One Life: Babe Ruth at National Portrait Gallery

Date of Visit: August 3, 2016

Usually we wait until September to start going back to the museums, but when I told Mik about the Babe Ruth exhibit he wanted to go when it opened. That didn't happen due to my slow healing pinky and then the weather (humidity and rain). Today we finally managed a decent weather day and even decided to roll/walk home instead of taking the metro so Mik could get a better feel of the neighborhood and using his power chair again (recently got repaired after being out of commission for over a year).

The exhibit was a little disappointing in that it is just one small room. It's well done and gives a good overview of Babe Ruth's life, but we've been to the Babe Ruth birthplace museum in Baltimore and this exhibit just seemed a very small scale version of that museum. However, that museum is not accessible (or at least was not back in 2009), so Mik liked this exhibit a little for easy access. He didn't like that he couldn't get close enough to be able to touch most of the options to play the videos on the one multimedia part of the exhibit, though.

Even though the exhibit was disappointing, it was still a fun outing because there's always something interesting to discover at the National Portrait Gallery. For example, Mik enjoyed seeing the portrait of Kevin Spacey as President Frank Underwood from House of Cards in the Recent Acquisitions area. Plus, we enjoyed catching some Pokemon while sitting out front having a snack.

Go here to see our review of the National Portrait Gallery for more general accessibility info. It's a few years old, but all still applies as far as we've noticed (Mik has no desire to ever recheck that tiny elevator).

Destination Info:
National Portrait Gallery
Between G St and F St and 7th and 8th St
Washington, DC

Titanic Memorial

Date of Visit: July 18, 2016

I had been meaning to walk over to the Titanic Memorial for months since we are often walking past the sign pointing to it. When I told Mik, the Titanic Memorial was a Pokemon Go gym he was like we must go see it. It wasn't about wanting to play Pokemon Go, although that is something we have been enjoying as something we can get out and do together since we tend to avoid the museums during the summer due to tourist crowds. He actually more wanted to go the memorial because he never even knew there was one and he enjoys checking out all the different memorials.

Getting to the memorial isn't exactly accessible for us, but that's because we tend to come from along the waterfront and that area is currently under construction. The problem is that while they have sidewalks open for pedestrian access through the construction area they have blocked most of the corners and not added any ramps. Going down the curb isn't a big deal and normally going up also isn't, but I'm just getting back my range of motion and strength from breaking my pinky back in April and maneuvering him over bumps is one of the main things I still struggle with. If we go the long way around from 4th & P Streets, accessibility isn't an issue (and more Pokestops).

Destination Info:
Titanic Memorial
Southwest Waterfront near 4th & P Streets SW
Washington, DC