An ongoing adventure of travel and living while using a wheelchair. Tim has been disabled from birth. Darryl is his father and caregiver who travels with him.
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Kicking off our Midwest Baseball Tour last year, we started with an impromtu pub crawl along the Ohio River. The "Cincinnati" part of the title is a bit misleading, it's actually in Newport, Kentucky at the Levee District, just across the river from The Great American Ballpark, home of the Reds.
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We started before the baseball game going on that night so we got a lot of the pre-game party flavor. We didn't go to the game that night (our tickets were for the next day), so we stayed behind at a bar called Bulldogs, watching the game on TV. That was a bit surreal, the actual game was a thousand feet away. We could hear it both from the stadium and on TV.
So here is the crawl. We start off at a place called the Beer Sellar, which sits on a floating barge in the river that it shares with Hooters. There's a large patio crowded with baseball fans getting ready for the game with their two-dollar Huddy Light specials. They will soon depart for the game on a ferry that leaves right from the barge.
Next, it's over to a branch of Munich's famous Hofbrauhaus, just up the street, where we sample their delicious beers in about as authentic of a German beer garden you'll find in the states. It's not quite up to Munich quality but darn good for over here. We sample the hefeweizen, dunkel, and meibier. Ending up the crawl, we're at Bulldog's where we try the Shafly wheat and rasberry ale from St. Louis and the house brand light beer, pretty good and a deal during the game at $2.50 for a 24 oz. mug.
We enjoyed them all, probably the Hofbrau brands the best. Enjoy the video.
If you haven’t read Tim’s reports on preparing for this trip (this is his first time planning a trip), be sure to check out what it took to plan and prepare for this trip in a wheelchair.
Now that the planning and booking is done, it’s time to go. We start off at Ontario Airport, about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. It’s a 6:55am departure meaning we wake up at 4am and rush to get going. We arrive at the airport at 5:30am.
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After check in (at the curb) and security, we head to the gate. I ask the gate agent if there are any better seats available on the plane, we’re in row 19 of the Continental 737, and none are available. Waiting at the gate to pre-board, the crew that would have to take Tim to his seat balk at having to transport him to row 19 and says they will load the plane first, then us.
Really? Row 19 is that bad? I’ve had airlines sit us in the back of the plane with no complaints, but…
This gets us bulkhead seats when they kick the people assigned there out (not my idea, theirs) but in this day and age of paying for every piece of luggage, being last means the overheads are full and everyone seethes as it takes time for us to get seated. A friendly flight attendant puts our bag up in first class…it’s important to have on the plane because it has medication and bathrooming gear we’ll need on the flight…and off we go.
(Note: Continental Airlines has since been merged with United Airlines since the report was originally written-Ed)
We change planes in Houston and have no problems pre-boarding on the second flight to Cincinnati. The flights themselves are fine, comfortable, and on time but I did not care for the minor boarding fiasco at Ontario. Note to self: do not use Continental (soon to be part of United) out of Ontario anymore.
We arrive at the Cincinnati airport, which is actually in Kentucky, at 5pm local time, pick up our rental car (Ford Escape), and head to our hotel, the Comfort Suites in Newport, Kentucky…just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.
The room at the hotel is a “studio” suite, which means a larger room but not really a suite. There’s a king-size bed, sofa bed, and accessible restroom with bathtub and portable shower chair provided by the hotel. A hot breakfast (waffles, biscuits and gravy) is provided but it’s just adequate. In fact that word describes the hotel…adequate. Not great but not bad. It’s a bit expensive for that at around $150 per night.
After settling in, we walk to the nearby area of shops and restaurants known as the Levee at Newport. It’s a very lively area and we find a real gem, a branch of Munich’s Hofbrauhaus with a real German beer garden out back.
It’s small by Munich standards and the sausages are good but not quite on par with Germany, but here we go…an honest-to-goodness German beer garden three blocks from our hotel with its own brewery producing real Hofbrau beer, served in the liter sized glasses just like in Munich.
This is the perfect way to end a long day of travelling so we walk over to the riverfront and head back to the hotel.
It’s a Saturday and our tickets to the ball game are for Sunday so we take a drive to Louisville to see the Louisville Slugger Museum and take the factory tour. A 90 minute drive, we pass the Kentucky Speedway and a mysterious sign that states “site of fatal bus crash. May 14, 1988.”
It turns out that on that date, the worst bus accident in the country’s history took place when a drunk driver hit a church school bus. 27 people were killed, 24 injured, and several of the victims banded together and eventually formed Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
Once in Louisville, we pass a minor league stadium for the Louisville Bats, an affiliate of the Reds. You’d think they’d be called the Sluggers, but no. The stadium is named Louisville Slugger Stadium, however.
Not hard to find, just head to the riverfront, turn left, and look for a giant bat sticking up over the skyline. Park in the structure in the back and head into the Hillerich and Bradsby Company, better known as the makers of that necessary piece of sporting wood, the Louisville Slugger.
Inside is paradise for baseball fans. A long, narrow lobby from the front to the back of the building includes a room for special exhibits, the bat vault (where every major leaguer has a template bat locked up…the “Fort Knox” of baseball), sample bats made to major league player specifications that you can test swing, a batting cage (10 pitches for a dollar) where you can try out a major league players bat, a current league standings board, a gift shop, and that giant bat out front.
All very interesting but the main attraction is what you actually have to pay for, the museum and factory tour. It’s ten dollars for adults ($18 in 2022-Ed) and you get to enter the museum and take an informative and entertaining tour of the factory (no cameras allowed on the factory floor).
Entering the museum, the first thing to see is one of the very first bats made by Bud Hillerich for Pete Browning, one of baseball’s first professional players, in 1884. Browing quickly got three hits with it in the next game and christened it the “Louisville Slugger.” Next is an area where you can hold a game-used bat. Gloves are mandatory. Tim held David Ortiz’s bat. Me? I went with Mickey Mantle.
Several other artifacts are on display. Honus Wagner’s jersey and bat; Joe Dimaggio’s bat; Babe Ruth’s bat; and on and on. The factory tour shows each step of the process, from lathing the wood, burning in the insignia to lacquering the bat. We are informed that players are very particular about their bats. For example, Ted Williams had one person make his bats and they had to have eight lines of grain per inch. With the highest batting average on record, Williams must have known what he was talking about.
At the end of the tour, everybody gets a small wooden bat to take home as a souvenir. One of the best 10 bucks I’ve ever spent.
On our way out of Louisville, we go by Churchill Downs…a week to the day after the Kentucky Derby…but couldn’t find any parking so we left town and went back home.
For dinner, we head down the river to the Beer Sellar. We thought it was a restaurant, but it’s just a bar so we have a two dollar, pre-game beer special and chat with some of the fans getting ready to go to tonight’s game. We’re not going until tomorrow, but we have some fun talking and then watching them depart by boat from the adjacent dock to go to the stadium across the river.
Actual food is found at Bulldogs, just around the corner, where we have some delicious fish and chips while watching the game going on across the river on TV. It’s interesting when someone hits a home run, you can hear the fireworks coming in through the windows and on the television. You can also hear the cheers coming from all the numerous bars in the area and from the stadium across the water.
Sunday…Game Day. This trip is all about baseball and the main attraction is the game. It’s Mother’s Day and we’re going to see the Reds host the Chicago Cubs. It’s about a mile walk to the game. Over the bridge to Ohio, then along the riverfront to the stadium.
Behind the stadium is an art installation of a giant paddle wheel, along with a couple dozen posts that vent steam on a random basis. There are also speakers in the posts where you can hear people on river boats.
We are behind the stadium in center field and there is no accessible entrance here. We have to walk around, 2 blocks, to home plate to go to the Will Call booth, pick up our tickets, and enter.
Great American Ball Park is a smallish feeling stadium (42,000 capacity) overlooking the Ohio River towards Covington, Kentucky. As you would expect, Red is the dominant color scheme. There is a faux river boat in the outfield and fireworks shoot out of its smoke stacks at the beginning of the game, when a Reds player hits a home run, and upon a Reds victory. Steam comes out when the home team pitcher strikes out an opponent.
The food choices here are basic and mediocre. Hot dogs, pizza, and burgers are mostly it, with ice cream and candy for dessert. There is pre-made sushi at a little convenience store by home plate, but we don’t want any sushi that’s not made in front of us. The tap beer selection is vast and reasonably priced. Since we’re walking home, we take full advantage of it.
Our seats are at the top of the field level deck, about 2/3 the way from home plate to first base. There is a slight overhang from the club deck above but it does not block our view in any meaningful way. The price for this seat is $47 for this premium game against the Cubs. If you go to see a less meaningful opponent, say the Marlins, it would be five dollars less. There is accessible seating throughout the stadium, from the bleachers to the nosebleeds, along with the more premium seating on the field and club levels. The lowest price is $5 going up to $235 for the first five rows behind home plate. We had no problems getting more than one companion seat.
Ryan Dempster steps on the mound for the Cubs to start the game. There’s no score until the second inning when Dempster gives up an RBI double to Johnny Gomes. The Reds, led by pitcher Mike Leake, have the game in hand until Leake goes wild in the 7th inning, giving up a run on an errant pitch. The Cubs will go on to take the lead by one but the Reds take it back in the bottom of the inning on a Joey Votto 3-run homer. The Reds win the game 5 to 3.
We decide to walk around the area of the stadium to see what festive activities we can find. The answer? None. It’s dead quiet in downtown Cincinnati so we head back across the bridge to Newport to find a lively atmosphere and settle in at an Irish Pub for dinner.
And that’s a wrap for Cincy. The highlights were the baseball game, of course; the fascinating and fun Louisville Slugger museum and tour; and the Kentucky side of the river across from Cincinnati is a lively and fun entertainment district. This leg of the tour left me with a strong desire to visit Kentucky again and explore it a little more fully.
Stay tuned as we head out to leg two of this Midwest Baseball Tour…St. Louis, Missouri.
Our Midwest baseball trip is coming together at a fast and furious pace.
(Note, current 2022 prices have been calculated and are updated below, where necessary - Ed)
We have now booked a rental car, which we will pick up in Cincinnati and use for the duration of the trip, which will finish in Kansas City. We’ve also booked hotel rooms at a Comfort Inn in Cincinnati, a Drury Inn in St. Louis and a Marriott Residence Inn in Kansas City. While the rental car and hotel reservations are an important part of a trip, they are not the only important element. The car, a full size, one-way rental, is costing $693. I used a discount code that I found for Walmart shoppers that I found at Car Rental Savers that got me a bigger discount than my dad's AAA card.
As of last Friday, the baseball tickets have been purchased. For all three games, I tried getting accessible seating as close to home plate as possible for one wheelchair and two companion seats. The surprising thing was unlike Angel Stadium, it was very easy to get more than one companion seat without any hassle at all. I just called each stadium and they were more than ready to help me out. Being an Angel fan, I can’t help thinking my own team screws me every time I want to buy seats there.
In Cincinnati, we will be going to a day game against the Chicago Cubs. We will be sitting along the first base side behind the Reds dugout, very close to the field. There will be a Mothers’ Day scarf giveaway that day. In St. Louis, we will be going to a game against the Houston Astros. We will be sitting in the Infield Redbird Club, which includes access to the Redbird Club, which seems to be a private restaurant and bar for this area. It’s kind of like sitting in a large suite, as I can gather. There will be no giveaway for that game. In Kansas City, we will be going to a game against the Chicago White Sox. We will be sitting in a dugout box very close to home plate. There will also be a women’s T-shirt giveaway as well as a postgame fireworks show, so it should be fun.
The most expensive ticket was $57 for the Redbird Club in St. Louis. This compares to the $60 I spent on pretty lousy seats at Seattle a couple of years ago so the baseball games…all with great seats…seem to be a bargain.
In addition to the games, we are also planning on seeing the Louisville Slugger Museum in Kentucky and the Indianapolis Raceway where the Indy 500 takes place.
Now everything is in place. The only thing left to do is go. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and that it helps you to see how to plan your own trip. Don’t let your disability get in the way of seeing the world, I don’t and I enjoy every minute I’m on the road.
So, how does it all stack up to our original plans and budget?
Airfare: original budget $975 flying from LAX to Lousiville, KY. Final price: $861 flying from Ontario, CA to Cincinnati, OH. $106 under budget. (Airfare would be about double in 2022 - Ed)
Hotels: original budget $1,130. Final price: $1,328. $198 over budget but each hotel includes a full breakfast and evening cocktail hour so we’ll make up the difference there.
(Hotels would be about $2,300 in 2022 - Ed)
Train tickets: $78 (from St. Louis to Kansas City). Will not be using the train. $78 under budget.
Rental Car: $693. Not in original budget but would replace flying from Cincinnati to St. Louis and the train plus it gives us a means of transportation at each location. (Rental car would be about the same in 2022 - Ed)
Baseball tickets: Original budget $180. Final price: $400. Was originally planning on buying cheap tickets but since I was able to get such premium seating at good prices, I decided to splurge a bit here. (Baseball tickets would be about $450-500, prices are variable because of dynamic pricing used by Major League Baseball today - Ed)
The total cost, for three people over 11 days, is $3182 (not including food). That works out to less than $100 per day for each person.
(In 2022, the total would now be about $5,300, about $160 per day per person - Ed)
Thanks for joining me. I’m now very excited…this trip can’t come fast enough!
NOTE: Tim is in charge of planning our next big trip. It's a baseball stadium tour working towards his goal of visiting every major league park. This trip will add three to his already big list.
Today I bought the plane tickets for our trip. My dad has confirmed that his vacation time was approved so now we start to nail everything down. I went online and did a search at Expedia, Southwest, and Frontier. The closest Southwest came to Cincinnati was Columbus. Frontier went to Dayton. But I found a flight right to Cincinnati for less on Expedia, on Continental connecting through Houston.
(Note: Continental Airlines has since been merged with United Airlines since the report was originally written-Ed)
The flight home was just a little bit cheaper on Southwest from Kansas City, but since Southwest doesn’t charge baggage fees, we’ll save around $100 for the entire flight cost plus, since we board first, we should be able to get bulkhead seats coming home. We will be leaving from Ontario, California…which is a much easier airport than LAX.
Entire flight cost is $861, including taxes, for three people. We already booked seats together for the Continental flights. Both sites, Southwest and Expedia, let you arrange for your aisle chair and transfer online.
Now it’s time to book the hotels. The best room for the best price I could find in Cincinatti was the Comfort Suites at $131 per night a little less than a mile from the ballpark. It's a wheelchair accessible studio with a king bed and sofabed. I booked it. It has no cancellation fees if cancelled at least 1 day prior to arrival.
I found a 2-room suite at the Drury Inn in St. Louis next to the arch for $157 per night. Finally, in Kansas City I booked the Residence Inn by Marriott near downtown. Both of these hotels let you cancel with no penalty up until the day of arrival and both are also accessible suites.
Now that we’re guaranteed rooms, I can keep a lookout for lower rates and if I find them, cancel the original reservations to save money.
We’re now good with air tickets and hotel reservations. Next up, need to find a rental car to drive from Cincinnati to St. Louis…and maybe to Kansas City. Also, I need to get tickets to the games.
(Note: We'll be updating these prices for 2022 in the last post of this series, stay tuned - Ed)
The Great American Ballpark on the banks of the Ohio River in Cincinnati is home to the oldest professional baseball team in America, the Reds, dating back to 1869. The team that is, not the stadium. The ballpark opened in 2003 and replaced the cookie-cutter like Riverfront Stadium, a dual-purpose football and baseball facility. Baseball legends such as Pete Rose, Frank Robinson, and Johnny Bench have worn the uniform but did not play in this park. More modern players such as the recently retired Ken Griffey, Jr., Scot Rolen, Joey Votto, and Bronson Arroyo have. Here are the stats:
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia
Eric Kilby under CC-BY-SA license
Opened: 2003
Surface: Perennial Ryegrass
Construction cost: $290 million
Capacity: 42,271
Field dimensions: Left field - 328 ft; Left center - 379 ft; center field - 404 ft; right center - 470 ft; right field - 325 ft.
Home team: Cincinnati Reds (National League - MLB) 2003 - present
Events attended: 1 game
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Good access but it would be nice if there were an accessible entrance from the river side. There are several places you can walk up to the entrance level but they all have stairs. There is on lobby by the left field foul pole with an elevator but it is closed to the public on game days. A large accessible plaza is at home plate where you can pick up tickets from the will call booths. The concourse is open so you can still keep tabs on the game when you go for snacks.
Wheelchair locations are at the top of the field level, at the top of the club level, mid level on the upper deck, one spot in the front row behind the plate, mid level in the outfield bleachers, and a section halfway up the bottom level behind home plate...these are probably the best wheelchair spots in the stadium.
Ticketing is fairly easy, just call the box office at 877-647-REDS. We had no problem getting seats for the wheelchair and two companions. Ticket prices start at $6 and go up to over $300, not including the suites, due to dynamic pricing.
There is not a lot of good public transit to the game. There is a local shuttle, $1.50, that cruises around the stadium area every 20 minutes or so and connects with Covington/Newport across the river in Kentucky. It is easy to walk across the bridge from Kentucky and the downtown location makes it convenient to hotels there.
Many lodging choices are available. The most lively area is across the river in Kentucky where many hotels, restaurants, bars, and attractions are available.
Food choices are minimal here. Hot dogs, burgers, pizza, popcorn, and nachos are the staples. Very few alternative choices are here. The beer selection on tap is vast and inexpensive.
If it had better food and transit options, this stadium would be in our top five. It's still a very nice stadium, several notches above our home stadium in Anaheim.
Last week we showed you our 10 most popular Cocktail Hour videos. I don't want to say these are the bottom 5 because I think all our Cocktail Hours are equal, but here are 5 that could use a little boost in viewership. Let's call them The World on Wheels Lonely Libations...
5. Bahama Mama. One of the first of our lower calorie drinks. A great rum drink for a hot day.
4. Cincinnati Pub Crawl. Come along with us as we go on location on the banks of the Ohio River. Searching for the best drinking in the Cincinnati area.
3. Trader Joe's Beer Taste Off. We compare several beers available at Trader Joe's to see which brew rules them all.
2. Riviera Rum Punch. A delicious rum punch for parties or just to enjoy on a hot day.
1. Copper Canyon. An original World on Wheels creation, using tequila.
