New Boots and Mittens

I made it to REI in Tacoma and with the exception of the dingbat at the customer service department the customer service was great. I got rid of my leaky heavy old REI Spirit II GTX Hiking Boots - 3 pounds.


I traded them in for a pair of Vasque Ion Mid XCR Hiking Boots
light weight waterproof boots. 1 lb. 14 oz.


The divvy in customer service tried to tell me that it was only reasonable for me to expect my old boots to last a couple of years. I told her that they had only 100 miles on them spent the majority of those two years sitting in the closet but she still insisted that I'd gotten a lot of life out of them. She could not find the member number of the REI member who bought the boots for me. I wish I could have ripped the keyboard out of her hands and looked him up myself. Because she could not find his member number I had to except credit instead of getting cash back. I could have gotten my new boots for $99 online but had to pay $125 for them at REI. I did however have me money left to play with. My old boots were obscenely expensive, I never would have paid that for the horrilbe clunky old things.

With the left over money I got a pair of really warm REI brand mittens for myself and my oldest daughter and a stuffed bird for my youngest daughter.

I might try out my new boots on my next hike. I don't hike in boots so these are really for snowshoeing. I hike in running shoes and my feet thank me for it. Maybe I should snowshoe in running shoes too but psychologically I am not quite ready to make that leap. Also I just could pay over $100 for a pair of running shoes.

I'm a bargain hunter and I buy my hiking gear at ebay, campmor.com , reioutlet.com and froogle. I sure like REI's return service though!