Food Shopping #2

Today we are finally close enough to our actual departure to go shopping for the "perishable foods" shopping list. We went to the Costco in Long Beach, California, and filled a shopping cart with fruit and cheese and bread.

I do mean *literally* filled a shopping cart with fruit and cheese and bread.

This Costco was smaller than the one I am accustomed to going to. (I almost said "the Costco I often go to, but the truth is that I try not to go very often at all.) In addition to being smaller, this Costco also was poorly stocked enough to have things like milk way in the back of the coolers.

I had to climb into the cooler case to get the milk.

It was also almost terminally crowded, which I suppose we should have expected for a Sunday afternoon. Driving the cart was similar to stories I've heard about driving in urban China.

If you're going to get through, you might have to ram them with your Cheese Cart.
Either that or be extremely polite.

The final haul.

The fruit and vegetables we buy on this shopping trip will probably last about 2 weeks. After that, we will switch over to the canned stuff, dried fruit, and otherwise be at the mercy of collaborators and friends who are coming over from the mainland and don't mind bringing us some more yogurt. The total number of people on our project will be in flux over the course of the time we're out there, so it is just a matter of calling someone who is headed out with a day or two of lead time and very politely making our requests. 

It's not really that bad. Some islands I've been on have a very distinct difference in menu from the days immediately preceding the arrival of the supply boat (SPAM, other canned meats, canned fruit cocktail) and the days immediately after the supply boat comes (fragile lettuce, gently sun-ripened berries, flavorful tomatoes). Catalina Island, and our project's massive setup there, is a location of relative comfort. I mean, we're not unwashed heathens, for heaven's sake! We even have internet.

Amazingly, I feel a little bit disconnected, now that I have finally finished the last shopping trip, the last order, before we depart. Every single item on every single list on my clipboard is checked off. It is a strange sense of peace and calm. I suppose it's the calm before a big storm, or at least a calm before a lot more heavy lifting and grunting in the hot sun. 

We leave for the island tomorrow morning!