Create your own Seattle Holiday on a rented scooter
You can channel your inner Audrey Hepburn with a little help from South Lake Union's Scoot About
By Scout Colmant
Special to NWsource
Scout Colmant
Scout and Amy prepare for their Seattle Holiday.
More photos
More info:
Printer friendly
E-mail a friend
Digg it
RSS for Daily Find
Locally owned business Scoot About knows that a sporty scooter is a great way to see the city for the first time -- or to see it with fresh eyes. From its South Lake Union office, the company rents scooters to mostly neophyte drivers, and it doubles as a boutique for Vespa-related gifts, including black-and-white film stills of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday."
OK, so Seattle is no Rome. Nor did I, or my friend Amy, have on Peck's sharp suit or Hepburn's full swirling skirt and insouciant neckerchief. In Seattle in 2008, we have helmet laws and REI. Still. Seattle has almost as much, if not more, espresso, so we thought maybe we could capture some of that enchantment.
Step one: Scooter School.
Rates at Scoot About are $30 for the first hour, $20 for each additional hour and $75 for the whole day. (For an additional $10, you can keep the scooter overnight.) A refundable deposit of $300 is also required, but helmets are provided for free. Wear your own sunglasses, or rent protective eyewear for $3. You'll need them for "nature's confetti" -- random bugs and flying debris.
Scoot About's owner, Susan Richardson gave us the basics, spending more than a half-hour teaching us the rules of the road. She takes her job seriously, which is a good thing if you've never been on a scooter before.
Circling the parking lot for the fiftieth time, though, I had the itch to break away from her invisible training wheels, but she quickly delivered a dose of reality: "Straight and fast is easy," she said. "It's going slow, turning, control. That's what we want to make sure you can do before you leave here."
You'll appreciate your education once you get out on the road and must navigate busy Seattle streets and hordes of SUV-driving madmen and -women. Looking at the traffic from my scooter perspective, I had to shake "Flight of the Bumblebee" from my head.
Renters are not allowed to take Scoot About scooters on freeways like I-5 or Highway 99. "In a car, you look for the major thoroughfares," Richardson says. "Scooters, you look for the back streets." But you can take them on a ferry to one of the islands, and since scooters get priority boarding, securing passage across the Sound is a breeze even on the busiest days.
Scoot About caters to mostly inexperienced drivers, yet Richardson says the accident rate is less than a half-percent since they've been in business. Those were reassuring odds to quell my faint jitters, and with Richardson's encouragement, Amy and I were ready to hit the streets. We waved arrivederci, and in an instant we were zipping around Lake Union.
Step Two: Vacanza!
After an al fresco lunch at the Red Door in Fremont, we sped off to visit our beloved Fremont Troll. I placed my hand in front of his mouth and whispered, "I was born to motor." Luckily, he isn't known to bite off the hand of fibbers the way that La Bocca della Verita ("the Mouth of Truth") is believed to do in Rome.
Of course, no faux Roman Holiday would be complete without gelato, so we said ciao to Bottega Italiana in Pike Place Market. I have no idea if you burn any calories riding a scooter, but in a broad sense it's still outdoor "exercise," so I easily justified three exquisite scoops of tiramisu, mocha and caramel in a waffle cone.
There were many high points. Cruising past Seattle Pacific University's green pastures, where languid students soaked up the sun and tulips and daffodils burst with color, was like scooting through an Impressionist masterpiece. On the loop through Volunteer Park, cherry blossoms fell magically upon our heads as the setting sun flashed through the tree branches.
Even some real motorcycle riders gave us a kindred wave, which was almost too much. And then, at a red light downtown on Pine Street, an alterna-teen shouted with a big ironic grin: "Dude, I LOVE your moped!" And just like that, I was in Seattle again.
OK, so Seattle is no Rome. Nor did I, or my friend Amy, have on Peck's sharp suit or Hepburn's full swirling skirt and insouciant neckerchief. In Seattle in 2008, we have helmet laws and REI. Still. Seattle has almost as much, if not more, espresso, so we thought maybe we could capture some of that enchantment.
Step one: Scooter School.
Rates at Scoot About are $30 for the first hour, $20 for each additional hour and $75 for the whole day. (For an additional $10, you can keep the scooter overnight.) A refundable deposit of $300 is also required, but helmets are provided for free. Wear your own sunglasses, or rent protective eyewear for $3. You'll need them for "nature's confetti" -- random bugs and flying debris.
Scoot About's owner, Susan Richardson gave us the basics, spending more than a half-hour teaching us the rules of the road. She takes her job seriously, which is a good thing if you've never been on a scooter before.
Circling the parking lot for the fiftieth time, though, I had the itch to break away from her invisible training wheels, but she quickly delivered a dose of reality: "Straight and fast is easy," she said. "It's going slow, turning, control. That's what we want to make sure you can do before you leave here."
You'll appreciate your education once you get out on the road and must navigate busy Seattle streets and hordes of SUV-driving madmen and -women. Looking at the traffic from my scooter perspective, I had to shake "Flight of the Bumblebee" from my head.
Renters are not allowed to take Scoot About scooters on freeways like I-5 or Highway 99. "In a car, you look for the major thoroughfares," Richardson says. "Scooters, you look for the back streets." But you can take them on a ferry to one of the islands, and since scooters get priority boarding, securing passage across the Sound is a breeze even on the busiest days.
Scoot About caters to mostly inexperienced drivers, yet Richardson says the accident rate is less than a half-percent since they've been in business. Those were reassuring odds to quell my faint jitters, and with Richardson's encouragement, Amy and I were ready to hit the streets. We waved arrivederci, and in an instant we were zipping around Lake Union.
Step Two: Vacanza!
After an al fresco lunch at the Red Door in Fremont, we sped off to visit our beloved Fremont Troll. I placed my hand in front of his mouth and whispered, "I was born to motor." Luckily, he isn't known to bite off the hand of fibbers the way that La Bocca della Verita ("the Mouth of Truth") is believed to do in Rome.
Of course, no faux Roman Holiday would be complete without gelato, so we said ciao to Bottega Italiana in Pike Place Market. I have no idea if you burn any calories riding a scooter, but in a broad sense it's still outdoor "exercise," so I easily justified three exquisite scoops of tiramisu, mocha and caramel in a waffle cone.
There were many high points. Cruising past Seattle Pacific University's green pastures, where languid students soaked up the sun and tulips and daffodils burst with color, was like scooting through an Impressionist masterpiece. On the loop through Volunteer Park, cherry blossoms fell magically upon our heads as the setting sun flashed through the tree branches.
Even some real motorcycle riders gave us a kindred wave, which was almost too much. And then, at a red light downtown on Pine Street, an alterna-teen shouted with a big ironic grin: "Dude, I LOVE your moped!" And just like that, I was in Seattle again.
Copyright © The Seattle Times Company
post a reply