Galoshes

The weather in Berkeley was beautiful (near the 70s!) until last Wednesday when it started to rain cats and dogs. Whenever it rains in Berkeley, there's a very good chance that it is snowing in Tahoe, the home of fantastic mountains for skiing and snowboarding. My friends, who have passes to the ski resorts, were ready for the snow, and oh my goodness did it snow. One friend told me that he and his seven friends shoveled the drive way to their cabin for almost two hours and got about 3 feet of snow in one night. Many of the slopes received 5 to 7 feet of snow. A little much for me, but I'm not an avid skier.

Instead of heading for the mountains, my boyfriend and I headed for San Francisco for our belated Valentine's Day celebrations. It was still raining, so I decided against a dress and traded it for skinny jeans and galoshes. We headed to the BART station and were merrily on our way when we got to the MacArthur station. Our train attendant said over the intercom, "There are NO trains going to San Francisco at this time. If you are heading to San Francisco, get off this train now. Go downstairs and the BART employees will tell you how to get to the city."

This was at 6:30 pm on a Friday night - i.e., the train was not empty. Tons of people rushed downstairs to the exit to find out what to do. One guy told us that buses were coming to pick us all up and take us to Embarcadero. Another woman said to get on the Emeryville Go-Round and get off at 41st to take the F bus across the bay. And another guy had no idea what was going on. Thank god this wasn't a real emergency because those people were clueless. The Go-Round buses were stopping at the station, but it happened to be about the time the buses stopped running. So many people were trying to get on a bus but most of the bus drivers kept yelling at people to get off and that they were out of service. So much for communication between BART and the Go-Round service. Finally one driver was willing to take as many people as he could to 41st, so we crammed onto the bus.

When we arrive at 41st, an F was waiting for us! But it was packed with the people who beat us there. And how often does the F run? Every half hour. That's right. And it was cold and raining. So we waited, and about 5 minutes before the F arrived, a woman at the stop heard from her friend that the BART was running again. Yeah, I was not happy and I couldn't feel my toes.

The F finally came, and we rode it over the Bay Bridge to the Embarcadero. The restaurant, Cafe Claude, was great! It was quite a romantic spot - dim lighting and live jazz in the background. And I made a great decision wearing my galoshes.

Hunter Wellies

Zetta Tall Rain Boots from Target

Did I make a good purchasing decision though? Well, when I looked into it, I found out that my galoshes were made in China. BUT they were only $25 (they were free for me because my parents bought them for me for Christmas). If I had lots of money, I would have bought a pair of Hunters, which are $125, because I thought they were made in the US or UK. Turns out though, after a little online research, that Hunter felt economic pressure in the last 5 years and had to move its production to China.

So my boots may not have the Hunter logo on them but they were a fifth of the price. If only I knew the manufacturing conditions of the galoshes factory... probably smells very strongly of rubber.