More fun for $1 (plus $120 for accessories)

Back on February 28th, I told the tale of a walk through a snowy trail with a group of area people I met via meetup.com. While that walk was a bit of a bust, a few weeks ago I met up with them again to walk the trails of our nearby botanical garden. While nothing was in bloom so the scenery was basically one shade of brown, I thoroughly enjoyed the walk with the group which also included New Girl and another coworker, Phil. I enjoyed the walk so much that the following weekend, I headed to what I consider the worst place on earth - Cabelas - in search of hiking shoes.

Cabelas in and of itself isn't bad and it is the best place for people watching but I'm not a huge fan of all the dead animals they have on display and the people missing a tooth or two over in the gun section also make me a little nervous. Big A and I happened to go on the day in which they were celebrating the Second Amendment and there were tables of NRA representatives scattered around the store. If I had known this I probably would have worn my Obama t-shirt...just for fun.

Upon entering and sidestepping NRA Table #1, I headed directly to the shoe area. I knew from searching online I needed something lightweight, that "breathes" for the summer and I didn't want a boot. As I am prone to doing, I found the perfect shoe for not a perfect price but I figured if I wear them for 5 years, that's $20 a year. You can't find decent shoes for 20 bucks (this is how I can trick myself into believing anything. You should see how well I can talk myself out of going to the gym)! While I was shopping there, Big A headed into the area probably most men head to first - clearance. He did track down some great hiking boots for me that would be perfect for winter wear for a mere $30.

Tonight was another group walk at a nearby trail that I never knew existed and the debut of these shoes. I had worn them once before just to walk Hooch around the area and fell in love with them. I could step on rocks and never know it but tonight was the real test.

The trail was about 3-4 people wide and covered in small gravel so it was a great trail to walk on (not that I have much trail walking experience but this combined with the relative flatness of it ranks high on my list of favorites already). Because it's so warm today, I had to dig out my summer pants out of fear that jeans would be too much. The "hiking shoes/olive green cropped cargos/beige "moisture wicking" short socks" isn't a look I normally would have chosen but it did its job and with the help of larger earrings and a rather feminine cloth backpack, I hoped to sort of even out the extremely butch look I had going on my bottom half. According to New Girl, it worked. Especially with the backpack.

It was another great time and great walk. Due to the park being city-owned, there was a sign at the entrance saying that the gates would be locked 30 minutes after sunset. This led to a discussion on what actually constitutes sunset and it was decided on that we would just wrap up the walk at the 2.5 mile mark and not the complete 4 miles.

As we were heading back, I thought of Sage - I used the word "portage" in a conversation about canoeing and the small river that ran through the trail area. I may tease him until he feels like crying, but I learn stuff and I wait to apply that knowledge at just the right time (stangely enough, this isn't an April Fool's joke on Sage. Really, I do learn).

Next up: A local walk at 8 a.m. on Saturday down to the cemetery, around it, and back up. Shoes are coming back out for that but I will water down the toughness and hide the short moisture wicking socks by just wearing jeans.

The shoes. They reflect!