This summer, my son Ben and I have been doing loads of hiking. Ben is a student at Western Washington University located in Bellingham and has been living up in Bellingham this summer prior to his senior year at Western.  We decided that this summer we wanted to hike in the North Cascades National Park, which is southeast of Bellingham. So we have been hiking a lot this summer.  Our first hike was to Blue Lake off the North Cascades Highway.

We saw a family of these guys up above the lake.

Next we drove to the end of the Mount Baker Highway and hiked up the Table Mountain Trail.

Last week, we hiked the Park Butte trail off the North Cascades Highway and it was absolutely spectacular.

All these hikes share a few characteristics.  First, they are all in my home State of Washington. Second, I had the great pleasure of being able to enjoy them with my amazing son Benjamin. And third, by the time we got back to the car at the end of the hike, I was so thirsty that I was considering drinking my own urine.  Luckily, I didn’t have to engage in that disgusting task because when we arrived at the car, we were greeted by icy cold beverages.  How you ask did we have access to icy cold beverages since the interior temperature of our car and trunk exceeded the temperature on the surface of the sun?  Our beverages were icy cold because they were tucked inside our Igloo MAXCOLD PLAYMATE ELITE at Target for less than fifteen bucks.

Our Igloo Playmate Elite cooler holds 30 cans of pop, is very rugged and is easy to open and close.  Best of all, our Igloo cooler is manufactured by members of our extended American family in Waller County, Texas!  So if you need some cold beverages on a warm day this summer, look no further than Igloo.  You will benefit from cold beverages on a hot day and the American workers at the Igloo manufacturing facility in Texas will benefit from a job that allows them to support themselves, their families and their community.

Now get shopping!

I have written about Maker’s row in the past.  Ever since I learned about the folks at Maker’s Row a couple of years ago, I have followed their progress closely.  So I was very happy to see the firm and one of its founders, Matthew Burnett, get some great press recently.  If you want to start making a product in the U.S. but don’t know where to start, Maker’s row should be your first stop.

Let’s say you have an idea for a very cool overnight bag.  You pay the Maker’s row measly $20 a month subscription fee and in return you get access to their digital catalog of over 6,000 U.S. manufacturers. For each of those manufacturers you get contact info, reviews, photos and videos showcasing the manufacturer’s capabilities.

I subscribe to the Maker’s row daily update program, and the amount of work they put in creating content and resources that are useful for budding domestic manufacturers is staggering.  For example, in just the last few weeks they have published great articles on the difference between sales and marketing, jumpstarting an apparel brand, and manufacturing 101.  If you want to start manufacturing a consumer product in the U.S., you would be nuts to embark on that quest without partnering with Maker’s row.

So if you are a budding American manufacturer who longs to have your American product made by members of your extended American family, Maker’s row should be your first stop.  For a pittance a month, you can partner with the force in the Made in America movement at work today.  So contact Maker’s row today!  What are you waiting for?

If you are in the market for some new leather luggage made by members of our extended American family, do I have a sale for you!  Ernest Alexander, the labor of love of Ernest Alexander Sabine, is having an amazing New Years sale with some items up to 70% off!  My favorite American made Ernest Alexander beauties on sale is the Perry Gym Duffel,

If you want to take advantage of the sale on the American made Perry Gym duffel, don’t dilly dally; the sale ends on January 4th and during the sale you can take advantage of free ground shipping.

Now get shopping!