Chillin’ at Dolores Park

I took this picture on Saturday, on a walk to Dolores Park after lunch with J. It was a beautiful warm day, as you can see, and once we’d walked about half a block in the other direction I had to dig a jacket out of my bag so I didn’t get the shivers.

Which brings me to the subject that San Francisco is really fueling my obsession with high-quality socks. I feel like I’m constantly walking and, thus, constantly considering my feet and my footware. On Friday I went to REI and bought another pair of Smartwool Adrenaline hiking socks, which are my current socks of choice. I bought them with a 20-percent-off coupon, because they retail at (gulp) $16.95. I also have a couple pair of Dahlgren’s City Walkers, which I like a lot — and they’re only $14 — but they’re not quite as wonderful as the Adrenaline Hikers, of which I now own three pair. Still, I’m not sure that’s quite enough. Or maybe I just need to do my laundry more often.

In Austin, my socks of choice were Coolmesh Wrightsocks. They are light and breathable and short, and really comfortable. And, once I found them, I bought about a ton, because they had some sort of “buy-5-get-1-free” deal going on. I still wear them here (I’m wearing them today, in fact), but now I need socks that are both super comfortable and can keep my feet warm (right now my feet are kind of cold, for example).

There’s a lot to be said for wool socks. These people are wool zealots, but a lot of what they say about wool is true. However, I don’t buy that wool keeps you cool enough in every situation — I have lived in Texas, after all, and I know that wool socks in August just wouldn’t fly there. It is true, though, that even wool blends, like the Adrenaline socks use, don’t get so smelly, and that if a cool day turns warm I don’t freak out because my feet get overheated.

Did I mention I’m obsessed?