Lodging

It’s no secret that Scott Rains blog (http://rollingrains.com/) is one of my favorite blogs. In fact, reading his daily musings is part of my morning routine — coffee and Scott, that’s how it goes in my house. The great thing about Scott’s blog, is I nearly always learn something from him.

Take yesterday’s entry for example. It was about a DOJ settlement agreement with the Madonna Inn. Those of you who don’t live in CA, probably don’t know about this property, but it’s somewhat of a folk icon here. I remember stopping at the inn when I was maybe 10, just to see the men’s restrooms at the Madonna Inn gas station. To say they brought tacky to a new level was an understatement, especially for a 10 year old.

In any case, the inn specializes in “theme rooms”. No two are alike. I’ve never actually made it past the gas station so I can’t say from first hand experience what they look like, but I have heard they are all unique.

But I digress — back to Scott’s blog.

As I was reading the entry on the Madonna Inn I discovered that it has five accessible rooms (Golfers, Vintage, Mt. Vernon, Rose, and Desert Sands). And when I checked out the Madonna Inn website I learned that Golfers and Desert Sands have a roll-in shower while Vintage, Mt. Vernon and Rose have a tub/shower combo.

Now granted the settlement agreement did stipulate that the inn has to remove some access barriers in these rooms, but at least they have accessible rooms. To be honest, I didn’t think they had any.

In any case, if you want a really different lodging experience on the California coast, you might want to check it out. Obviously you should ask a lot of questions about the access features of the rooms, but hey if they work for you, it might be a fun experience.

Bottom line — I don’t care why people make their places accessible (voluntarily or court-ordered), as long as it opens up more opportunities for PWDs.