starrsville

So much conversation on this topic regarding "us" traveling to Europe, I spent my hours as sister shopped at Cameron Trading Post to conduct a study.

86% wore trainers/ tennis shoes/ sneakers of some type or color
9% wore Birkenstock or Merrill type sandals or slides
4% wore flip-flops
less than 1% wore a shoe with an actual heel - most interestingly a silver/ white/ tooled cowboy boot on a woman

I did not notice anyone visibly concerned about their footwear or other attire. I did notice very interesting choices of souvenirs to take "home".

Scarlett

LOL, good study starrs!
Now tell us about the interesting souvenirs!

dan_woodlief

This is hilarious. Maybe I will try this sometime when my wife is shopping. If you write this up, maybe you can get it published.

seetheworld

Yes, but did you pay attention to what color their socks were??

Thanks for the laugh, starrsville!

laurenzo

You can add on to this study by asking ..How many Americans are actually at US National Parks? While at Zion, Bryce, and Arches we saw Many more Europeans. We leave for Yosemite tomorrow and I will be looking at all their footwear! I also notice the percentage that wear brightly colored clothes and the number of women who do not wear bras!

LoveItaly

Hi starrsville! Welcome home.

I love your thought process..I will have to do that in SF..check out what all the Europeans are wearing, lol.

starrsville

laurenzo, my Navajo guide in Chinle was actually dreading August. That's their big month for Europeans. She had strong feelings on one nationality - but I don't want to offend anyone.

LoveItaly, I'm not much of a shopper and had to find SOMETHING to keep me distracted while I waited. Thank goodness I scheduled in the extra time on this trip. My blood pressure stayed high on the last SWn trip with family - and I don't HAVE high blood pressure!

J_Correa

starrsville - I am not much of a shopper either, so I spend time sitting outside studying the local population as well.

FainaAgain

I can give you the San Francisco report: they all wear whatever they want to, clothes- and shoes-wise, they don't care what the locals think about it, and all they care is about enjoying themselves.

And this is what I do on vacations.

Gilbert

Starrsville,

Come on, spill the beans! What were the "interesting souvenirs" that people were buying?

When I visit Cameron TP, I walk past all the "trinkets" and head straight for the Navajo rugs.

starrsville

That's where my sister spent most of her time. Found one marked down from $14,000 that she really, really wanted. I think most of the browse time was spent "deciding". I finally told her we could stop back by "on the way" (not really) to Chinle.

She was thrilled that she waited. Found just what she wanted at Jacob Lake - by the weaver/artist family she was interested in. Serendipity. She bought jewelry for Christmas presents in the meantime.

LoveItaly

Statistics Faina, this weekend you must wander around the heavy tourist areas of SF and report back, percentage wise what type of shoes are the tourist wearing!! That will keep you busy and out of trouble for awhile.

starrsville

It really became a fun way to bide the time, Lovey! Try it Faina

bear900

SW footwear somehow brings to mind tire tread hueraches. You know, the ones with the leather cross-strap and brass rings?

I think....I just read about them.....
....whistling....

FainaAgain

You know how an inventory is taken? To count small things, people draw 4 small vertical lines, then 1 across, after they are done, they count how many groups of 5 they've got?

This is how I'm going to spend the weekend at pier 39: counting different shoe styles! (ha!)

starrsville

Well, when you are REALLY bored, you just wander around the trading post, sidling up to confirm the language, note the shoes and end up looking at what they are oohing and ahhing over if there is time.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if the security cameras or clerks were watching ME like I was crazy?!?!

We did use the same clerk for the entire time. If she worked on commission, she had a good day - not on me though.

lifelist

This is a lot easier to do in national parks. You just hang out at one of the popular viewpoints and do your inventory as people come out of the buses. I was hanging out at one spot in the Eastern Sierras near Lone Pine at the tourist information center near the turn off to Death Valley. A tour bus pulled up and the tourists started getting out. I thought this was your standard set of American tourists - white sneakers, white socks, shorts, t-shirts, baseball caps or visors, waist packs, etc... Turns out they were all British. So, either they tend to dress as comfortably as Americans on vacation, or they did their research and figured that this was the best way to blend in.

Of course, there was the time in Yosemite where a bunch of Japanese tourists came out of the bus wearing business suits. And, then there's the Italian I ran into walking around Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone dressed completely in red leather - red leather pants, leather boots, red leather jacket - no shirt, of course, and he had gold chains and sunglasses, naturally. His girlfriend was in high heels. Not what I would have chosen to go hiking in, but I'm sure they would have looked fantastic in Milan.

starrsville

One last bop to the top - so it's there while the trip report is "live". After that, they can both drop to oblivion.

SpeedBuggy

Starrsville, I'd like to know what percentage dyes their hair, male and female. Also, how many of that 9% in some type of sandals painted their toenails - again, male and female. ;-)

starrsville

I'll have to go back to conduct another study. I was looking down more than up. I did notice that quite a few would benefit from a pedicure, but then again, I would fall into that subset as well.