Peanuts yes, Crackerjack no. But we did enjoy Fenway Franks and Ice Cold Beer (Amy & I, of course) and a beautiful day on Yawkey Way. We’ll get to those details later.
The day started off as a normal Sunday in Boston, with Tim getting a little extra sleep and slowly preparing for the Recreational Therapy that we were about to undertake. As planned, the Redels came in late morning, on their way to Emmanuel College, where Brigitte will be starting this week. After everyone got caught up, Amy and I took Cassandra and Gunther for a tour of the property and left Tim to spend time with Brigitte and Nadia. We are very pleased that Tim’s good friend will be just 15 minutes away via the Green Line.
As part of our planning for this day, we investigated transportation options. Given the chaos that is Kenmore Square and environs on a game day, we decided to use one of the city’s handicap accessible van/cabs to get to Fenway. Armed with a list of providers, Amy called a few days in advance, a day in advance, at 9AM, 10:30AM and at noon. “Yes, we can have a van at Spaulding at 12:30.” Between 12:30 and 1:00, we made about 10 additional calls to multiple companies before deciding that they were not going to come through. At that time, we decided to have a real life educational experience by taking the T, something that had been described to us as inconsistent and unreliable for chair riders.
So, off we went to North Station, dad pushing. Our experience there started out poorly with a woman who was somewhat indifferent to our situation, and gave us some mixed information. But, it turned around quickly as two other information booth staffers got involved and found an MBTA Inspector who explained the Green Line limitations and access points to us, got us on a C train, explained where we should go (Kenmore is under renovation) and let the driver know what’s up. The trains have small ramps that extend to the platform (operated by the drivers) and clearly marked spots on the train. We got off at St. Mary’s and walked up Beacon Street to Fenway.
Our Fenway experience, from an accessibility angle, was nothing short of great. I’ll sidestep here a minute to thank my tourism friend Betsy for making this day happen by putting me in touch with Larry and Beth of the Red Sox. We were their guests today. We were allowed through ticketing areas near Gate A with a simple explanation, and security escorted us down Yawkey Way to Gate D, where we were late to meet Beth who was to take us to our seats. Conor was also supposed to meet us there, but that wasn’t the smoothest transaction, either. A Red Sox employee named Tim was very helpful as we tried to get Conor to the same gate as us and attempted to find Beth. Long story short, we made it to our great seats by the bottom of the first inning and had a perfect day. These first images are views "from the seats" and "of the seats"
Little did we know that today was actually Western Mass day at the park, and we were led in singing God Bless America and Take Me Out to the Ballgame, by a couple of folks from Amherst. Later we all joined in the singing of Sweet Caroline. We did it all. 
Leaving the park was easy, and we headed over to one of the souvenir stores across the street to get Tim a hat. Apparently, the D’Angelo’s are doing well! That trip was serendipitous, as we ran into three Monument seniors – Matt, Nate and Danny – and Tim and Conor had a nice time catching up. 
Our green line ride home was easy – there really is a system in place, and the drivers were pleasant. We’re comfortable enough to try it again. We’ll see where we end up! A pizza for Tim back at Spaulding (yeah I had a slice) and then an early night for all of us. Back at the apartment, Amy and I enjoyed a nice dinner that we got from Cathy and fresh salad veggies from the Thorne’s garden.
The day started off as a normal Sunday in Boston, with Tim getting a little extra sleep and slowly preparing for the Recreational Therapy that we were about to undertake. As planned, the Redels came in late morning, on their way to Emmanuel College, where Brigitte will be starting this week. After everyone got caught up, Amy and I took Cassandra and Gunther for a tour of the property and left Tim to spend time with Brigitte and Nadia. We are very pleased that Tim’s good friend will be just 15 minutes away via the Green Line.
As part of our planning for this day, we investigated transportation options. Given the chaos that is Kenmore Square and environs on a game day, we decided to use one of the city’s handicap accessible van/cabs to get to Fenway. Armed with a list of providers, Amy called a few days in advance, a day in advance, at 9AM, 10:30AM and at noon. “Yes, we can have a van at Spaulding at 12:30.” Between 12:30 and 1:00, we made about 10 additional calls to multiple companies before deciding that they were not going to come through. At that time, we decided to have a real life educational experience by taking the T, something that had been described to us as inconsistent and unreliable for chair riders.
So, off we went to North Station, dad pushing. Our experience there started out poorly with a woman who was somewhat indifferent to our situation, and gave us some mixed information. But, it turned around quickly as two other information booth staffers got involved and found an MBTA Inspector who explained the Green Line limitations and access points to us, got us on a C train, explained where we should go (Kenmore is under renovation) and let the driver know what’s up. The trains have small ramps that extend to the platform (operated by the drivers) and clearly marked spots on the train. We got off at St. Mary’s and walked up Beacon Street to Fenway.
Our Fenway experience, from an accessibility angle, was nothing short of great. I’ll sidestep here a minute to thank my tourism friend Betsy for making this day happen by putting me in touch with Larry and Beth of the Red Sox. We were their guests today. We were allowed through ticketing areas near Gate A with a simple explanation, and security escorted us down Yawkey Way to Gate D, where we were late to meet Beth who was to take us to our seats. Conor was also supposed to meet us there, but that wasn’t the smoothest transaction, either. A Red Sox employee named Tim was very helpful as we tried to get Conor to the same gate as us and attempted to find Beth. Long story short, we made it to our great seats by the bottom of the first inning and had a perfect day. These first images are views "from the seats" and "of the seats"
It was a good game, with solid pitching by both teams, some good hits and some stellar fielding. My favorite was the top of the fourth when some heads up play got the Sox out of a bases loaded, no out jam - the third out coming with a throw from left field to home plate.
Little did we know that today was actually Western Mass day at the park, and we were led in singing God Bless America and Take Me Out to the Ballgame, by a couple of folks from Amherst. Later we all joined in the singing of Sweet Caroline. We did it all. 
Leaving the park was easy, and we headed over to one of the souvenir stores across the street to get Tim a hat. Apparently, the D’Angelo’s are doing well! That trip was serendipitous, as we ran into three Monument seniors – Matt, Nate and Danny – and Tim and Conor had a nice time catching up. Our green line ride home was easy – there really is a system in place, and the drivers were pleasant. We’re comfortable enough to try it again. We’ll see where we end up! A pizza for Tim back at Spaulding (yeah I had a slice) and then an early night for all of us. Back at the apartment, Amy and I enjoyed a nice dinner that we got from Cathy and fresh salad veggies from the Thorne’s garden.
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