Bring On Summer!

For my graduation mom let me bring 2 friends to The Lake of the Ozarks to celebrate, and that’s exactly what we did! Last Thursday I brought my best friend, Shelby, and an old, (I’m not calling her old, Shelby!) para of mine, Brenda Berry, or AKA, Berry. As most of you guys already know, the outside of the condo was NOT handicap accessible despite its advertising, but thanks to dad and his creative thinking, we were able to get inside the condo. And the owner of the condo was very nice and accommodating. Once inside, the condo was very accessible. There was plenty of room to move around and it had a lot of outlets. While we were in the Ozarks we played games like Uno and a new trivia game I got, watched movies, ate out, and went shopping! I got a little carried away with the last part 🤦‍♀️. Overall, I had a great time and hope to make this an annual trip. However, we will continue to look for an actual accessible condo.

MARY’S THOUGHTS

The Good: As Kimberly mentioned before, the inside of the condo was perfect. We couldn’t have asked for a better setup. Of course, going into it, I had done my research and knew what kind of floor plan I was looking for - open! Another good aspect of the trip was eating at Outback Steakhouse; I love it when there are outlets available at a restaurant.

However, Outback will also show up on “The Bad” portion, stay tuned.

But back to the good. Another highlight of our trip was stopping by Great Stone Coffee off of KK to get our mornings started. I liked their coffee better than Starbucks.

Finally, the attitude of the condo owner goes under this category. She was apologetic about the misunderstanding and reimbursed me for the cost of our new “ramps”. Danny’s idea of using plywood to make the condo accessible was a game-changer.

The Bad: Obviously the lack of accessibility of the condo goes here, but more important was my reaction to it. I panicked. We had just spent $100 at Hy-Vee on groceries and they were sitting in the van with no where to go. I could also hear the concern in Kimberly’s voice when she asked what we would do. I’m very thankful that Danny came through, but I’m very disappointed that I hadn’t thought of it myself. It’s not like we don’t currently use plywood boards to get into places already. But, I panicked. However, it is definitely a lesson learned!

Another bad part was the parking at Outback Steakhouse. Kimberly had to drive on the road instead of the sidewalk to get to the accessible door. Kind of nit-picky, I know, but still seems worth a mention.

The Beautiful: For this trip, the most beautiful part was Brenda Berry’s helpfulness. Now, I know Brenda was Kimberly’s para for 3-4 years, but it’s also been 3 years since she was. It was so refreshing to have someone with me that just did what needed to be done without me saying a word. This does not mean that I don’t love traveling with other people who want to be and are helpful; please don’t take offense. It was just surprising to me and perfectly illustrates Brenda’s beautiful and caring heart. Thanks Brenda!!!