Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts

Saturday, November 5, 2016

American Airlines Center: Portland Trail Blazers @ Dallas Mavericks


Date of Visit: November 4, 2016

Mik and Mom talk about going to a basketball game at a new arena every season to make progress towards having seen a game at every one, but in the past 5 years they still have only been to the Phoenix Suns and the Washington Wizards (this one at least was before it was our local team). As part of our current plan as we go road trip, we decided to finally try to see a game.

We originally tried to see the Memphis Grizzlies, but we couldn't get accessible seats. This has frequently been an issue and actually the biggest reason why their plans to get to more arenas haven't happened. We know in the case of the Suns it was often about getting to the right department that sold them and the Wizards we just have always bought the tickets at the box office. Thus, we considered just going to the Memphis box office to ensure they really didn't have any accessible tickets available. Then I realized we were near Dallas and was able to actually buy tickets on Ticketmaster.

Since Mom isn't exactly allowed to take the truck into parking garages (and Mom had Hyatt points for a free night), we walked to the American Airlines Center from the nearby Hyatt House. This ended up working out okay, but there is a lot of construction going on making it difficult to find an accessible route. There is a point we had to cross and the other side doesn't have a ramp, but at least this road is set up for entering the parking garage around game time making the traffic not an issue. The people directing parking were also willing to stop the traffic to let us just walk in the street until we got to the ramp at the next block.


We sat in Section 101. I had purchased two tickets for the wheelchair row and one in the row in front, but since they have a chair for each spot and plenty of room behind the row of chairs the usher said I could just sit behind Mik if I wanted. Mik liked that it was the level we entered and we didn't have to find an elevator. He also like the view of the game from this level.


Overall Mik enjoyed watching the game at American Airlines Center. However, it was a little loud for his liking. Also, it failed the cup holder test. The rows in front have them. Even the folding chairs in the wheelchair row have them, but when you move it out of the way for a wheelchair to roll into the spot the cup holder goes away.

Destination Info:
American Airlines Center 
2500 Victory Ave
Dallas, Texas

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Companion Restrooms at Dallas Fort Worth Airport

It has been awhile since I have flown through Dallas Fort Worth Airport with Mik.  In Tucson, we used to always choose Chicago over Dallas because Chicago seems to have fewer weather delays/cancellations and I have often had bad luck with Dallas.  Now that we are in Huntsville, though, Dallas is the only real option unless we are actually flying to Chicago, as Mik hates the narrowness of doing the aisle chair on American Eagle so much he would probably choose flying through Dallas to Chicago just to avoid that situation.  We still ended up spending more time than planned in Dallas, but this time it was because we volunteered to fly out later and earned ourselves some vouchers, which is kind of funny because we had used vouchers to get these tickets to go to the D23 Expo in the first place.

Companion Restrooms at Dallas Fort Worth Airport

Anyways back to the point of the post, we now like Dallas a lot more because we found the companion bathrooms located by every restrooms we saw.  Mik particularly liked that they were large including having space to roll his wheelchair up next to the toilet to transfer over.

Companion Restrooms at Dallas Fort Worth Airport

There was also a ledge to put backpacks and such down without actually putting them on the ground. 

Companion Restrooms at Dallas Fort Worth Airport

The auto flushing annoyed him as usual, but he did like the sink being a sensor to turn on.  However, the sink still did not work all that well for him with the soap being far away and not with a sensor and the faucet being somewhat of a stretch and he has reasonably long arms.  Overall, though, that is minor when all that really matters is not having to decide what restroom to go into because your only companion is not the same gender as you.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park: Mission San Jose

Mission San JuanDate of Visit: May 27, 2012

Mission San Jose was the mission we spent the most time at while visiting the different missions that are part of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.  While we were not able to go inside the actual church part of the mission due to an event going on, unlike Mission San Juan there still was plenty to walk around and see.

Mission San Juan
The paths around the Mission are paved and there are ramps for getting down in the area near the back of the church.  It was not exactly enjoyable to walk/roll around and visit, as it was a typical hot summer day.  However, it was still interesting to be able to see how it really was a community and military fortress, since this is the most preserved/restored of the missions.  One area you could go in interested Mik the post, as you could see out the holes for guns.

Destination Info:
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park - Mission San Jose
150 Woodhill
San Antonio, TX 78214

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park: Mission San Juan

Mission San JoseDate of Visit: May 27, 2012

Mission San Juan was the second mission we visited during our time exploring the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.  We did not spend much time at this mission, as it was under renovation, so you cannot go inside it and there is not much to see around the rest of the grounds of the mission.  The path around it is paved, though, so it is easy to explore - just not much to see at least until the mission is reopened.

Destination Info:
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park - Mission San Juan
9101 Graf Road
San Antonio, Texas 78214

Sunday, May 27, 2012

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park: Espada Aqueduct

Espada AqueductDate of Visit: May 27, 2012

The Espada Aqueduct was our second stop on our visit to the San Antonio Missions.  This was a quick stop, but totally worth it.  It is just cool to see the aqueduct that was used in Spanish colonial times and continued to be used until modern times.  I have read it is still functioning, but it certainly does not appear to be in use with it being totally dry on our visit.  However, that could be related to the whole San Antonio River revival project going on that we noticed a lot of signs for as we drove between the missions.

Espada Aqueduct
Destination Info:
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park - Espada Aqueduct
San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park: Mission Espada

Mission EspadaDate of Visit: May 27, 2012

We started our visit to the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park at Mission Espada. We started our visit at the visitor center to get the National Park stamp.  Entering the visitor center was a little awkward with dad having to hold both the doors open in order for it to be wide enough to push Mik in.  There is a small exhibit in the visitor center.


Mission EspadaAfter the visitor center we walked around to the church, which also had the same style of doors as the visitor center.  The doors to the church were a little more tricky, though, as only one was unlatched to open.  However, Dad figured out how to unlatch it in order to open both for Mik to get inside.

Mission EspadaDestination Info:

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park - Mission Espada
10040 Espada Road
San Antonio, Texas 78214

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Chamizal National Memorial

Chamizal National MonumentDate of Visit: May 25, 2012

It seemed like we were not going to get to Chamizal before the visitor center closed at 5 p.m., so Mik thought we had definitely decided to keep it on the original return part of the trip.  However, it was just not a big deal if we did miss it on the way to Florida, since it was already in the return plan.  Anyways, we got there about 4:30 p.m. and while he was annoyed we still stopped, at least did come around and get out for a picture by the Historic Boundary Monument.

Dad and I went into the visitor center to get the National Park stamps for the memorial and the trail it is part of.  Inside the visitor center there is a small museum, which gives a good background of the border dispute of the area and the final treaty in the 1960s.  We kind of just quickly browsed it, since we were there so close to closing, but we did not really miss much of it, as it is pretty small and even the text is not as much as it seems because everything is in English and Spanish.

Chamizal National Monument
After the museum, we were going to walk to the boundary monument before leaving and gave Mik a last chance to get out and see something.  The trail to the monument from the parking lot is a nice wide dirt path.  It was fine on the day we were there and probably almost all year round, but it seemed that if wet from rain or other water it could easily be quite a muddy trail.

Destination Info:
Chamizal National Memorial
800 S. San Marcial
El Paso, Texas 79905