Happy Hiking Feet, New Shoes !

Last week on our hike, it was evident we both needed new hiking boots. We keep going on rougher terrain and also on longer and longer hikes. What we were wearing, was not working for us. The feet need to be cared for and we also needed some good ankle support.
My whole life I have worn, "healthy shoes". And when our girls were born that was one of the many things we agreed on, not to mince on the money when it came to buying shoes for them. We often had to scrape together to buy them, but we did. We knew the search for the perfect hiking boot meant spending money, lots of it. Good shoes cost money. For days now I had been researching what would work the best for our hiking shoes. Needed to be waterproof, needed to have good support, good tread and the list went on and on.
Tonight we knew just what we wanted, when we walked through the store doors, but when we got there and tried them on, and did the little rocky hill test they have there, neither one of us liked the boots.
Soon, we had so many boxes open on the floor that I found myself apologizing to the shoe sales man over and over for having him get so many kinds for us to try on.
Well it ended up something like 3 pair for each of us, but that makes size rather large boxes on the floor.
Emery found the perfect pair, Columbia made the boot for him, and I tried them too, but nope, it wasn't a fit for me. I was starting to feel a bit like Cinderella's step sisters. Finally, as they were announcing over the intercom to "make your final purchase as the store closes in 15 minutes", the salesman brought out a pair of Merrels for me to try. They fit just like a glove. I was in love with them. Perfect for me. So nearly $230 later we were skipping out of the store with happy hiking feet. Tomorrow we will give them a try, provided the weather co-operates.