Day 2: In California

Pretty much uneventful road trip once we finally got on the Interstate. We stopped for dinner at McDonalds in Yuma as usual for a Tucson to San Diego road trip. It was somewhat slow going for a while after we were in California, as there was a Border Control temporary stop right after the permanent set up one. Pretty much normal, though. About another hour and a half to San Diego.

A few photos from today are below including Mik taking a nap, entering California, and the sand dunes.

Day 2: Finally on the Road

Despite Day 1 of the trip being almost two weeks ago today is the second day of the trip, although also kind of the first real day as now we have actually left Tucson and are not returning until August. Originally I had planned that we leave somewhat early in the morning for the drive to San Diego, but Mik had his baclofen pump refill appointment at 12:30pm today to top off before the trip and to be good to go until his appointment for a refill in the Boston area in July.

We were going to leave town straight from the appointment, but that did not quite work out. It was pouring raining and Dad was slow at loading the last stuff because he was sort of trying to wait it out. Then we thought we were on our way to stop at Eegee's and Gamestop before the appointment, but Dad forgot his wallet. Better before than later down the road, though. We did at least still get to Eegee's before the appointment because we were all hungry and Mik got his promised last chance for the Flavor of the Month, Orange Dream, which is his favorite Eegee's flavor, before the trip. He was afraid it was going to be the flavor in June or July and he was going to miss it this year.

There was not time for Gamestop on the way, so we stopped there after the appointment. Originally Mik was just going to return his used game that he bought last night because he did not like it. Then on the way to the appointment he discovered his DS Lite was broken with a big black pressure spot in the top screen. Thus we ended up all going in so he could look into getting a replacement. Dad ended up getting him a used one as an early birthday present. Mik then used his return and some more of his saved up money to buy four DS games and one PSP game to be stocked up for at least the beginning of the trip. I also got one DS game to use some of my Gamestop credit I had and then let Dad use the rest of the credit towards Mik's new DS.

After Gamestop we finally officially hit the road for the trip at 1:40pm. We are now just getting on the I8 towards San Diego. So glad the trip has finally really begun.

National League Side of Car

Below is a photo of the National League side of the car, where we already have the Diamondbacks logo sticker on the car. Nothing will be on the American League side until at least the 4th game at the Angels on Monday. By then there should be three on the National League side.

All the Ballparks 2009 Road Trip Window Lettering on Dad's Car

Today Dad picked up the window lettering he ordered to put on the back windows on the sides of his Yukon. Below are two photos he took of it on the passenger's side with his phone. We are going to try to collect team logo stickers as we visit their home ballparks. We got one at the Dbacks, but he has put on the car, yet.

Accessibility Review: Chase Field

Over the years we have sat in many parts of Chase Field. The best seats ever were when we decided at the last minute to go to the Cubs @ Dbacks game several years ago. It was the first time we went with just Mom and the first time we tried handicap seats. The seats were the best available and they were located dugout level a little down the first base from the visitor's dugout. Basically you are as close to the action as the players and coaches in the dugout. It is not exactly the best way to see the whole action of the field because you are down below the field, but it is a very cool one time experience. The best part is that there is a fence instead of bars in front of you. Sure it makes the view a little harder, but for Mik it was awesome because he could hold onto the fence and stand up and watch the game very much like someone in a dugout. We have never been able to get those seats again, although we have not really tried since they are pretty expensive and the view from the 100 level is much better for seeing the game beyond the infield.

Many times we have sat in the 200 Club level section, but there really is not handicap seats and those games Dad would carry Mik to the seat and then take the wheelchair to guest relations. These seats are not bad if you park in the garage behind the stadium (by the way this is the cheapest garage in the area and always our choice) because you can get into the club level right from there and park on the third level to entirely avoid the elevators. If you park elsewhere, though, you will have to deal with the elevators, which can sometimes be a crowded annoyance, but they do have some that they enforce as only for those cannot take the stairs that the wait for is rarely long.

The choice area for handicap seating in our opinion, though, is the 100 level, which is where we sat for the game on this trip. This is the level you enter the park on, so no elevator hassle and since we get the handicap seats when we sit on this level no going to guest relations to store the chair. The section we sat in for the trip was 105 and not that great, as the scoreboard can barely be seen, but we have sat closer to center field before and had pretty much no view of the scoreboard before. Also, the bar in front of the wheelchair seating is kind of high and gets in the line of sight for those who are short and especially those in wheelchairs and cannot stand up to see over the bar when there are exciting plays. Mik could get a good view by leaning down under the bar. It is an annoyance and poor planning in my opinion, but the bar seems to be a pretty standard thing with handicap seats. At least the seats are located far enough above the next row that there would have to be a very tall person standing up to block your view of the game. By the way the better view of the field along with the scoreboard are in the 100 level sections along the baselines and not behind the outfield like we sat, however, the ones behind the outfield bleachers like 105 are the cheapest and worth the savings, especially when we are going on a two and a half month road trip to see all 30 ballparks.

Mik's Food Scrapbook: Chase Field

At Chase Field Mik tried the meatball sandwich from Hungry Hill Sandwiches, which is supposedly the trademark food restaurant for Chase Field, but the guidebook is 5 years old and the food service here changed drastically after it went from being the BOB to being Chase Field. Mik liked the sandwich, but he only ate part of it because it was filling.

The other food item he tried was a Jolly Rancher slushie, since it was something he never heard of before. He sent Dad to get it and did not request a flavor, so he ended up with Green Apple, which he does not like as a flavor anyways and would have chosen Cherry if he had gone to choose. He says even if the flavor was good he would not rate it very high because it was a very liquidy slushie and not very frozen.

Accessibilty Review: Play Ball Exhibit at Mesa Historical Museum

The Play Ball Exhibit is located inside the Mesa Historical Museum. The first accessible thing we noted was the lack of any handicap parking. There might be another parking lot for the museum, but in front the sort of street parking does not have any handicap spots. It worked out fine, though, since it was not crowded and there was easy to park so that there was space to get the wheelchair on the side of the car for Dad to get Mik into it.

The Museum's main entrance is several stairs, but they clearly have a sign that points to the ramp on the right side of the building that leads to the side entrance. Once inside you are in a hallway that the museum's exhibits are in rooms off of. About halfway down the hall is the info desk, where you pay admission ($5 for adults, $4 over 65, $3 ages 3-12, and free under 3).

The whole museum is located on one level, so very accessible. The Play Ball exhibit and the other exhibits we went into (did not do it all, though) all had plenty of room for the wheelchair to navigate through. The Play Ball exhibit even had some Knotholes at an eye level that Mik could easily look through. The other main part of the exhibit Mik cared about was the interactive exhibit playing the Backyard Baseball on the Wii. The controllers were located in an easy to reach spot for him and since it was not actually a sensor bar important game it worked out fine for him. To start the game after turning the system on, however, you did have to aim it higher and from farther back then was easy for him to do.