Sunday Sacramento Scene: Capitol Segway Tours
It’s the only tour of Downtown Sacramento on wheels, cruising the Capitol City on a Segway. If you think you know there is to know about this city, this tour proves you don’t know Sac!
“Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you to the Hysterical Walks & Rides city Segway tour!” booms a voice out of a loud speaker somewhere. We all remember President Bush’s Segway spill, but here it’s safety first.
“First, we want to get your vest and helmet on, and then we’re going to start your training,” says Paul with Hysterical Walks & Rides. “Then, what you’re going to do is you’re going to stand up onto the machine as if you were standing up on a staircase. We haven’t had a person yet who hasn’t been able to ride these.”
“We’ll see about that today. This is such a weird experience. I feel like I’m standing on a flying saucer.” After a fifteen minute training session, we hit the gas…or, battery-powered motor.
We embark on a guided, taped tour with the voices of an arguing husband and wife, complete with some classic cruising tunes, little-known facts and humor. “Our next stop is the famous Haunted Mansion,” the taped tour guide instructs, “This is the mansion that was once the home of California Governors.”
“There’s a lot of people who live in the Sacramento area who hardly come downtown unless it’s a special occasion,” Paul says. “So they really don’t know where a lot of the sites are. This is a great way to really be able to see the sites.” From the Governor’s Mansion to the Sacramento River and back, there are more than seventeen different sites to see!
“We cover almost six miles on our tour. Even walking, that’s a pretty good walk.” The tours are limited to eight riders at a time and one guide, and if you can’t stand for long periods of time, this probably isn’t the way to go. “Our oldest tourists have been a seventy-seven-year-old man and a seventy-five-year-old lady, and they had a great time! If they had been walking, it would have been pretty tough.”
If you’re a native or newcomer, set sail…or Segway…in Sacramento! Segway city tours operate seven days a week, twice per day at 9AM and 1PM. Tickets will run about $80 per person, and you must be over the age of sixteen to operate the Segway on this tour.
—
Natalie Bomke is a features reporter and morning show anchor for KTXL Fox40 in Sacramento. Her Sacramento Scene segment airs Fridays on the Fox40 Morning News. Natalie also contributes to Fox40.com by writing the Sacramento Scene Blog, an online extension of her weekly segment. She can be reached by e-mailing natalie.bomke@fox40.com.
In my past life, I was a tree or something. If not a tree, something that grew old and didn't move very much. I'm pretty convinced of this.