Remember to stop and sit by the fire

Cozy Club loves to have collaborators for our content (contact megan@cozyclub.co to submit). This post is by the photographer Connor Bennett (who took all of our product photos). He works largely in the North West capturing beautiful scenery and opting outside.

I am not typically one who puts comfort first while traveling. In fact if you ever see a guy sitting on the side of the road heating up a can of who knows what, on a stove for dinner while crammed into the back of his Prius between loads of gear; that’s probably me so please be sure to wave!

Despite my typical meager existence while traveling, this time it was different. You can never go wrong taking time to drop everything and make sure to get real cozy by the campfire alongside good friends with plenty of good food to go around. And after an extra long summer in the Pacific Northwest, thanks to the lovely drought that we all love so much, I decided it was time to relax and to plan a much more homey camping trip for a small group of us to head off on and get away for the weekend. The plan: talk about what the summer had held for each of us, walk in the forest and on the beach, and sleep under the stars. We drove to one of my favorite camping spots just about an hour south of the Oregon border and pitched our tents where the forest ends and the Pacific begins.

Having recently made the move to Humboldt county the trip was also a way to celebrate the end of my first summer here and the beginning of the many friendships that had come along side summer. Once we were all posted by the fire bundled in blankets and surrounded by snacks and friends, we began to reminisce on the many road trips, climbing trips, and surf trips taken just a few months ago that we would save in our memories forever. Whether it had been the trip into Oregon for just a couple days to do a few quick climbs where my partner forgot all of his food or my last surf trip/shoot with friends on the Central Coast before saying goodbye and making the move North, these are some of the memories I will carry with me forever and I always forget how important it is to take a minute to slow down and share our experiences and memories with those closest to us.

After a couple nights of laughing hysterically and filling our bellies to the absolute maximum food holding capacity, we had told all our summer stories and had left a few more stories to tell for next time.