An Accessible Luxury Picnic in the Park with Newfound Picnics

Public Spaces, Restaurants/Bars/Cafes, St. John's & Surrounding Areas, The Great Outdoors / By
A close up photo of a bright blue picnic table with two cushions on the bench. On top of the table is a white linen tablecloth, two bouquets of flowers, several plates of food and drinks, and fancy dinnerware.

Today my husband and I headed to Bowring Park to have a romantic picnic lunch date hosted by an awesome new local business called Newfound Picnics (which is owned by a very nice couple named Heather and Josh). A few months back, Heather reached out to me asking for some ideas for accessible picnic locations in the St. John’s area. She told me that making her business accessible was very important to her, as she also lives with a disability and wants to ensure everyone is able to enjoy the experience. Side note: I am thrilled to be able to …

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Alt Hotel

Accessible Travel, Accommodations, Restaurants/Bars/Cafes, St. John's & Surrounding Areas / By
A photo of the Alt Hotel lobby with lots of very fun, modern couches, chairs and ceiling lights.

Last summer I needed a change of scenery when I was laid up in bed with a really bad back. I decided I would rather spend a night laying in a hotel bed looking out at the harbour, so I headed to Alt Hotel to check it out. I had already heard good things about their accessibility, and the pics I saw online of the lobby and rooms looked so dreamy. I was not disappointed! It was beautiful and cozy, and I had such a relaxing night not very far from home. For anyone interested in going for a (mostly) …

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Manuels River Trail

Public Spaces, St. John's & Surrounding Areas, The Great Outdoors / By
A view of Manuels River and the surrounding trees from a bridge above it.

Last fall I went on a very fun adventure to Manuels River to try out an all terrain wheelchair that can be booked out from the Manuels River Interpretation Centre and used on their trails. The chair is called the Grit Freedom Chair and has been available at Manuel’s for the last two years thanks to funding from the Community Healthy Living Fund and the Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development (Government of NL). Since then it has mainly been used during educational programs as students in wheelchairs often visit with their class and are able to participate in the …

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TimeMasters Comics

Shops, St. John's & Surrounding Areas / By
A photo of the entrance of TimeMasters that shows the automatic front door and the level ground at the entrance.

My husband and I recently visited the new and improved Timemasters Inc. in the Hamlyn Road Plaza. We were very excited for Timemasters to make this move because it’s way closer to our home and we knew it would likely be more accessible for me. And we were right! I loved it and I was so happy with how wheelchair accessible it was. They have an accessible parking spot right by the door with proper curb cuts leading from the spot. There is another accessible spot close by as well. There’s an automatic door at the entrance, very wide aisles …

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Harbourside Park

Public Spaces, St. John's & Surrounding Areas, The Great Outdoors / By
A photo taken at the edge of the wharf at Harbourside Park, looking out at the Narrows in the harbour.

Last week I sat with one of my best friends at Harbourside Park while sipping on a latte and taking in the view. I always love getting a drive thru coffee and then heading to Harbourside. There’s an accessible parking spot right in front of the entrance, some nice ramps all the way down to the water, and lots of benches to sit at if you don’t always have a seat under you like I do. There is some gravel on each level of the park which can be hard for some people to push their mobility aids through, but I …

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Landwash Brewery: Mount Pearl

Restaurants/Bars/Cafes, St. John's & Surrounding Areas / By
A red sign on a white wall that reads Landwash Brewery. Underneath is a smaller white sign that says Taproom.

Another local brewery that I really love is Landwash Brewery! It is such a beautiful venue with delicious beer and an amazing food truck – Saucy Mouth. It isn’t perfectly wheelchair accessible but it has a lot of accessibility features and I believe they’re currently working on adding more. ⁣ For those of you who need to know about accessibility features before heading to Landwash, here’s what you can expect:⁣ ⁣ – The parking lot has multiple accessible parking spots and there’s a proper curb cut to get onto the curb that leads to the main entrance.⁣ – There is an …

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The Rec Room

Entertainment, Restaurants/Bars/Cafes, St. John's & Surrounding Areas / By
a picture of the arcade area of The Rec Room with a large sign overheard that reads: The Yard.

My new favourite place to hang out with friends is The Rec Room St. John’s in the Avalon Mall. I love it for a number of reasons: they have loads of arcade games, they have other fun activities like bowling, axe throwing, and virtual reality, they have a nice restaurant, and they have a bar that serves drinks and delicious late night snacks. But my FAVOURITE part of The Rec Room is how very wheelchair accessible it is! Before The Rec Room opened, it was not easy for me to go out and socialize with my friends. Most places they …

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Paul Reynolds Community Centre Pool

Public Spaces, St. John's & Surrounding Areas / By
A photo of the pool area at Paul Reynolds Community Centre. In the foreground is the lazy river and children's splash pad, and in the background is the larger pool and water slides.

One of my favourite places in the city is the Paul Reynolds Community Centre. Before covid-19 I used to go to the pool there regularly for physio and I’m so impressed by how accessible every aspect of this building is! Every door has an automatic opener, there are counters at the front desk at wheelchair height, they have some gender neutral changing areas with large, fully wheelchair accessible washrooms (including accessible adult change tables) that also serve as showers and change rooms for swimmers with disabilities, and they also have a bunch of pool wheelchairs and lifts to get in …

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Bannerman Brewing Co.

Restaurants/Bars/Cafes, St. John's & Surrounding Areas / By
A photo of the back wall of Bannerman Brewing Co. At the top of the wood wall is a sign with the business name. Underneath the sign are glass doors, and through the glass there is brewing equipment visible.

Bannerman Brewing Co. is one of my favourite downtown spots. I really like the aesthetic of the space, it makes me want to spend hours there. But my favourite thing about it is the accessibility features. Although it’s not technically considered wheelchair accessible due to certain regulations, the owners have certainly put effort into making it a wheelchair friendly place. I chatted with one of the owners before my first visit there to find out more about their wheelchair accessibility, because I didn’t want to venture down there and then find out I couldn’t get inside. Phil wrote me back …

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Cape Spear

Public Spaces, St. John's & Surrounding Areas, The Great Outdoors / By
A photo of me from behind, sitting in my wheelchair on a different observation deck near the end of the trail. There are rails in front of me and then cliffs and ocean beyond.

I recently headed out to Cape Spear with one of my best friends to check out their new accessible trail. We heard rumours that a portion of the trail was recently renovated to provide wheelchair accessibility, but I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Like most accessibility-related things, my expectations were low. But I was pleasantly surprised! We parked in one of the many accessible parking spaces and then wheeled past an accessible washroom (well, it says it’s accessible but I didn’t look inside and I did notice there was no automatic door) and then past an accessible visitor centre …

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