Give me a fire on a beach

I've never really longed to live anywhere but right where we are now.  I firmly believe the Midwest is a hidden treasure when it comes to the beauty, the hard-working and kind people, the changing of seasons, and places to raise a family.  But if I lived on the coast, I'd most definitely dress in long boho dresses, where a hat every day, and end a lot of nights with Beau's guitar and a fire on the beach.  And maybe climb into our little VW van and sleep there to end the night.  

For about as long as we've been together, I've always told Beau I want to have a fire on the beach.  But not just any beach, but a perfectly secluded, beautiful beach surrounded by water (obviously).  He always shakes his head in response, tells me the DNR would frown upon us building a fire on a beach, and the subject goes away until the next time it comes up again.  And then this summer, we happened upon the perfect beach in a little pocket of woods north of town.  It sat higher up from the water, creating these mini sand dunes down to shore, it was surrounded by trees, and seemed perfectly secluded, probably because we really had no idea how we happened upon it in the first place.  We even found a little dead end road we could park our car and carry our kayaks right to the water.  It was the perfect little setting for a fire on the beach.  Until it wasn't!  A month later, Beau and I had a little day date and I couldn't wait to go back to our little discovered treasure.  We drove right to the pin we had dropped on our phone only to discover it took us nowhere.  We tried two other times this summer only to come up dry each time.  I was starting to think it was one of those desert water reflections you see in the movies when you're almost dead of thirst.  A mirage that up and vanished before I even got acquainted with it.  We moved on from our treasure hunt and found us a great little beach area to hang on our friend's property on the river.  But I never forgot that beach...

And then Sunday.  It was the perfect fall day and we had no plans other than to explore the leaves changing in our little town.  I made a big thermos of hot cocoa and we headed out to the woods.  And guess what we found!

THE BEACH.  

And not just the beach, but the remnants of a little beach fire still smoldering from what I'm dreaming was a perfectly boho fall bonfire the night before.  And my pyro-loving husband just couldn't help himself.  He found a tiny piece of newspaper and got that baby going again in no time.  We finished up the wood pile that was still sitting beside the fire, took off our shoes and sank our toes in the warm sand around us, sipped some cocoa, and felt that warm sunshine on our face.  It was the beach fire of my dreams, made even better with the leaves starting to change color all around us, and the crisp autumn air of October filling us to the brim.