major overhaul mode.  It must be there, though, as the day after we visited it the last confirmation date for the stamp in the Park Stamps database.

On the level you enter the U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center there is not much other than a ship model.  There is an elevator and stairs down to the exhibit space and bookstore/gift shop.  There was not really much to see, as they were taking stuff down and had ladders and such in a big part of the area.  The bookstore had the displays of items so close together that Mik could not get his wheelchair through most of it.


Overall we wish we had skipped the U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center.  Not that it does not have potential to be an interesting stop, but they were actively dismantling exhibits and there was clutter of coat racks in the elevator hallway and such.  The U.S. President's Room was interesting, but really it was not worth the visit at this time.  Now if there was not exhibit turnover going on it would be a great stop other than Mik did not like that the buttons to select the floor you wanted to go to where at about his eye level.

Destination Info:
U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center
701 Navy Memorial
Washington, D.C.