Today we were all doing something I had been begging everyone to do since we’d agreed to go to America, a Segway tour of Sausalito. For those not familiar with what a segway is, basically it’s an electrical two wheeled device used to move people around; it’s like a platform with wheels. It’s self balancing, and controlled by leaning slightly forward to go forward, or back to go backwards. To turn left or right you have to push the handles in the appropriate direction. Sounds easy right?

Everyone but Mum had agreed to come. We booked the tour at 11 so we would have enough time to catch a ferry across to Sausalito and eat breakfast first. Mum would catch a later ferry, and meet us in town afterwards. The cafe near where we were meeting our tour guide, Taste of Rome, had a fairly decent review on Yelp so we decided we would have a walk around Sausalito, then have breakfast at the cafe until it was time for our tour. As a bonus, the cafe had free wifi which Amy, Pauline and I happily used on our iphones. I can’t remember much about the cafe other than it was packed, had a lot of cyclists, and had an extremely bossy guy running the show. I got yelled at for standing in the wrong spot to be served, apparently the “line” was on the other side of the room. Well sorry buddy, but maybe make the signage a bit clearer?

We finished our breakfast and headed over to the carpark to wait the final  few minutes until the tour started. Amy, Fiona and Aunty Sue sat down on a park bench while being the bogan that I am, sat down on the wooden walkway where I was lucky enough to get two splinters buried deep into my hand and finger (it took me 2 days until I remembered to ask Amy for her tweezers so I could get them out – must remember to take tweezers with me on holidays from now on). Eventually our tour guide arrived, unpacked all the segways, and our tour began.

First up we got training on how to use the Segways. They were laid down on the ground, and to pick them up we merely had to put our foot on the platform, then press down so the handlebars rose up and we caught them. Aunty Sue was first up for training, and she immediately pushed her foot down a bit too fast and was almost overwhelmed by the speed of the handlebars coming to greet her. Typically, we all giggled. After turning on the segway, we then needed to move the handlebars to the centre until the light went green. The lights on the segway showed if the handlebars were too far forward, or to one side etc. Only when it is completely balanced (i.e. green light) are you able to step on. First you put one foot on the platform (the segway will beep to let you know it’s activated the stabilisation system) then you step up with the other foot. Once on, it’s amazing how stable it truly feels!

After hopping on, the guide got you to move forwards and backwards, practising directing the segway. We all bunny hopped to begin with – as soon as it started moving we tended to lean back, thus stopping it. We did this a couple of times until we got used to the motion, and became smooth. We then had to do a “cowboy maneouver”, basically leaning forward and backwards quickly so you look like you’re riding a horse. It was only when we did this that it actually clicked in our minds how the Segway worked, and we were instantly experts. The guide also got us to turn in circles on the spot using the handlebars to ensure we would be able to steer.

Stopping was easy; if you were traveling forward you merely needed to lean backwards with your feet to slow down and eventually stop. To perform an emergency stop, we had to squat, or pretend we were sitting down on a chair. Our feet would lean back thus quickly stopping the Segway (albeit smoothly). We all practiced stopping and then our steering by going in and out of some cones the guide had set up. Finally, we were ready to go.

We traveled down the waterfront past the marina, looking at all the unique houseboats along the way. There were several impressive ones hand built, and a couple where our guide explained the tenants came ashore once a month for suppliers, then went straight back to their boats. Complete hermits.

We also visited a building which housed a complete working model of the San Francisco bay – The Bay Model Visitor Centre. A gigantic pool inside replicated the bay, including islands and bridges, and amazingly even the tides! The Mythbuster team had even visited there when recording their Alcatraz special, using the tides to determine whether it was possible the 3 men from Alcatraz could have escaped by a raft built from raincoats. We enjoyed the break from the sun (the tops of my hands were extremely sunburnt) while looking around the model, before jumping back on the Segways to head back to the starting point.

Just before we had reached the Bay Model Aunty Sue had managed to get a flat tyre on her Segway, so swapped with the guide. While unfortunately he could control our top speed on the machines, he couldn’t control how fast we went around corners. As such, Aunty Sue sped around a particular corner and almost lost control of the Segway, ending up in the garden next to the footpath. Unfortunately I’d missed recording the event on video, but we managed to get the aftermath. She was fine (hadn’t fallen over), and even managed to have a laugh at herself. Apart from breaking off a branch from a small tree, there was no other damage. She jumped straight back on, and we finished our tour.

The Segway Tour had definitely been one of the highlights for me. It had taken a little bit of convincing on my part to get anyone to do it with me, but afterwards they all agreed that it had been a lot of fun. We happily walked back into town to meet Mum, where we had some pizza for lunch at a pub, or at least something that resembled a pub to me. It was great tasting pizza, and we sat outside overlooking the bay. Very relaxing, and an incredibly beautiful sight.

We caught the ferry home, then got on a cable car to the park where part of Full House was filmed. We had a look around, then made our way to the corner of the park to look at the Painted Ladies – six Victorian/Edwardian homes in a row. We stopped for a photo opportunity of the group, where I informed them it was time to take a “unique” group photo, like jumping all at once (similar to the Toyota ads). I videotaped it, while Amy took photos. After they’d been made to jump twice, Amy requested another photo much to their dismay. After they all groaned, Madonna counted them in where they all jumped for the last time. Well, sort of. Mum just made a sort of lazy kick in the air with one leg, Mat didn’t move at all, and Aunty Sue just made a star sort of formation with her arms.

However, Pauline had saved her biggest jump for last, putting in so much effort that (in her words) she tried so hard to get her legs right up behind her that she didn’t have time to get her legs back down properly. Instead, she fell on her butt then rolled onto her back with her legs in the air. All of it caught on video. It was hilarious!! We all burst out laughing (Amy and I had tears), then finally checked she was ok. She confirmed that she was, and we spent the next couple of minutes reviewing her fall on the video camera, laughing hysterically when we saw it in fast forward. We decided then and there that we would need to make a Benny Hill special of our holiday, purely so we could watch her fall over to the Benny Hill show theme music. Slapstick comedy gold.

After we finished laughing, we split into two groups as everyone decided to go back to the hotel except for Mat, Amy and I. We were on a mission to find another bar that Amy had heard about, however this one involved catching a train out of town. First stop though was to a nearby chemist so I could buy some throat lozengers (I had a killer of a sore throat) and some lip balm.

After the chemist, we went down to the Powell St station, where instead of buying 2 x $5.50 tickets I bought one $11 ticket. We checked if that could permit both of us downstairs, but unfortunately it wouldn’t, so I had to cough up another $5.50. We caught the train to the station, then using Google Maps headed towards the bar. Earlier, because I hadn’t been feeling so well I was tossing up not coming, but I was so glad I had changed my mind.

The Forbidden Lounge Tiki Bar at Alameda is a hawaiian style bar complete with bamboo huts and waterfalls. We sat at the bar, and for our first cocktails I chose a chamborlada (effectively just a pína colada with a black raspberry chambord twist) while Mat had a banana mamacow. I forget what Amy had (possibly a Zombie??), but it came in an awesome tiki mug that was hers to keep. I had a taste of the drink (it was excellent), so made sure I chose that as my second drink so I got to take a tiki mug home too. We also decided to get the secret cocktail volcano, a drink designed for 4 people with a mixture only limited to the maker’s imagination.

The drink was amazing. It tasted superb, and came in a gigantic bowl with a raised bit in the middle filled with cubes lit on fire to make the volcano effect. It was designed for four people, but the three of us gave ourselves the challenge to finish  the drink before the cubes went out. We succeeded with plenty of time to spare.

We had also noticed a lot of $1 stuck to the roof of the bar. we asked the mixologist what the story was, and apparently it was tradition that all the men in the armed forces would write their names on the money and attach it to the roof so that when they came home from war they had drinking money. We asked for a pen, then wrote on our own $1 note, and Mat added it to the collection on the roof. It said:

Newsflash: Aussies get sunburnt on segways! Crikey!

We finished our drinks and headed outside to start the long drunken journey back to the hotel. Mat almost wet himself with excitement when he saw a 4wd parked outside the bar. It was a Ford ute lifted so high and with massive tyres that the bonnet was over our heads! Mat is quite partial to large 4wds (having just sold his own back at home) so excitedly raced around the truck looking underneath at all the modifications, while exclaiming loudly how much he loved it.

After Mat had video taped the truck we kept walking until we happened upon a bus stop. As we waited for the bus, it dawned on us that once again we had found ourselves in a scary looking neighborhood in the dead of night. Thankfully the first bus that came along was heading to San Francisco so we weren’t waiting for too long. The bus arrived in the city, and we stumbled outside from the transit centre to get onto a cable car. On the ride home we joked around with the driver who confirmed there was a bell ringing competition the following day (Aunty Sue had told us about it earlier). He let Amy have a go of ringing the bell, before entertaining us with his own tune, after which we cheered and clapped. His timing had been perfect, as at the conclusion of his song we found we had arrived back at the hotel. We thanked him, then headed upstairs where our big comfortable king sized beds eagerly awaited our arrival. It had been yet another fantastic day in America.

For Amy’s version of events you can see her blog post here.

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