Rich and I spent the summer in Alaska, as many of you know. For those of you who don't know our story, we sold a good majority of our belongings (including our house), took our beloved dogs to my dad's house in Illinois for a summer vacation, and traveled the entire West Coast of the US and Canada. We took a month to make the drive from Charlotte to Anchorage. The trip there was incredible. We saw tons of wildlife, mountains, the ocean, great friends, and family. We spent time doing things we've never done before and exploring places we'd never seen. From the Grand Canyon, to biking around Napa Valley (let me tell you, that got difficult towards the end of the day), to Multnomah Falls with Jack Allen, to spending my birthday hanging out with locals in Whitehorse, Canada, one could say we had a pretty epic trip out there.

Alaska was a pretty incredible experience. We spend the majority of the summer working on a train, which was a unique way to see the state. In our downtime, we did everything we could possibly fathom doing while we were up there. We camped, hiked, caught fish, and took a flight tour around Denali.

Mid-June I found out I was pregnant. That was really exciting! But we were also a long way from home. We ended up leaving Alaska a bit sooner than we initially anticipated since we are having a baby and all. We needed to find a place to live, get settled, go to doctors appointments, etc. Morning sickness on a moving train is no fun either (in case you were wondering).

Rich's brother came to visit the last week in July, and we left the weekend after he did. While he was there, we went on a marine tour in Seward which was really cool. We saw humpback whales, a bear, obscurely located on an island, puffins, sea lions, and so much more. We saw a few glaciers as well. The most amazing part of the glaciers was hearing them break off into the ocean. There's no other sound like it.

We got back to the Midwest to see family and pick up our dogs in six days. We booked it back. The Yukon territory in Canada was one of the highlights of the trip back. We saw wild buffalo, real life reindeer, mountain goats, and bear. We also saw the biggest, most incredible rainbow I've ever seen in my life.

The other highlight was crossing the border back into the lower 48. Being in Alaska kind of felt like being in a different country. Being 4 hours difference in time zones, it was really hard to keep up with our friends and family. Crossing the border felt coming home.

It took us an additional two days to get back to Charlotte from Illinois. We had no car trouble the entire trip (thank God!) but on the last stretch, we got two flats on our trailer. We got through that, and made it back to Charlotte mid-August.

So, you've now read my entire blog post. What does this have to do with a Tabletop Campfire? Isn't this webpage tabletopcampfires.com?

A couple of things:

First of all, we are sooooo freakin excited to be back in the Carolinas, making and selling Tabletop Campfires! We've been sitting on our porch almost every night by the campfire since we've been back, and it creates such a cool experience. We love seeing our vendor friends, returning customers, and new customers. We love spreading the joy that campfires bring!

Second of all, campfires elicit campfire stories.

When you're sitting around the campfire, you have some of the best conversations. Campfires are about making memories (ok, and s'mores). So, the title of this blog series is "Campfire Stories," and we will use it as a platform to write about some of the things we think about and talk about while enjoying our Tabletop Campfires.

If you want to stay up to date with our Campfire Stories, follow us on Instagram (tabletop_campfires) and Facebook (/tabletopcampfires). Also, campfires make a great accessory for your patio, porch, or any outdoor area. Local and handmade, they're also a great gift idea! Keep us in mind when youre shopping this season :)