Posted: 12/31/2007 at 11:05 PM
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Most people probably wouldn't consider going to a shopping mall as real travel. But I've found it can be a good day trip type getaway, especially if someone in your party has a disability. In fact I just returned from such a trip today and it was another satisfying outing. My wife and I hit upon a mall as a day trip a few years ago. Before that, a mall had always been, well, just a place to shop for stuff we needed. But in the days when we were looking for places to go that worked for our son's wheelchair, and us not having that much experience with what that entailed, a trip to a big regional mall worked. Often, our destination was the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois, a huge mall that I think may have been the largest until the buliding of the Mall of America in Minnesota. For us, going not to our usual local mall, but one that seemed special or was just a little farther away made it more of an occasion. In those years, when our son was more touchy and volatile, and we were more inexperienced, the controlled environment of a mall was a very good thing. Malls are usually pretty accessible. The climate is typically pleasant inside. There is food readily available. A mall is the first place I ever remember seeing a family bathroom. And we usually are able to exert enough self control not to blow the budget too much. But in the end, Marcus really loved to get out and it gave us a place to go until we got more adventerous. Malls aren't perfect as places for an outing. Too many stores put stuff way too close for a wheelchair to navigate well. And there is that danger of getting too wrapped up in the spending temptation for your budget's own good. But if you're looking for a quick getaway that's probably pretty accessibility friendly, check out a mall.
BTW -- Happy New Year!
Photo: Two of the many ramps that connect the multiple levels of the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois. Some of these ramps feel kind of steep to me as a wheelchair pusher, but it is nice not to have to always wait out an elevator to change levels. Photo by Darren Hillock
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I think going to mall as a day trip is a great idea!
Up where we live in the mountains, the malls are at a minimum hour drive away. So if we're going down, why not make a trip out of it?
Hope you and your family have a wonderful New Years!
hi, thanks and happy new year to you too. i love going to the mall and it is great excercise :) xoxo
AtM: While we now have some malls close by, we used to be in the only mall is an hour away situation too, when we lived farther upstate in Wisconsin. SO I know of what you speak. My wife hated it.
D: Not that great of exercise for me. I'm usually standing in the Lego store with our youngest or waiting out my wife and our 17 year old who are in a store while I'm out on a bench! But I suppose pushing our son's wheelchair helps.
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