Bus tours show off city

When Susan Bauguss lost her job, she decided to create one of her own.

She bought a bus and began offering tours of Spokane.

“I wanted to show people what Spokane really was,” Bauguss said last week. “There are so many interesting things to do here. I don’t think people realize it.”

On Aug. 4, Spokane City Tours began making regularly scheduled trips around the city, departing from the downtown Spokane visitor information center at Main Avenue and Browne Street. The tours are Thursdays through Mondays.

In September, they will depart from the old Convention Center at Spokane Falls Boulevard and Bernard Street.

Bauguss said her company is offering the only regularly scheduled tours of the city.

About a dozen people climbed aboard Bauguss’ air-conditioned bus last Thursday for the two-and-a-half-hour trip around downtown, the north bank of the Spokane River, Browne’s Addition, the South Hill and Manito Park.

Licensed commercial driver Victor Jones was behind the wheel and Sonia Bertsch led the tour.

Bertsch, who has 20 years of experience in international touring, pointed out major sights, talked about the city’s history and provided surprising details.

As the bus passed Riverfront Park and Spokane City Hall and the driver turned north onto the Monroe Street Bridge, Bertsch described the bridge as “nice and strong” since being rebuilt a couple of years ago. Construction workers had to remove 23 tons of pigeon poop from the bridge’s graceful concrete arches, she noted.

Joanie Garvin, a meeting planner for Garco Building Systems in Airway Heights, was checking out the tour as a possible activity for guests at company business meetings.

“This city is so interesting,” Garvin said.

Bauguss said she came to Spokane seven years ago and attended graduate school at Gonzaga University. She then taught English as a second language through Eastern Washington University, including a stint at a sister university in Japan.

She lost that job after returning to the United States and decided to build a new career by combining different skills.

About a year ago, she opened American Lingo Travel Adventures, a tour company that caters to foreign visitors who want to learn practical English while visiting the United States. Two of the guests on last Thursday’s city tour were from Japan as clients of American Lingo, Bauguss said.

Last year, Bauguss traveled with Gov. Chris Gregoire on a trade mission to South Korea and Taiwan.

“I’ve lived in a lot of places in my life,” Bauguss said, “and Spokane is one of the loveliest.”