Vacation.. always too short.

 must say vacations are never long enough and it is always a huge bummer when they end. Not to mention the laundry and cleaning that has to be done once you get home. But nonetheless vacations are always worth it. This vacation was definitely worth it and had perfect timing.

            Now it is time for me to brag about all the awesome things I did and what a blast I had. First I will start with the hotel, it had the absolute perfect location. It was the Tempe Mission Palms in the heart of Tempe. Just a few blocks away from the ASU campus and only steps away from Mill St. The room I was in was one of the best wheelchair accessible rooms I have ever stayed in. Minus the height of the bed, which is always too high. I have never understood why the beds are always so much higher than regular rooms because I can never make that high transfer. Anyways besides that it was a very clean and accessible room that I very much so enjoyed. The staff was extremely friendly, always opening the doors or I noticed after a few days of me staying there they left the doors propped open. Not sure it was to make my life easier or just a coincidence, either way it made me happy. It had free Wifi, basketball court, tennis court, workout room, and pool. I spent most of the first few days lounging by the pool (the relaxation I needed). We found a pretty sweet deal for the rooms on orbitz and when we called the hotel with a question they matched the price, which I thought was pretty cool too. I definitely recommend this hotel.

The entire vacation was packed full of activities. We drove to the top of South Mountain that has a pretty cool view of the entire city of Phoenix. This lookout isn’t really what I would call handicap accessible. The path is gravel and kind of on a down hill slope. But if you have someone to go with it is totally worth it during the day or at night. The group did some extreme go karting, that I couldn’t participate in but they all had fun and I have grown accustom to just watching. I don’t remember the name of the place but it was sweet. After a few days in Phoenix we drove out to San Diego it was a 6-hour drive out there through some pretty mountains and super close to the board, so we had board patrol check points those are fun to watch people getting searched on the side of the road. The hotel there sucked, the room was tiny and not set up conveniently for a wheelchair user. We strolled some boardwalks in San Diego they were all kind of dirty and full of homeless people, so I wasn’t very impressed with San Diego.  Although we had lunch at Hodad’s a burger place it was very yummy and the decorations were cool too. I guess it was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.

After lunch it was time for the San Diego Zoo, the one thing I was looking forward to on this trip. I will tell you the zoo did not disappoint. At 40.00 bucks a person I thought it was little steep but after going in I can see why I could have easily spent the whole day there just watching all the amazing animals they had. The zoo was absolutely huge. Plus it was open till 9pm during the summer but I didn’t get to stay the long, although I wanted too. A little secret of the zoo, if you are disabled go to guest services and ask for a free companion ticket and a ticket to line jump. It saved us some money but we didn’t learn about the line jump thing until we were leaving. And having a companion to help with the pushing from time to time is nice, the zoo is very big and SUPER hilly. From there we headed up to Huntington Beach, we stayed at my mom’s friend’s house which was surprisingly accessible. They had a very beautiful home and a pretty sweet pool/hot tub. The next morning they did some surfing, which I watched again. When we made the appointment we didn’t even think to ask if I could, I just assumed I couldn’t, completely forgetting there are tons of paralyzed people who surf. So once I make it out to Hawaii for a vacation I am definitely trying it, because hopefully the ocean water will be warmer there. The surf school was called Banzai Surf School, the instructors were all very nice and they said I could have taken a lesson as well it just would have been a private. After that we just went to Newport Beach and checked out the downtown shops. I fell in love with the area it was so clean, accessible, and beautiful. I really enjoyed California; not sure I could live there with the traffic but definitely visit there more often.

Another 6-hour drive back to Phoenix got back and just crashed at the hotel. Our last day on vacation was spent going to the shooting range, Spinatos, shopping, and tattoos. Spinatos is a pizza joint in Tempe that is amazing; highly suggest it anytime you are out that way. Mmmm I am craving it just thinking about it. My cousin Cade got his first tattoo at Club Tattoo, which made me want another but I am still figuring out what I want. Club Tattoo was a really nice place and Chester Bennington from Linkin Park is part owner, I thought that was pretty neat.

All in all it was a good trip for me. I had loads of fun, I love family time and seeing my cousins that live out West, who I wish I could see more often. And can’t wait for the next vacation, wherever that may be. J

-----links to the cool places websites are on the words.. just click!