The perfect campfire

After camping out along the 127 yard sale last month, I became very attached to the campfire areas at the campground. Some had campfire rings around them, which are plate metal about 1/8 of an inch thick and of course round to fit around the fire. They make a regulation area for your firewood to go, and help a little in keeping the fire from spreading out of the campfire area and setting the woods on fire. Others were actually stone or brick with and actual grill area mounted on them where you could cook on them. I did both while camping. One night I just had a campfire and a couple of nights I actually cooked on them. Nothing is quite like sitting outside on a cool night with a campfire burning. The smell of the smoke, the ambience of the firelight mixed with the moonlight and stars.

            Well, this weekend being a long weekend and the fact that Lowes was having a sale, I decided to build a makeshift fire pit/campfire area out by my deck. They had landscaping bricks on sale for .78 a piece so I bought 30 of them and while I was there I found some metal edging material that was made to bend around a curve. It had stakes with it you pounded in the ground to keep it in place. I drove back home and started making my fire pit. The bricks are semi curved so it was easy to lay 7 of them down in a half circle. On top of that I sat another 7 exactly on top of the previous 7, although you are supposed to offset them. After that I did start offsetting them and on the next layer I sat 6 of them the way you supposed to stack them, then 5 and so on until I had used all the brick. I then realized that if I had 5 more bricks I could make it into an exact point on top and make it uniform. So, back to Lowes and 5 more bricks. I then took the metal edging material and staked it in the front to form a circle. What I made actually combined both types of campfire areas I had seen on my trip. I had a half circle fire ring in the front and a brick wind break in the back. As a sat there admiring my creation I realized that the circle it made was just about the same size as my Weber Kettle grill. Well recently I bought a new grill for it, with the sides that open up so you can add more charcoal or wood chips while you are cooking, so I took the old grill and it fit perfectly on my new fire pit. Now not only do I have a wonderful campfire area by my deck but a secondary place to actually cook on.

            That night I sat out there 'til midnight watching the fire and enjoying the outside. I never realized how much better it made everything to have a fire blazing on the side. I can't wait to have a few people over for bar-b-que and drinks with the fire going and the music playing; you can't get any better than that. I'll include some pictures later, it rained all day yesterday so I couldn't get back there.