Asheville, NC – April 2019 – Accessible? YES

As they say, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry…”. Well, a few days before our flights out of BOS to RIC, Harold decided to get sick, spiked a fever, and we decided it was best to cancel our flights, change rental van reservations, and yes, DRIVE, to Richmond, then to Greenville SC, and finally to Asheville NC and home again.

We have used MobilityWorks before for renting an accessible van, and they proved to be very responsive in adjusting our reservations. We reserved a Pacifica accessible van that had a side entry ramp, and tie downs in the middle with a bench seat in the rear.

 

So, we packed up the van, and got on the road a little later than desired, and headed south for our 8 hour ride to Richmond. If you haven’t tried, audio books can be a lifesaver for long trips, and we ended up listening to a biography on Steve Jobs which was entertaining and inspiring. When we arrived we immediately had to check in to the hotel and get ready to go to the screening of Steve’s son Chase’s first feature film “One of the Good Ones” at the Richmond International Film Festival.  We were very honored to be a part of Chase’s first feature film screening and know there will be more festivals and hopefully Oscar nominations to come.

Richmond International Film Festival

 

 

Greenville, SC

The next morning we hit the road for another 7 hours to Greenville, SC for Susan’s nephew’s wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and it was so good to catch up with family. We’ve blogged about Greenville before, but if you have not been here, it is a gem you should try and visit. The streets are very accessible with wide sidewalks and open plaza’s. Instead of staying in a hotel, for the first time we decided to try VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner). It is very similar to Airbnb, and we had really convenient accommodations literally right downtown by the river and park. We were on the 4th floor with an an outdoor patio, and it was all accessible, with a handicapped parking spot, an elevator and extra wide hallways!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asheville

After our family visits were complete, on Sunday afternoon we headed to our “vacation” destination of Asheville, NC. We stopped at the Sierra Nevada brewery on the way, had some lunch and a beer, and enjoyed some Bocce Ball and Corn Hole. As a tourist destination, it is very accessible. We had no problems maneuvering around the facilities and outside areas.

 

 

 

 

The highlight for sure of this whole trip was the amazing Airbnb house we checked into. The oversized windows in both the kitchen and master bedroom were remarkable, with views into the trees. There was a bathroom for every bedroom, and the master bedroom highlight besides the windows was the steam shower!!

 

 

 

 

 

TTT Tip: Don’t rely solely on pictures for booking accommodations.

We cannot stress enough how important it is to do your research when deciding on your accommodations, whether a hotel or Airbnb or VRBO. Pictures don’t always show the full reality of accessible challenges. That was the case in our Asheville Airbnb, as the kitchen was a “sunken” kitchen with two steps. So when we initially saw the pictures, the front door looked accessible with a small half step, as well as the rest of the house, but did not realize in the pictures that the kitchen was sunken. So as we always do as a precaution, we sent the host a message saying, “we are really interested in your place….we have a son that is in a wheelchair and just want to check that your place is accessible.” or something to that affect. And sure enough we had a series of messages, with additional pictures back and forth before we concluded that it was worth having to manually go up two steps to enter the living area and sleeping area for Harold. This was a classic case of weighing the pros of the rest of the house (amazing views, separate bedrooms with amazing bathrooms, etc) against the cons of it not being 100% accessible and wheelchair friendly. Having able-bodied individuals in our party to be able to help Harold up those two steps made this possible. Someone else, however, who might be in an automatic motorized wheelchair could not have rented this Airbnb house. So the lesson here, is take your time viewing and researching your options, whether you have to call the hotel and speak with someone directly, or message an Airbnb host, it is super important to get it right!!! You do not want to show up to a destination, and run into issues.

 

Asheville Outdoors

For those who love the outdoors whether hiking or mountain biking, etc…Asheville is loaded with options.  There are also lots of accessible options.  We found this link, Accessible areas in Asheville, helpful in finding spots that we could explore with Harold.  We ended up hitting Mount Mitchell, and South Mountains State Park that had a paved loop that allowed you a view the water falls and had a nice accessible picnic area when ended up enjoying.  Later in the afternoon we explored the NC Arboretum which is very accessible as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After hiking and the arboretum it was time for a BREW and some food!  Asheville brewery district is one of the cooler places we visited. We went to the Funkatorium which home Wicked Weed brewery which specializes in sour beer.  The food was amazing as well, we enjoyed some fried risotto balls and thick Sicilian style pizza, and of course sampled a few flights of beer.  Harold of course stuck to his milk!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is a wrap for our Asheville plus family trip!….because we really don’t want to blog about the 18 hour, traffic filled, motion induced nauseous ride home!  You will have to ask us in person lol!