Yesterday was certainly a productive day. I slept in, spent my whole morning/afternoon inside (save for a quick run to Ralph’s for some food, which should cover me for at least another week) working on my laptop in the huge awesome kitchen/common area with free, blissfully fast wifi.
I got some work done with my clients, got a bunch of writing done for an upcoming Digital Backpacker project (I’m going to keep it under wraps for another day or so), and caught up on my rss feeds.
I spent some time talking to a nice canadian guy in my hostel room named Jason. And talked online to an old friend I hadn’t heard from for a long time.
After reading Tynan’s updated gear post on LifeNomadic, I decided that his new Vibram Five Finger shoes were exactly what I’d been looking for for using indoors at hostels, as shower shoes to avoid foot funguses from around the world, and as alternative shoes when my solomons give me blisters.
I looked up the nearest dealer of Vibram shoes, and found a cool looking one in San Diego called Adventure 16. I dawdelled around for another few hours, trying to decide whether to make the trip out or not. When I finally decided to go, I began to worry it was too late. It was nearly 7:00pm already and the store closed at 9:00pm. Google had mapped out a public transit route (Google maps is incredible) and said it would take 54 minutes. I hoped this was true, and that I wouldn’t miss any stops.
I ended up deviating from the google route quickly, as it seemed that the 20 bus was only going to the Fashion Valley Transit center on weekends. I decided to take the 120, which was getting there a little bit later than the 20. After arriving at the fashion valley transit center, I made my way up to the trolley station. I love these stations that are suspended in mid-air: The idea that thousands of people fly by in little zooming cars all day is an idea that fascinates me.
I took the Sansee bound trolley to Grandeville station and got off. Hmmm. I was confused.
There didn’t seem to be an exit from the trolley station, and after finally finding it, and wandering around on the street for five minutes with my cell-phone in hand, trying to find the streets listed on Google Maps, something caught my eye.
It was a tent, a huge tent on the top of a building’s roof. I had found Adventure 16! Yes! And, it was only 8:03pm!
As I entered the medium-sized adventure shop, my mouth instantly began to salivate. I LOVE adventure/camping/backpacking gear, and am always at risk of buying everything in the store and justifying it by vowing: “I won’t eat for the next two months”.
They had nearly everything I was looking for, including the Vibrams. I bought a pair of Vibram Classics, a Sea to Summit silk liner to replace my sleeping bag (that thing is so damn big), and some AWESOME Icebreaker long underwear.
What they did NOT have, which I was somewhat bummed out about, was the Kiva compressable keychain backpack. After spending some time in San Diego with pockets filled to the brim with bus passes, maps, and water bottles, I am longing for one of those awesome little buggers. Ah well, I’ll try another adventure store around San Diego.
As I made my way back to my hostel after returning from my trip, I was stricken by the sheer volume of people shoving their way through the sidewalk. There were tourists, locals, homeless people, teenagers, all trying to get an action of the CRAZY downtown nightlife. Music blared from a thousand nightclubs, and pedicabs (little bicycles with carts strapped to them) rolled around, hawking overpriced rides to anyone who met their gaze.
The hostel was quite, however, and I was able to get a little bit of writing done, before falling asleep.
This morning, however, is going to be a very important and flavorful day. My long-lost friend Ashley sponsored a “World Famous Ghirideli Sunday” for me today, and I am going to take full advantage and post the review later on. Thank you so much Ashley!
Well…keep the comments coming, and thanks for reading, I’ll have some more updates soon!
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