Good wishes and be safe.

We at Have Wheels will travel are sending good thoughts to the people of the East coast of North America, and the Caribbean as Hurricane Sandy approaches. If you are traveling please heed the advice of the local authorities and be safe.

Heaven on the beach!

It has been a solid week since we returned from our trip to Orcas Island and I must tell you I was a fabulous trip. The weather we perfect and sunny allowing for spectacular sunsets and starry sky's over the fire pit. Beach Haven is a wonderfully secluded gem that has had a loyal following for over 70 years. Families have literally been booking trips out to this rustic resort for decades, and I myself can say I my family will be joining those ranks (we booked for next year on our last day so we can say we will be back). While I have nothing but a glowing feeling toward this place I will say it is not for everyone. If you are addicted to your cellphone and the Internet, I am sorry to say it may not be for you (although you might just like to be unplugged from the web). Cell phone reception is spotty and most Internet providers do not have a data plan for out here. Also there are no televisions, you can bring one but I guarantee you you won't watch it. W

hat it lacks in cell reception it makes up for in the sheer tranquility of the area. So you can't play on Facebook. You can have a conversation with people over a fire pit, or game board.

Lets get to some specifics about the resort and the area. The accommodations we stayed in was the lodge (although they have a larger cabin that is accessible and sleeps 10). This was like renting a small house, there was three beds many couches and several tables that were tall enough to get your legs under if you are in a wheelchair. The doors were wide enough to get my 30 inch wheel through and there is a ramp entry way in the cabin that takes you into the kitchen via a covered porch. The cabin has an open floor plan and hardwood floors as is usual in a cabin built int he 40's were spacious and very accessible even thought the buildings are back to the 40s.

The staff are amazing, helpful, friendly, and what you want to find in a resort. Every question or suggestion for easy improvements were met with a warm smile and open minded curiosity. They went out of their way when I was trying to get specifics about the cabin measurements, and I continue to get great service from them even now when I had to call about a question I had. Best service I have ever had at a resort. They told us about a few places on island that we could get food, some places of interest that would be accessible with a little work from me and my family (adventurous is what they called it, and they were right). They even let us in on some local secrets (which I won't share because I don't want to be shunned).

Some concerns. If you are in a wheelchair the beach will be very difficult for you to navigate. It is a steep and pebble filled north west beach that isn't kind to the small casters of a standard chair. As always if you want to do it you can access the beach from an area near the larger cabin. I myself was perfectly happy sitting on the large deck (approximately 20 feet from the water) or hanging by the fire pit (same distance) star gazing. As my son discovered this wasn't Hawaii and the water here is cold. There are plenty of hard packed roads that go into the natural setting of the resort so you don't feel like you are missing anything. The town of Eastsound is an older town and do their best to give the disabled the ability to move around within reason. There are areas with no side walks so you may have to use the road.

 

Orcas Island offers a multitude of beauty to see, you just have to research it a little and you can probably find something you will want to do. I personally cannot wait to get back to the cabin onthe beach and roast some more hot dogs over the fire.

When in Scenic Seattle

It is no secret that I love to travel to the Seattle area. Unfortunately Seattle is like a lot of cities and does a majority of their road construction during the summer. What this means is that it really messes your travel routes up with many detours. My family and I have found a sneaky trick to get around this. If we want to go downtown and do some shopping but do not want to hassle with the downtown parking, we simply park over by the Seattle Science Center (actually across from the EMP) and hop on the monorail that goes downtown. Sure from there you have to walk some but that is actually good for you to do. Also if you have a child who loves trains as my son does then it is a special treat on both ends of the shopping trip that he/she may not have wanted to go on in the first place. Keep this in mind when you are deciding to travel to a larger city. Most cities now have vamped up their mass transit systems due to more users do in part to the hike in gas prices.

On a side note I want to thank all of the readers who have followed me over the years. I have just hit 1000 page views, which might not seem a lot to some of you. But to me with this specialty blog it is incredible. I will continue to give out travel tips and ideas for vacations as fast as I can. Looking forward to many more trips together.

Day Tripper

Well here it is almost officially summer and here in the beautiful Northwest it is (you guessed it) cloudy. That is OK though because there are always some indoors activities to do. My wife and I are doing a day trip to Seattle to see the King Tut exhibit at the Seattle Science Center located by the world famous Space Needle, and Experience Music Project (or EMP). I have posted in the past that these mini vacations are extremely important for one's sanity (specifically if you have a small child). I was really glad to hear that it was being shown in Seattle and we booked it for my birthday. Will hopefully post  some pictures of it. Enjoy the links until then. 

Where to vacation next?

There are so many places that I would like to take my family on vacation I just do not know how to narrow them down. My wife is graduating next year with her masters degree and i really want to take her on a special vacation that will also be fun for my son. Here are some of the places we are discussing.

5. San Diego, California Pros: Sun, Beaches, Zoo and aquarium, Legoland, Comic Con (during summer) Con: not really relaxing, can be an expensive place, no place where we can drop the kid off.

4. Yellowstone National Park Pros: beautiful natural surroundings, sty in a lodge, plenty of space for kid to run around, peaceful and relaxing. Cons: can be expensive, we would have to drive to see places, no place where we can drop the kid off.

3. West coast cruise Pros: Be pampered and only have to unpack once, get to see more than one destination, Kids clubs, almost everything is inclusive. Cons: limited number of places to sail to (Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, up the coast (transition cruise)

2.Sanibel Island, Florida Pros: relaxing, warm, kid friendly Cons: long flight, can be expensive, no place where we can drop the kid off.

1. Bahamian or Caribbean cruise: Or maybe both. We decided to book a cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line that departs from New York and visits Nassau, Bahamas fir two days then their own private Bahamanian island, Afterwards it loops over to Port Canaveral for some theme park fun, or beach combing, and back to New York. The itinerary really spoke to us as we are on a mission to take my son to every state in the U.S. before he is 18 years old (at the ripe old age of three he has already been to Washington, California, Hawaii), and this will knock two more off the list.

I am so excited about our next big adventure! I will make sure that I post more information as I find it. As always happy travels!

Even More Travel Bug Bites

After having such a wonderful trip to Disneyland with my wife and son, we decided that we couldn't wait until next year to have another travel adventure. We wanted to book a vacation a little closer to home and just a little bit more relaxing.

So we have booked a fall get away to the San Juan Islands of Washington State. My wife and a co worker were discussing family trips when she (the co worker) mentioned their annual trip to Orcas Island. Her children (who are now adults) have amazing memories going out every year and meeting up with newly made friends.  They stayed in very nice waterfront cabins that are completely cut off from the internet. This may scare some of you but there is an appeal to not being reachable by every website on the universe.

After some quick looking around we discovered that they have an accessible cabin that sleeps 10, and also an apartment attached to their lodge. Unlike most accessible rooms these are both waterfront. After contacting them on Friday asking them about the accessibility of the apartment (door width, is there a ramp, how wheelchair friendly are the grounds) and getting a reply on Easter Sunday (cheerful and full of major details including an offer to move some furniture and creating a make shift ramp),  we booked the apartment as we do not need room for ten. I will share what I find about the area in future posts but let me just say that I am very much looking forward to cooking some seafood, Riding my handcycle, taking some pictures, and hanging out in a beach chair watching my kid play in the cold water of the Puget Sound.

Not that I don't love my Disneyland vacation but it will be very nice to connect to nature again.

Return the Conquering Heroes

It has taken me several weeks to figure out exactly what I want to post about this vacation. After all, this is my frst trip to Disneyland with a little kid (all  previous trips were with teens or adults), the first trip as a family. So it seemed to deserve a special post.  I can say per usual that the new and referbished Disney rides are gettting better accessibleized every trip I go. The Little Mermaid ride is prime example of that with it's roll in car with room for the family. The King Arthur Carousel has had a ramp added so that I could ride it along with my wife and son whjich was nice. The fear that my son wouldn't like the rides or be afraid to go on an atraction were totally unecessary, as he is quite the daredevil (whom I will have to keep up with when he is a little older and a little taller). It was a wonderful family vacation with the great Disney magic that I have beome spoiled to expect. The staff at the parks and hotels were top notch. My travel agent let them know that it was my son's first visit so that he had a special pin he could wear which blew his mind. He even got to meet the mouse himself. All in all it was a great vacation until we got sick. Yep we were exposed to a bug before our trip and went full blown sick the day before we were suppose to fly out (which really puts a damper on the close down on your vacation).

I have to say that it was still great to go down there. I rode some rides that I never had any interest in (until my son came along I had never explored the kiddie rides). It's a Small World has a specialized boat for people who want to stay in wheelchairs (which I knew, but it is still nice), I have heard that Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland both have a vehicle that has a wider opening for easier transfers (although we didn't ride it so I cannt tell you how easy the transfers are), in Toontown Mickey and Minnie's house are accessible for wheelchairs (if not a little tight in spots). In DCA the new Little Mermaid  ride has it's own ride vehicle that I can roll up on and ride with two other passengers. The Monster's INC ride has a roll up ride vehicle too and if you plan it just right you can go on it more than once in a row. SWEET!

There is a lot of construction going on with the addition of Carsland, and Buena Vista Street. This leads to some bottle necks and weird detours that do not flow as smoothly as previous trips. All that accounted for it was still a great family vacation with  wonderful Disney magic. We will definately go back....when my son is a little taller.