Friday, June 21, 2019

Game Day in Oakland, California


There are two facilities I need to bitch and moan about while we were in the Bay Area. First, was our hotel in Pleasanton. While I usually show you in great detail the features of the rooms we stay in, this one was just unnacceptable for wheelchairs.


Watch the Video!



While I got a confirmed ADA compliant room, the first room they put us in had no accessible features at all.

"You needed an accessible room?" I was asked, while I stood there with confirmed reservation in hand and son in wheelchair beside me when I went to complain.

We were re-assigned to an accessible room with a roll-in shower. Here's the shower:



Notice the 6 inch lip to get over and the glass door that's too narrow to fit through.  This is a newer hotel in a very liberal area.  That's their idea of an accessible room with a roll-in shower.  The pool did have a lift, however.

On Memorial Day weekend, it proved impossible to rebook so we just had to live with it. We're currently negotiating with the company to get our points back for this reward stay. (Note: Hyatt did restore our points plus gave us 1,000 point bonus for our trouble.)

...and now a word from our sponsor.  We're very happy and long-time customers of Paul Kalemkiarian's Wine of the Month Club. We'd be pleased to see you become members, too. For their 45th year anniversary, the Club has all kinds of great deals for the month of May...a $5.99 Sonoma Zinfandel from Slater Winery is an example. Click the following link for some amazing wine deals: The Wine of the Month Club 45th Anniversary Sale.

Second, but not nearly as bad, is O.co Coliseum in Oakland. Widely regarded, with reason, as Major League Baseball's worst, ugliest, and outdated stadium.

They share the park with football's Raiders, who forced an ugly, large seating section in the outfield common derided as "Mt. Davis" as a fitting tribute to the football team's owner.


The concourse is cramped, lines go on forever, and accessible seat sight lines are impaired by an overhead and concrete columns.

In short, a miserable piece of sports architecture.

The good news is you don't really notice it. As much as it pains an Angels fan like me to say it, the A's are a darn good team in 2014 and extremely well managed, the beer selection is fantastic, and the pre-game tailgating isn't bad either (check out Tim and I doing a little of that at the top of this post).
(Note 2: The A's were doing good, fantastic as a matter of fact, until Billy Beane traded Yoenis Cespedes away a couple of weeks later and the team went downhill fast and faded out of the playoff picture.)




The game play is great and the slugging grand, as in a grand slam that put the game away for good over the Detroit Tigers ending with a score of ten nothing for the A's.

With that, our time in the Bay ends. We'll be back with new travels soon, stick around!

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

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