Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver wrote that “I'm probably a bit romantic about it, but I think we humans miss having contact with fire. We need it.”

And indeed we do. My wife and I cook at home on a gas stove and oven every day. But I had forgotten the amazing sensation of cooking in an open fire – and of sitting around it afterward.

We went on a family camping trip to Sequoia National Park in July and got to do just that.

• Sending my kids to collect branches of firewood to feed the fire…

• Watching my brother-in-law kindling the 🔥…

• Wrapping the 🥔 🍠🍆 before placing them in the 🔥…

• Listening to the snap-crackle-pop of as they roasted on the open fire…

• Marveling as the flames licked the cool nighttime air…

• Holding still as the embers briefly pierced the space between us…

And after the fire had gone to sleep, there was quiet under the stars by our 🏕.

Those moments were very surreal.