Meet Kristy Cook | Accessible Travel Blogger

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kristy Cook and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristy, as a parent, what do you feel is the most meaningful thing you’ve done for them?
We strive to never put limitations on our children. Our youngest son has a form of Epilepsy that does not respond to medication leaving him with daily seizures and cognitive delays. We were told by doctors when he was 2 years old it was unlikely he would ever progress. With hard work and unconditional love he has learned to crawl, climb and he is starting to take his first steps at 7 years old. We travel and find accessible locations so he can see nature from his wheelchair and his siblings can have a life of adventure and never feel held back. One of our favorite quotes as a family is, “If you believe you can you will if you believe you can’t you won’t”.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When starting our journey Rv traveling with our wheelchair bound son I realized quickly we would need to do more research than others to plan successful trips. The world isn’t fully accessible but if you focus on what is there is a lifetime of things to see and do. I started by looking into our National Parks and following full time traveling RV families and asking their advice. It took a month to plan our first big trip and it was the biggest success! We saw 3 national parks, 4 national monuments and a state park in 9 days! I recognized how much work I put into finding these locations and as a family we decided to start sharing this journey with the world. We want to reach other families with disabilities, children in strollers etc and show them that traveling isn’t only possible it can be absolutely amazing while also accessible! We share our story and geo tag wheelchair friendly locations on our Instagram at @accessible.adventures and recently started a website to blog in more detail at accessibleadventures.net

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We spent a week in Williams Arizona it was our families favorite trip so far! If you haven’t already you absolutely must see the Grand Canyon. It is one of the most wheelchair friendly National Parks we have been to. One full day is sufficient here if you are hitting all of the roadside stops and walking the wheelchair friendly paths. We stayed at Raptor Ranch and if you are looking for some Flinstone nostalgia this is the place for you! Our 9 year old daughter loved running in and out of the different houses and going down their big dinosaur slide. They also have a great show and fly the Raptors and feed them, very educational for a homeschool family. Another family friendly spot you can not miss is Bearizona. This isn’t just any zoo, you drive through exhibits and bears, wolves, bison etc walk right next to your vehicle. This feature also made it perfectly accessible for anyone who can ride in a vehicle! This might have been the highlight of our trip until we stumbled upon The Grand Canyon Deer Farm. Our daughter is still begging to go back. More deer than you can count will follow you around to eat from a cup of food in your hands. You can pet them and honestly they are a riot along with the other animals they house, We are a homeschool family so hands on experiences, zoos etc are wonderful but we have a spot in our hearts for National Monuments. We made a day of visiting Tuzigoot National Monument and Montezuma Castle National Monument. If you are in the area and like history these are great places to see, Montezuma Castle is completely wheelchair and pet friendly. It’s not a lot of walking and we learned so much about ancient cliff dwelling life in about an hour. Tuzigoot is visually even more impressive, you can walk on sidewalks up to the ruins, it is a bit steep but we did just fine pushing our sons wheelchair here as well. You can really immerse yourself in the history here and for us the homeschool experience couldn’t be beat. We spent the next two days seeing Walnut Canyon National Monument, again great history here, and then we knocked a bucket list item off. Incase you didn’t know Sunset Crater National Monument is the home of a volcano! Seeing the volcanic rock and fields was truly an experience and a great lesson for the road! Down the same road is Wupatki National Monument which is more ancient ruins, more history and has a great wheelchair friendly viewing trail. Our week in this area of Arizona truly couldn’t be beat and I hope more travelers discover these gems!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to Make-A-Wish and Camping World, without them our journey would not be possible. Our son was granted a wish and received a camper in March of 2021 and we have been finding accessible travel locations since and sharing them with the community we are building on social media.

Website: accessibleadventures.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accessible.adventures/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW0rNCRZDGjR7_vKBBzcMg

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@accessible.adventures