Excellent shoes
I've developed problems with my feet over the years and finally decided to up my game. I used to just buy a new pair of the same ol' Asics every year whether I needed them or not, but those Asics weren't cutting it anymore. I had tried on Merrells a few times in recent years, but they always seemed too good for me. And then our family put together a three-week trip to Scotland and I had to decide whether I wanted to miss out on some of the hikes because I'm too lazy/cheap to get decent shoes or whether I was ready to step it up a little.The Fates smiled on me and we stopped at a hunting gear store in Flagstaff and they had Merrells on sale. That's when I bought my first pair and it was life changing. A few weeks later I was parked on a bench inside Dick's sporting goods scrolling on my phone while my wife shopped for wife stuff. An aisle caught my eye and I saw they had Merrells on sale, so I checked them out and actually found some on sale and one of them was even waterproof.(Here's where I finally get to the point...)It appears to me that these shoes come in two flavors: normal and waterproof. The waterproof ones are quite a bit more expensive, but they're amazing.So I've got three pair of Merrells now. One is a low cut hiking boot style, and then I've got two pair of these (one waterproof and one not). I rotated through all three pairs for a couple months to break them in for Scotland, and then I ended up taking the hiking model and the waterproof version of this one on our trip.It rained on us enough for me to put the waterproof ones through their paces. On the super wet days, the water didn't soak through (awesome!) but it stuck to the outside and made my feet cold enough that I couldn't tell whether they were wet & cold or just cold. I was kind of peeved at first, but then as soon as we got inside where it was warm my feet warmed up asap and I quickly learned the value of waterproof shoes.My take-away is...Waterproof or not, these are the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn. I'm going to set a calendar reminder to buy two more pair of these next spring (no more Asics) and cycle between the two pair throughout the year. I think I'll skip the extra expense for the waterproof ones in the future since I live in the southwest where we don't have very wet winters. I'm a convert though. I've never believed that I'm good enough for Merrells, but now that's all changed. No more messed up feet for me. And my Apple Watch even remarked to me that there was a notable uptick in my walking and activity in general.Cheers to Merrell.