Riding on buses with no apparent destination

I am better at walking. I know that. Somehow, I allowed myself to believe that staying twelve miles from the coast in a well-known hostel in San Luis Obispo would be a good idea. I love the hostel, but I hate trying to navigate the bus routes to find myself near water. I woke up at 9 am and made pancakes for breakfast (the hostel provides the batter). I rushed out the door in an attempt to find the Chamber of Commerce. Once there, a teenage girl pointed the bus map out to me (but she admitted, she had never once rode the bus). I tried to decipher the map, which is printed intentionally small and vague on a hot pink piece of paper. No use. I read the list of stops and spent two hours hiking down Higuera Street to the stop. Higuera Street turns into South Higuera street after about 5 blocks of downtown and suddenly becomes rural farmland. I found myself walking down a dirt road past barns, cattle fences, and tractors, knowing eventually the highway would appear before me. After boring myself on this hike (and fearing the water may never appear, regardless how far I walked) I turned around and hiked back 1 mile to the bus stop with the intention of going to Avila Beach. Apparently, the bus doesn't stop there except at 8:43 am on Tuesdays, nor does it stop at nearby Shell Beach, although that is not clear unless you read the explanation of the asterisk beside the timetable. I thought, that is okay, I will just go to Pismo Beach and walk to Avila Beach. That didn't work, I forgot to get off the bus, because the mall where we stopped definitely didn't look like MY Pismo Beach stop. Oops. So, I rode the line to Santa Maria, waited 20 minutes, and re-boarded that bus back to San Luis Obispo. I wasted three hours of my day, got essentially nowhere, saw some really rundown areas and farmland, and missed a beautiful day for hiking. However, my early morning hike to the bus stop meant I hiked about 5 or 6 miles today, so at least I wasn't sitting down all day! I finally get off the bus and check my email and contemplate eating something. Anything. It is Saturday, there must be something to do in this town! My dinner is pesto pasta with feta cheese, garlic toast, and an incredible salad with lemon peppercorn dressing at the Natural Cafe. I go back to the hostel and find that my friends from the Santa Barbara hostel have arrived and that I am the only person not cooking or eating in the dining area right now (with the exception of our fifth roommate who is napping at 6 pm). Mardi Gras this weekend...I wonder if I can catch the evening parade. The hostel is more busy this evening, than last night...it feels like a little family here. We bake a second cake (last night we made a pineapple upside down cake for someone's birthday). This cake is a vanilla cake with ying yang frosting for a guy that is turning 21 years old tomorrow. I have a great time talking with my friends and socializing with new people in the hostel.

I'm a master at wasting nice days. I always manage to be lost, trying not to drown, or a combination of both.