Exhilarating, electrifying tour of San Francisco

By Bilen Mesfin
The Associated Press

ERIC RISBERG / AP Vanessa Holland drives a Global Electric Motorcar down Telegraph Hill below Coit Tower, in San Francisco.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Related stories Electric rentals Other links Sign up for Travel e-mail NWsource: Travel

SAN FRANCISCO — It's not the hippest thing on four wheels, but a tiny electric car that is about the size of a golf cart offers a fresh way to see familiar San Francisco landmarks. It also will make you a tourist attraction.

"Oh, way to ride!" a camera-toting out-of-of-towner called out as a friend and I inched down Lombard Street, the San Francisco attraction known as the "crookedest street in the world."

His was one of many odd stares we got from young and old alike as we braved San Francisco's crowded streets in a doorless, fire-engine red Global Electric Motorcar — which maxes out at 29 mph.

If you can park your ego at the curb, the GEM offers a leisurely, unobstructed and more intimate view of San Francisco. It's a great alternative to tourist buses for visitors who crave independence and can manage a self-guided tour.

The staff at Electric Time Car Rentals handed us a map and helped us plan our two-hour, 16-mile itinerary. Leaving the Fisherman's Wharf area, we would head north past Ghirardelli Square to the Golden Gate Bridge, double back to hit Lombard and Coit Tower and finish up with a roll through Chinatown.

Low to the ground and as exposed as a motorcycle sidecar, the GEM made for an unnerving but exhilarating ride, with nothing between us and the spectacles awaiting at every turn.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More travel/outdoors headlines...