My husband and I love road trips, and we really enjoy packing a picnic lunch and stopping at highway rest stops along the way. Most have nice wheelchair-accessible restrooms and usually a shady place for us to have our lunch. The problem is that they are only along major highways, and sometimes we can’t find any when it’s time for us to have lunch. Do you have any suggestions for alternative accessible road trip rest stops?

I also love road trips, and like you I frequent the highway rest stops for picnics. Unfortunately due to budget constraints there just aren’t as many as I would like. We usually plan out our picnic stops too, and one venue type that I’ve had great luck with is city or county parks. Most are nicely accessible, and usually they aren’t very crowded.

A good example is when we wanted to have a picnic lunch on our way to Zion National Park. The main drag in the town is pretty much a madhouse, and although there are a few wheelchair-accessible tables at the visitor center, you feel like you are in the way of folks trying to access the visitor center. A simple google search turned up the Springdale Town Park (www.springdaletown.com), which is located about a half-mile off the main street on Lion Boulevard.

Not only does this hidden gem have some shaded accessible picnic tables on a level pad, but it’s surrounded by the beautiful red rocks that are prevalent in the area. Add in some wheelchair-accessible family restrooms and you have the perfect little picnic area.

So check out the local parks on your next road trip – they make great picnic stops and you’ll be surprised how accessible they are!