Traveling Shoes

I love leaving my toes
f r e e
to
w i g g l e
and get plenty of air in flip flops.

In college I was known to wear my flip flops year round even. This is GA so it isn't like it gets super cold-but we were in the North Georgia mountains so we could sometimes get snow!! I end up wearing these wonderful, even if germ filled, shoes all the time!! -I just read a disgusting article about how full of germs these things can get-oh well, I've survived this long wearing them!!- I don't know why I love them so much, but I do!

However, for our upcoming European trip (Germany, Austria & Italy-I think we have finally decided on a basic schedule!!) I knew I would need something with a bit more support since we are l i t e r a l l y backpacking and need to be able to fit everything we will need into one backpack!!

(Which I then have to carry-therefore I will be packing extremely light!!)

Meanwhile I still want some airflow since it should still be quite warm in Italy, but we will be doing some hiking in Germany & Austria as well and need to be sure that our feet get all the support and protection needed. (I have a pair of Chaco's that I absolutely adore that my sister gave me last year, but I needed something that covered by toes since I read that is mandatory for entry into the churches in Europe!!)

In the search for the perfect pair of travel shoes I researched several different types/brands that were suggested online. I couldn't believe how expensive everything is!! I buy things on the C H E A P-these prices where out-of-this-world expensive sounding to me!! We did shopping over several evenings last week & afternoons on the weekend and finally found a shoe that fit the bill for us. It was still the

m o s t $ $ $ m o n e y
I have
e v e r
spent on a pair of shoes

(sandals really) but I am extremely excited about them and I think the will be perfect for the job-and I will still be able to use them in the future since they are really quite cute I think! (In fact, we will be wearing them in some before we leave...our Labor Day Weekend Camping Trip-with river rafting hopefully in the plans-sounds like a perfect time to see what they can handle!!) Kevin and I both ended up with Keen's and I already wore mine to work one day to start the wearing in process! I still love them so far!!

(Also, here are a few pictures I found on my camera from our family day a couple weekends ago-I guess I had more pictures on my camera then I thought!!)