Day 76: Final Day Group Photo with National League Side of Car

Before we left Texas for the final drive home we had Mom take a photo of Mik, Dad, and me in front of the National League side of the car as our end of trip group photo. We choose the National League side to pose by partially because the final team was in the National League. The main reason, though, was that all our favorite teams are in the National League. Mik threw his last fit of the trip because we made him be in the photo, but it was worth it to get him in the photo, so we have one of our few group photos of the trip.

Day 75: Texas Wendish Heritage Museum

On August 2, 2009, Mom and I went with one of the friends we were visiting in Texas to see the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum. Dad had gone out to see it the day before, so he just stayed with Mik so we did not have to drag him along. Our visit consisted of seeing four buildings.

We started at the church, which still has an active congregation. The building is not all that spectacular outside, but inside it is beautiful. I love all the blue in the church. The pillars are also interesting because they are wood, but they are painted to look like they are marble.

The first museum building we went into was the kitchen that they make the Wendish noodles in. They had the eggs laid out because they work better if they are room temperature and the next day was noodle making day.

The second building was part of the main museum. They have a genealogy library and a gift shop along with the exhibit in this building. One of the most interesting things in my opinion was the display on the different ways they make decorative eggs.

The last building we went into has items set up on display to show different settings with items donated from Wendish families that immigrated to Texas and their descendents. There are settings like a child’s room, a couple’s bedroom, a store, and a schoolhouse (by the way this was part of what the building these exhibits are in used to be). One of the older things is a black wedding dress from the 1879.

Mik’s Food Scrapbook: Royer’s Round Top Texas

As part of our weekend stop to visit friends in Texas we went to lunch on August 2, 2009, as Royer’s in Round Top, Texas. Mik enjoyed a chocolate chip pie there. He loved the pie, as it is a lot like chocolate chip cookie dough. Plus, with the ice cream on top it is really like his favorite ice cream flavor (chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream). He did not finish because he got full, but he really did enjoy it. He also had two buns before the pie came, which he obviously liked because he had the second sneakily stealing it as the last one in the basket for the table.

Car Sticker Update: Lion Country Safari

The final bumper sticker we put on the car was the one for Lion Country Safari. We technically went before the Marlins game, but we actually bought it the day before going on the safari and then did not remember to put it on until the day after we went on the safari. The sticker has the Lion Country Safari logo and then an image of several of the animals they have at the safari.

Car Sticker Update: KOA

At the last KOA we got a bumper sticker and cut off the name of the particular KOA (West Palm Beach). Since we spent most of the trip staying at KOAs it seemed appropriate to add the KOA logo sticker to the back window of the car.

Car Sticker Update: Florida Marlins

The final team logo sticker to represent us visiting all 30 MLB ballparks this summer was the Florida Marlins. The sticker for the Marlins is the Marlin fish logo. Dad put it up after we got it at the Team Shop and before the game. After the game Dad and I took photos of each of us in front of it, but Mik would not pose. I did finally get one with him five days later and will be posting that after a few other posts.

Accessibility Review: Land Shark Stadium

Parking at Land Shark Stadium was easy. It does take a little driving around it to the one open gate for parking because they do not open it all up for a baseball game, but it is not hard to spot the open gate. The handicap parking is located pretty close, although you do still have to cross the main in and out traffic lane for the parking lot to get to and from the spots and the stadium. It really is a poor design to have the traffic lanes go around the stadium in front of the parking spots. It makes it dangerous for anyone to cross the car traffic to get to their car as well as making it hard for people in wheelchairs to be able to just fit between the cars often stopped too close together.

Actually entering the stadium was easy. The main reason was there were absolutely no crowds. This meant it was easy to go on the elevator without having people that do not need it trying to hog the elevator. They also have a person outside the elevator after the game making sure priority goes to those that really need it. This is great because really few besides those with wheelchairs, strollers, or walkers should need the elevator because right there is a short escalator out of the park. All the seating is on the lower level except for suites and football games. Also, to get just to the level of all the seating you do need the elevator/escalator and it is not avoidable like it is for many parks if you sit on the lower level.

We sat in section 125. The seats were pretty good. The view was great from centerfield. The bar in front was not a problem at all. The seats are also raised up in front and pushed back from the row in front, so that the view is not ever blocked by people standing in the row in front of the wheelchair section. This is due to their being a ramp up to the section right in front of the section. This ramp makes the section sort of its own and keeps it from having the general section traffic ending up crowding it, which is an issue at many ballparks. Mik also liked that each spot had a cup holder.

The only issue I had with the wheelchair section was that they only sell you one companion seat next to the wheelchair spot. The other ticket is for what they say is the row behind the wheelchair row, but technically that does not exist. There was not usher to explain, but I am pretty sure this supposed row 29 ends up being folding chairs behind the wheelchair row. Boy would that be a messy traffic jam trying to get in and out of the section during the game if there were even just a few families in the section that had people in the supposed extra companion row behind us. As it was, though, it was no issue because we were the only ones in the section. We just took a set of two permanent seats with a wheelchair space next to it in the wheelchair row.

Overall Land Shark Stadium is a rather blah one for baseball, but it is pretty good accessibility wise. Even Mik felt strong enough about the accessibility to tell me after the game to make sure I said in the accessibility review that it is not a good baseball experience stadium, but it is a great accessibility experience. Of course, the really low attendance and lack of crowds helps with the accessibility working out good, but even with crowds the elevator situation should still be under control. I only think the companion row could cause a real issue for crowded games. Hopefully, the new Marlins Ballpark that is to open in 2012 can maintain and even improve the accessibility experience. It would be very sad if the ballpark improved the baseball experience and took a step backwards in accessibility.