After we had explored the museum, we wanted to check out a couple of local parks! So we took the elevator down and exited the building. Very close by, there is an historic cemetery which is a popular dog walking spot. It is pretty hilly, but is a very pretty place to walk!
Brad got some pictures of the dog-friendly walking signs in the cemetery, as well as pictures of us meandering around, and one of Felix peeing!
Then we headed about a block away to the 4th Ward Park. On our way there, there was a big truck parked half on the sidewalk that we had to really squeeze to get past! We didn’t think we would make it! Brad got a picture of how little space the driver left on the sidewalk.
The 4th Ward Park was much flatter and had more open green space. But it does have a higher proportion of unhoused people using the park. We got a few pictures of Brad in front of the sign and some of the park sights. They had a really weird poodle bird house there!
On our way in and out of the building, I wanted to get some video of how Felix and I do doors. I open the door and tell him to “go through”, which cues him to walk in front of me through the door. Then I follow.
The first time we tried to get a video of this, as I was approaching the door (which does have an automatic button—but I didn’t want to use the button), someone on the other side pressed the button to open the door next to the one I was using. Luckily the person was a little late in pushing the button, so the extra door opening didn’t mess us up.
We stitched that video together with a video of us coming through the same door filmed in the other angle. This time no one “helped” us, yay! Below are those two door videos together into one.
We tried to take another video of me coming through the door with Felix without the person pressing the button, and this time as I was approaching the door, someone came up and asked if I wanted him to open the door for me. I said no, that I wanted to do it. He opened the door anyway! He opened the door right as I opened my door. This confused Felix, so he went through the other open door instead of my open door. Unfortunately there is a metal post connecting the two doors, so his leash got caught and we had to back up and start all over again!
Please when you see someone in a wheelchair ASK if you can help instead of just assuming, and then LISTEN to what they tell you! Many people with mobility disabilities and mobility aids have carefully crafted routines for getting through doors safely, and if you try to “help”, you can actually make things more dangerous for the person and possibly even cause them to become injured! Below is the video of the “helpful” person.
We went back up to the third floor to see the part of the museum we had skipped the first time around. This was a craft area, and wasn’t too exciting, though we did get some interesting pictures in front of a wall of colored lights!
We went to the restroom before leaving, and in the restroom I realized that my wheelchair bag was missing!!!! The one Sabrina made me had ripped a few weeks ago, so I’ve been using my backup Whill bag, and it can slide off the end of my armrest if it’s pulled hard or jostled too much. I panicked! Luckily it only had dog treats and my phone in it, but still!
I asked the person at the desk if they could radio around, but no one had seen it. We looked at pictures and saw I had it at the cemetery, but couldn’t tell if I had it at the 4th ward park or not. Luckily the front desk person suggested using the Find My app! I have my phone location shared with Brad, so he looked it up on his phone, and it was around the cemetery!
So we zoomed off to rescue my wheelchair bag. We found it along the sidewalk! Apparently the bumpy sidewalks and steep hill had jostled it so much that it had fallen off! Someone must’ve found it and put it up on a low wall. I was so happy to retrieve it! Brad took a series of pictures of me finding the bag and being excited, relieved, and putting it back on my wheelchair.
What an end to an eventful day! We were happy to head home after all that!
