Last Thursday-Friday I was in Duluth with my family.  The weather was perfect, the lake was glorious, the fall colors were stunning, our long lost friends were amazing.  I almost forgot why we moved until I checked the weather a couple mornings back and it was 15 degrees COLDER in Duluth than in the Twin Cities.

Anyhow, we decided to stay in a hotel (Canal Park Lodge) when we were there, and the hotel happens to be in Canal Park right on the lake.  If you have never been to Duluth, this is what I am referring to:

The image on the left is from here.           The image on the right is from Jeff Dexheimer photography.
Of course I picked images that make Duluth look glamorous.  If you are looking for some FANTASTIC photos of Duluth check out the Jeff Dexheimer link I posted above. There are some fantastic photos of that great city.  So anyway, we stayed right on the lake – we walked out of the hotel and we were basically 20 steps from the lakewalk.  It was awesome.  We walked down the lakewalk to the Fitgers building to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  While we were in the Fitgers building we naturally stopped at Trailfitters, our favorite outdoor gear store.  Usually I just buy random clothes and shoes there since it is overall a little out of my price range.

While browsing all the awesome stuff at Trailfitters I decided to check out the Smartwool socks.  Being a cold-footed person I love Smartwool. Jen and I BOTH love smartwool. I have about 6 pair in my drawer…the downside being that 5 of them are so thin on the bottom from wearing them that I really only wear them at home with slippers.  Its quite annoying, since most of those pair I’ve had only for a couple of seasons, and when I spend close to $20 on a pair of socks I expect them to last longer.  Jen has also had the same problem with her Smartwools wearing out.  We both feel frustrated with the issue, but thought that there weren’t any other good options out there.

Ok, so back to being at the store.  I was looking at the socks, and all of a sudden I found these:

{image from Darn Tough’s website}

These are the merino wool socks I was wanting but they aren’t Smartwool – they are Darn Tough.  I had NEVER heard of them, but when I read this on their sock packaging I had to restrain myself from buying 4 pair right them and there (which actually wasn’t so hard to do since they were stinking $19):

SIMPLY AND WITHOUT STRINGS OR CONDITIONS:

If our socks are not the most comfortable and durable socks you have ever owned, return them for another pair or your money back.

No strings. No conditions. For life.

When you are really serious about something you make it yourself.

The stuff written above is actually from their website. Below it is the address to just send your socks back.  Crazy.  The sock packaging said something along the lines of “we guarantee these are the most durable socks you have ever worn and if you can wear them out send them back for a free exchange, no questiosn asked” or something like that.  There was a bit more emphasis on the “wearing out.”

So I bought the pair I showed you above.  I figure I’ll wear them like crazy this winter and see how they hold up.  If they hold up fantastically I’ll buy a couple more pair – and if they wear out I’ll send them back and see how slick their return policy actually is!  Darn Tough seems like a really legit company – have any of you ever gotten socks from them?  We’d love to hear your stories!

While I was purchasing the socks I noticed a bunch of stickers at the checkout that you could buy.  A bright green Minnesota sticker with the word “native” on it caught my eye.  Naturally I bought it for Jen, because that’s just the kind of sister I am.  Plus I think the sticker was kind of funny since I think it is making fun of people from Colorado.  But I’m not sure.    (any Colorado readers out there?!)  I’ll try to get a picture of it and post it later!

And BE SURE to check back tomorrow for a giveaway from one of our favorite etsy stores!!  Here’s a hint!