800 Occidental Ave S. Ste 100
Seattle, WA 98134
206.381.7555
http://www.centurylinkfield.com
http://www.soundersfc.com/

How do you separate a field from its teams or its fans?  We went to CenturyLink Field to see Major League Soccer—the Seattle Sounders’ opening game.  We were quickly swept up by what seemed to be a magical combination of people and events–by the beautiful feet and minds of Dempsey and Martins;  by the fans’ surround-sound singing and ritualized scarf waving; and by strangers, standing for the whole of the game, high-fiving us when we scored.

People working at the field offered help, asked if we were having a good time, and told us to be sure to come back.  Even the traffic jam getting into the field was exciting because we were stopped right in front of the fans’ March to the Match and the Sound Wave’s boisterous marching band.

And we won the game!—3-zip, a win complete with a Martins’ flip and a set-up and pass so beautiful it made you cry.   This is not a game for the ironic; you have to be full-out in love.  You have to wear your heart loudly on your blue and green jacket.

In the face of all that joy and energy, paying attention to inclines and doorways can get a little lost, but there was really not much to notice.  CenturyLink Field is fully accessible for soccer fans in wheelchairs—and football fans, as well.  The field’s website provides information about services for disabled fans, so check the site out:  http://www.centurylinkfield.com/stadium-guide/#disabled.

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Marymoor Park
6046 W. Lake Sammamish Parkway NE
Redmond, WA 98052
https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/

Our lovely daughter and handsome son-in-law gave us tickets to the Cirque du Soleil touring show (here till March 22), so on a very dark and very stormy night, we drove across the lake to Marymoor Park to see the show.  This was the second time we had been treated to the Cirque.  The first time visiting a new place can be a bit anxiety-producing both for me and my beloved pusher.  I worry about bathrooms and having to damage others’ feet and coats to get to my seat; he worries about me worrying.  Going to the Cirque du Soleil this second time was a known entity and so seemed easy.

Based in Montreal, Quebec Canada,  Cirque du Soleil is at once magical, comic,  heart-stopping, and otherworldly.  The performers are beautiful and strong, and the sets are gorgeous.  This version—entitled “Kurios, Cabinet of Curiosities”—was steampunky—nodding simultaneously to a romanticized past with its manual typewriters and graceful phonographs, to a robotic future, and to an imagined time when people flew in gorgeous, open-cockpit, bat-winged airplanes.

Cirque does an excellent job of accommodating wheelchair visitors, beginning with the ticketing process.  Tickets for handicapped spots can be purchased online or with the phone assistance of a kind staff person, and the Cirque website makes both options easy.

At the performance, the Cirque staff also kindly accommodates handicapped viewers, with only one glitch on this visit.

Continue reading Cirque du Soleil – Kurios →

4326 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
206.634.3400
http://www.bookstore.washington.edu

I have deep affection for many material things in the world, and two categories of things that I love the most are books and office supplies. Therefore, it is not surprising that I have spent many hours of my life at the University Book Store.  I can’t pay a better tribute to the worlds, characters, experiences, and truths that books open up to us than those already paid by writers far more eloquent than I am.

Therefore, let me move to a tribute to office supplies:  those lovely gel, rolling ball, and ballpoint pens—how beautifully they slip along the sweet slightly absorbent pages of those many-colored, lined and unlined pads and notebooks; those hundreds of calendar choices—large or small, weekly or daily, leather or paper covered; the riotous bouquets of markers and pencils; the richly patterned or deeply-hued papers; the glorious tapestry of paper clips and post-it notes—oh, be still my heart!! The University Book Store’s office supplies (which flow almost organically into the art supplies) are a caravan of exotics plonked in the desert of the smartphones, keyboards, and online scheduling that often dominates our days.  Sometimes you just need to get away from that, to step into a bright bazaar, a place where you can see the jewel-colored silks shimmering in the sunlight, run your hand over the thick pile of the muted carpets, and hear the murmuring of camels, riders, and spice-seekers talking among themselves.  That’s what the University Book Store’s office supply area offers.

Lucky for those of us in wheelchairs who love books,  need textbooks, and crave office and art supplies, once you get inside it, the University Book Store is quite accessible.  However, getting inside can be a bit of a problem—but, to be sure, not a big enough problem to keep you out.

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University Village
2680 NE 49th Street
Seattle, WA 98105
206.937.9939
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Stores/university-village/str452

As the current ADA Bathroom Queen of Seattle, I have visited many bathrooms in the University Village, including those in restaurants and those shared by  groups of businesses.  Some are good; some are a bit challenging; and all are “accessible” by legal standards.  However, one bathroom goes above and beyond basic standards, and I wanted to just take a moment here to honor it.  It’s the bathroom in the Crate and Barrel store in the northern-most wing of the U Village.   (The store, too, is wonderfully accessible, but I’ll save that for a separate review.)

The bathroom is located on the main floor, in the northwest corner off a short corridor that leads to the employee-only area.  It’s a small bathroom with one or two other stalls and a handicapped stall that also has a baby-changing station in it.  This handicapped stall is gorgeous.  It’s huge with a wide door and plenty of space inside to maneuver wheelchairs or strollers.  It’s always spotless.  There are grab-bars around the toilet, and the toilet paper is within easy reach.  The roll-under sink is in the stall itself, so you don’t have to navigate wet countertops and water-splashed floors as you wash your hands.

Thank you, Crate and Barrel, for this anxiety-free bathroom space for wheelchair-using shoppers!

120 N 85th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
206.782.0098
http://www.toptentoys.com/

My beloved pusher and I grieved when our daughters grew too old to want toys for Christmas because that shut us out from our favorite shopping trips.  No more  Duplos and Legos, doll houses, erector sets, ponies with a head of hair Jennifer Aniston would have envied, puzzles, Playmobile, stuffed animals, fire engines,  weaving sets, or nerf anythings.

Our taste in toys ranged from expensive wooden toys to cheap plastic rings.  In short, we had no taste in toys, uniformly loving almost all of them.  Even today our family measures a good Christmas by how it stacks up to the best one of all—the She-Ra (Princess of Power) Castle Christmas.  It’s a ridiculously high bar!

Therefore, my pusher and I were excited to go to Top Ten Toys to buy a few things to leave around the house  for small guests to discover during what—for them—might be a boring brunch.  Always making local “best of” lists, Top Ten Toys is a place of joy and wonder for everyone who enters.  Budding musicians can find instruments from around the world there, and 10-year olds with engineering ideas could begin their studies in the store’s Lego and building section. This is a store where you can find a miniature bulldozer with working parts, a glittery pink cape, a menagerie of stuffed animals and their babies,  a working small stethoscope, puzzles for people of every age, and every make of toy car.  Wheelchair shoppers can take their time browsing.  The store is open to all of us.

Continue reading Top Ten Toys →