segway tour of houston involving an encounter with a tree
whew it’s been an action packed weekend! we kicked off the weekend with a segway tour of downtown houston and it far exceeded my expectations. we went with the company ‘segway tours of houston‘ and did their twilight tour that went from 6-8pm and my amazing mother-in-law set it up for us! my sister-in-law, ashley and i were first a little hesitant but then felt better when i was gifted the helmet from 1992. i am almost certain DJ from ‘fullhouse’ wore the exact same one.
i had some preconceived notions about segways and maybe poked fun at others when i saw them cruising around different cities. i was also not part of the “80% of tourists take to the segway within 5 minutes” as the website claimed. before we get into that-let’s all take a quick look at one of the more recent nerdy and adorable pictures of my husband-haha he was 7 feet tall on this bad boy!
i was feeling a little nervous about the whole segway experience because my balance is not my strong suit. i have been known to fall over when just standing still, perfectly still. charlie was our tour guide (see below) and he was great! although about 3 seconds after i got on the segway for the first time, i said “ohhhh can you take a picture of my husband and me pleeeeease!”
point being…instead of finishing my full instructions on how to use this thing, i insisted on a picture. see that tree behind me where that lady is walking? yeah…well i ran into 15 seconds after this picture was over and evvvvveryone saw me. thankfully the only thing that got hurt was my pride a little.
it matters where you shift your weight, not really what you do with the handle so that took some time for me to get comfortable with (and the fact that i was sweating profusely into a helmet that 3 other sweaty heads had on before me just that day). i was also terrified that when i shifted my weight to the back that i would fall off and crack my skull all over the sidewalk…but that doesn’t happen either (or very often i should say).
the tour was really pretty and i saw lots of houston i hadn’t seen before. we went along the buffalo bayou while learning some facts about houston.
did you know that texas is the only state that is allowed to fly their flag the same height as the american flag because texas used to be its own country, called the republic of texas? it was its own country from 1836-1845. otherwise, it is illegal for all other states to fly their flag at the same height (or any state to fly it higher-yes even you texas).
also, houston is huuuuge. it’s the 4th largest city in the united states! it has around 2,145,002 people (since we just moved here for a bit) and it’s massive. we live in houston although it takes us 45 minutes to get to downtown houston…that is how massive it but it is a pretty city and i enjoyed seeing this part of the city and discovering new, local restaurants that i will be taking my husband to on date nights!
the tour was super fun and even though we weren’t walking around the city…i do think i lost 3 pounds in sweat because it was about 92 while we were cruising around but the heat index was close to 100 degrees (ew). so naturally i started to get dehydrated and when i get dehydrated i get grumpy (just so you know…segways don’t come with cupholders, that’s a separate addition). thankfully my amazing husband came to the rescue (probably because he was tired of my threatening to pass out into traffic) and bought me ice cold water from subway. have you ever been in a subway with a helmet on? we have.
although i often was the caboose of our tour because i didn’t want to go full throttle (12 miles per hour is scarier than you may think), by the end of it i didn’t want to get off! i also have to give my speedy husband props for coming and checking on me quite often to make sure i was doing okay. it was a super neat way to explore a city and a fun way to bond with my father-in-law and sister-in-law! we also found this new mural near market square downtown. it was just completed in May 2013 and the artist, Gonzo247, spray painted the whole thing!
i also love this picture because you can’t see that we are on segways and maybe you think we are wearing helmets to protect our scalps from the hot texas sun or perhaps as a new fashion statement or maybe because we were playing ‘chicken’ on the balance beam on the playground and we wanted extra protection. the possibilities are endless.
we had such a fun time and i’m glad i didn’t let me running into a tree stop me from still trying to get the hang of it! i can tell you that my arms were sore the next day because i may have been gripping the handles entirely too hard for most of the journey. oh the joys of having an anxious brain. here’s another tip…i wouldn’t recommend eating at the cheese cake factory just before going on one of these tours…it sure jiggles around in your stomach but we did have some delicious dessert!
actually, after looking at that picture again…you should probably eat that whenever you can. but as you can see my SIL and i were good and split ours in half!
we woke up early yesterday morning and set out for him to get scuba certified. more on that tomorrow….it was quite the adventure! overall, if you ever get the chance to get on a segway, don’t let the stereotypes of only mall cops and nerds using these to get around fool you…it was pretty fun even if you look a little dorky doing it. yes, people did laugh out loud at us but then we sped off and they only walked off so…
the new wifestyle: find new ways to explore your city and don’t let a hiccup in the first few minutes of something new determine your whole adventure!
questions:
1) did you go on a date this weekend or hang out with family? what did you do?
2) how’s your balance?
3) how long have you lived in your current city and do you venture downtown much?
david1levy
August 11, 2013 at 9:32 pm
1) did you go on a date this weekend or hang out with family? what did you do?
Party at my girlfriend’s house on Friday in partial celebration of her birthday. Dinner and a play on Saturday in total celebration of her birthday.
2) how’s your balance?
Not bad. I’ve never driven a segway, but I also don’t fall over when I’m just standing still! 😉
3) how long have you lived in your current city and do you venture downtown much?
I have lived in Cincinnati since 1992 (now officially longer than I’ve lived anywhere else in my life). Although I am a 25-30 minute drive from downtown, I get down there all the time! I could stand to take an official tour or two to learn more about it, but I’ve been on a few. Pretty cool city!
chelsea
August 12, 2013 at 9:08 am
ohhhh it sounds like your girlfriend had a great birthday weekend (and i hope you are both believers in the ‘month-long-birthday’ celebration ritual). also…your balance far exceeds mine then david! i am excited to visit cincinnati in 2 weeks-we won’t be there for long but excited to see a new city! glad you’ve gotten to explore and learn about it too!
david1levy
August 12, 2013 at 9:21 am
I’m guessing your trip to Cincinnati involves the Toastmasters International Conference. I will be there, too! Having met “ravery” at our Spring Conference earlier this year, I was hoping to track him down and say hello. I hope that you will be nearby when I do and can say hello to you in person. Either way, I hope you enjoy your stay in the Queen City!
chelsea
August 12, 2013 at 9:35 am
you would be correct in that about the toastmasters conference! please do track him down to say hello…i probably won’t be too far from him either 🙂 hopefully see you in a few weeks!
Michelle
August 11, 2013 at 11:35 pm
Funny post! I always thing of Gob when I see a segway! They seem tricky!
1) I went to a wedding this weekend and hung out with friends.
2) Mine could be better. Not sure if it would hold up on a segway though.
3) I’ve lived in Calgary 25 years. I hate venturing downtown…it’s not like other city centers… Kind of dead at night. It’s improving though.
chelsea
August 12, 2013 at 9:14 am
haha oh Gob….me too michelle!!!! i tried to reenact the photo i posted of him on the previous post but i was too terrified to let go and lean back! i hope you had fun at the wedding! if could do the segway…i have faith you could too 🙂 i have yet to venture to calgary but glad to hear it’s improving downtown so it can be more fun at night!
Paula Howley
August 12, 2013 at 1:38 am
1) did you go on a date this weekend or hang out with family? what did you do?
No date this weekend. I actually cleaned all bloody weekend. And my poor daughter had to hang out with me. For real. but I got paid $30 an hour to do it so it is helping finance my increasingly expensive new business venture. Worth it.
2) how’s your balance?
My balance is excellent. I used to be able to do this on the beam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RIYOQOT66Y
and this too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq6jjzkCDJc
3) how long have you lived in your current city and do you venture downtown much?
Been in the big city of Madeira Park for 2 years, population approx 1000. Downtown is where the grocery store, post office, pharmacy, coffee shop, school and playground are so I’m basically there every day. lol
Every so often I venture into Vancouver but downtown is overrated. I like Stanley Park much better.
btw, that is SO cool about Texas having been a country before- it explains so much about the psyche of the state! Texas is like the Quebec of the U.S. without all the whining!!!!
chelsea
August 12, 2013 at 9:19 am
paula! get outta here! you used to be able to do all those amazing things on a balance beam?!?! whoa. i literally gasped out loud when watching those-very impressive. sorry to hear you cleaned all weekend BUT happy to hear you got paid the big bucks to help with your budding business-woohoo! small towns totally fascinate me-all of that is your downtown. seems charming from an outsider but like everything there are probably pros and cons.
i also agree about the psyche of the state of texas being better explained-there’s so crazy pride here! now i need to go to quebec to compare and contrast 🙂
Nick
August 12, 2013 at 9:12 am
Have to say, all i could think of when you mentioned hitting a tree was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrSUZPek-to this.
But in answer to the questions
1) We got to sit outside in the nice warm sun on the grass without the kid while we watched the FD deal with a burning hotel room above us.
2) Quite good but variable.
3) 23 years and venture downtown weekly.
chelsea
August 12, 2013 at 9:33 am
hahah well played on ‘george of the jungle’ nick! wow…what a picturesque date until you get to the end of your sentence involving a burning hotel-hope everything turned out okay! glad to hear you also venture downtown weekly! keep up the good balance 🙂
Marc Gabris
August 12, 2013 at 5:08 pm
thanks for posting about the segway adventure! i haven’t done them yet, but being nerdy fits in perfectly with my personal motif so its only a matter of time. i didn’t know houston was so big! that sounds like an exciting place to be (for a bit). why are you only going to be there for a bit? what is something you like better about houston than oregon?
i’ve lived in sacramento for 24 years (my life) and visit downtown often. this weekend my family and i went to downtown placerville (a town in the woods close by) for some wonderful z pies and gelato. i think you and ryan would like it!
chelsea
August 13, 2013 at 12:06 pm
yup-houston is huge! and you should definitely try out the segways-you will have a blast! we are currently just hubbing out of houston because we have some big traveling coming up and ravery’s parents live here! something i like better about texas than oregon is that people are much friendlier much quicker! sounds like a fun city you live in!