Very (wet) Victoria

I knew it was going to rain that day both in Seattle and on Vancouver Island.  And I was ready.  Being a Wisconsinite, bad weather doesn't scare me.  A long as you are warm and dry, anyone can enjoy being outdoors and sightseeing.

Heading out to walk to the Clipper terminal from the hostel (after ducking back inside my room to grab my hat and fleece), I was happily strolling along in the drizzle. About ten minutes in, I felt it. It was cool.  On my right toe.  Hmm.. Wait, my left heel.  Hey, what's going on here?  Realization: my shoes for the day are NOT WATERPROOF.

You can almost feel the drizzle!
I thought about going back and changing into my cute leather flats, but I didn't want to ruin them and I also didn't have a bunch of extra time.  So I trudged ahead, realizing I was going to have to suck it up.

My Toms are the best touring shoes. Socks, no socks, they are washable, they pack up super small.  But I realized I had never worn them on a rainy day. Toms, you have an opportunity here to make a mint. Amazingly, they were still grippy on gangplanks and cobblestones with nary a slip.  But the water leaked in from above and along the soles.

I found a bit of relief on the ferry ride over to the island, as the bathrooms had really strong and hot little hand dryers. Soon they became sock and foot dryers, and I was a bit more comfortable.  Once we disembarked into the drizzle, it wasn't five minutes later and both feet were sopping wet again.

Warm sock puppet
However, the rain wasn't done with me yet. My sightseeing selection for that afternoon was a hop-on, hop-off grey line bus. It was full, and the only seat I could get was on the top, half under the roof and half exposed. I was feeling pretty satisfied with where I was and being slightly sheltered. When the bus started, all the water that had been collecting on the roof poured off, onto me. I think I gave up on being dry that day in that single moment.

A lot of water on that flat roof...
The wet shoe + waterfall experience didn't stop me from exploring and walking all around, and on occasion the discomfort faded into the background, and I'll readily admit that wet feet are way better than blistered feet.  Still, when I went into an English-style public house for lunch, all I could think about was hot tea, lots of it.

Warm and comforting
Follow up:  I just searched online and found some You Tube videos about waterproofing Toms with a spray.  I think I'll try it just to see, but this is now a question I'll be working on to answer - are there low profile, reasonably stylish shoes that are also good and  waterproof ?



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