{"id":101265,"date":"2025-10-24T10:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/101265\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:33:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:33:17","slug":"after-travel-blogger-elise-caffees-death-her-legacy-lives-on-in-new-book-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/101265\/","title":{"rendered":"After travel blogger Elise Caffee’s death, her legacy lives on in new book \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tiffany Rosenhan<\/a> says that she and Elise Caffee met over Denmark. <\/p>\n

Caffee, who ran the Instagram account 3KidsTravel<\/a>, reached out to Rosenhan in a DM to ask for travel tips. Rosenhan, author of the YA novel \u201cGirl from Nowhere,\u201d had just returned from a trip to Denmark with her daughters, and Caffee was also a mother of young daughters at the time. <\/p>\n

Little did either of them know that that Instagram message eventually would turn into both a friendship and partnership \u2014 a partnership that led them to co-found a publishing company, Jumelle Press<\/a>, and, in a somewhat full-circle moment, write and publish a children\u2019s book together about two young girls who travel across Europe.<\/p>\n

They also never could have foreseen the events of earlier this year, when Caffee tragically died<\/a> following an accident in Mexico in March, leaving behind her husband and three daughters. <\/p>\n

\"\"Author Elise Caffee is pictured with her husband, Dan, and their daughters in this undated family photo. Elise Caffee died after being severely burned in a car accident in Mexico in March of 2025 | Lizzyography <\/p>\n

But now, months after Caffee\u2019s death, the book that she and Rosenhan wrote together has been published. \u201cPippa and Poppy\u2019s European Adventure,\u201d a children\u2019s picture book that\u2019s illustrated by Heather Tycksen, was released Tuesday, and Rosenhan says she believes the book reflects Caffee\u2019s legacy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of it, and I hope people like it, but mostly I hope it helps cement her legacy in what she preached,\u201d Rosenhan told the Deseret News. \u201cShe practiced what she preached.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brought together by travel \u2014 and twinhood\"\"Authors Tiffany Rosenhan, left, and Elise Caffee, right, are pictured in this publicity image. Caffee died after being severely burned in a car accident in Mexico in March of 2025. Before the accident, they co-wrote “Pippa and Poppy\u2019s European Adventure” which has just been published. | Lauren Dautel <\/p>\n

Apart from their love of travel, Rosenhan and Caffee had another unique characteristic in common \u2014 they were both identical twins. <\/p>\n

So when Rosenhan got the idea to write a children\u2019s picture book about twin girls who travel together, she reached out to Caffee for help.<\/p>\n

By this point, they had moved beyond Instagram messages and become friends, often meeting up for workout classes or to go hiking together. So it wasn\u2019t a stretch to begin meeting regularly to work on a book, too. <\/p>\n

But while Rosenhan knew Caffee as a travel blogger, making her a natural fit to co-write \u201cPippa and Poppy,\u201d she didn\u2019t realize until much later that Caffee also had experience working in the publishing industry \u2014 an industry that, independently, Rosenhan had begun to develop an interest in. <\/p>\n

\"\"Tiffany Rosenhan, co-founder of a local publishing company, Jumelle Press, poses at Foundation Goods in South Salt Lake on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, with \u201cPippa and Poppy\u2019s European Adventure,\u201d which she co-wrote with co-founder of Jumelle Press, Elise Caffee, before Caffee died in an accident in Mexico earlier this year. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News <\/p>\n

Rosenhan\u2019s novel \u201cGirl from Nowhere<\/a>\u201d was published in 2020, but progress on the YA spy thriller\u2019s sequel had stalled while her husband went through some health challenges. He had suffered a stroke, resulting in brain trauma and epilepsy, and Rosenhan essentially became a full-time caregiver. <\/p>\n

Her husband has since recovered, but it was a long road to get there \u2014 he had to relearn many basic functions, including reading, writing and even talking. While Rosenhan cared for her husband and put writing on pause, she found other ways to stay involved in the book industry, including speaking about writing at schools and other events, as well as consulting and editorial work. This work gave her a new perspective, and she began \u201cfalling in love with the process of building a book from the ground up.\u201d <\/p>\n

When a friend, Maria Lichty, a popular food blogger, told Rosenhan that she was interested in publishing a new cookbook, Rosenhan told her, \u201cI\u2019ll publish your book.\u201d <\/p>\n

After her conversation with Lichty, Rosenhan reached out to Caffee and asked, \u201cHey, what if instead of doing \u2018Pippa and Poppy,\u2019 we start a publishing company?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOK, sure,\u201d Caffee replied, according to Rosenhan. <\/p>\n

And Jumelle Press \u2014 named for, fittingly, the French word for \u201ctwin\u201d \u2014 was born. <\/p>\n

Bringing \u2018Pippa and Poppy\u2019 to life\"\"Tiffany Rosenhan, co-founder of a local publishing company, Jumelle Press, poses with books her company has published at Foundation Goods in South Salt Lake on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News <\/p>\n

As it turned out, starting Jumelle Press wasn\u2019t an either\/or proposition with writing \u201cPippa and Poppy\u201d \u2014 they did both. <\/p>\n

\u201cPippa and Poppy\u2019s European Adventure,\u201d which was released Tuesday, is a \u201cWhere\u2019s Waldo?\u201d-style adventure, full of clever rhymes and watercolor illustrations that capture the spirit of cities across Europe. <\/p>\n

The idea for the book originated with Rosenhan, who said that she had a vision of \u201cthese two identical twins that kind of see the world,\u201d with inspiration coming from photos of her daughters when they were young and \u201cwould still wear hairbows.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the first lines that Rosenhan came up with for the book was inspired by a trip to Florence with her daughters: \u201cWhile Pippa climbs to the top of the Duomo, Poppy waits below licking lemon gelato.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Pippa and Poppy were also inspired by Rosenhan\u2019s relationship with her twin sister. \u201cPippa\u2019s like the hard-working one and Poppy is the one who\u2019s like, I\u2019m going to chill,\u201d Rosenhan said, joking that her sister was more like Pippa while Rosenhan was more like Poppy.<\/p>\n

As Caffee and Rosenhan worked together to flesh out the book, they decided to only have Pippa and Poppy travel to cities or countries that they had visited themselves, including London, Amsterdam, Athens and Paris. And Caffee made sure to organize the book so that it would make \u201cgeographic sense\u201d as a route that the two girls would travel. <\/p>\n

While Rosenhan took charge of more of the creative elements of the book, including working with the illustrator, Tycksen, on the visual style, Caffee was more involved with the book\u2019s structure, as well as keeping on top of deadlines and making sure things worked as a whole. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe kind of allowed my creative expression to go crazy, and she\u2019d kind of harness it and keep everything on track,\u201d Rosenhan said. <\/p>\n

They had originally planned for Caffee to write travel tips to include at the end of the book, but that wasn\u2019t finished before Caffee\u2019s death. Instead, Rosenhan worked with Caffee\u2019s twin sister to come up with travel tips for families for the book.<\/p>\n

But even after Caffee\u2019s death, Rosenhan said she still felt her influence as they readied the book for publication. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like magic it got here,\u201d Rosenhan said of \u201cPippa and Poppy.\u201d \u201cI say (Elise) was like sprinkling magic from heaven, cause I have no idea how I got these books to press without her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Take the trip\u2019 <\/p>\n

Caffee\u2019s death in March was unexpected, coming as the result of a car accident while she and her husband, Dan, were traveling in Mexico. She suffered severe burns and was flown back to Salt Lake City to be treated at the University of Utah Burn Center, but ultimately died from her injuries. <\/p>\n

Following her tragic death, a hashtag began circulating on social media in her honor: \u201cTake the trip.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rosenhan says that phrase reflects Caffee\u2019s philosophy, both on parenting and on life in general: \u201cExplore, see the world, try new things\u201d \u2014 even starting a publishing company. Caffee\u2019s perspective was, \u201cWhy not try?\u201d Rosenhan said. <\/p>\n

That perspective has carried on in Caffee\u2019s family, with her husband and three daughters. In the weeks before her death, Caffee had been planning a family trip to Egypt \u2014 and it was scheduled for just three weeks after her death took place. Although it was unusual for her, Caffee had planned out this particular trip in great detail, even leaving behind an entire binder full of itineraries and travel information, Rosenhan said. <\/p>\n

Dan Caffee\u2019s first inclination was to cancel the trip, according to Rosenhan. But after finding the binder and seeing the level of care that Elise had put into the trip, the family ultimately decided to go. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a gift that she left them,\u201d Rosenhan said. \u201cSeeing them take that trip was just healing for so many people. I mean, they have a life of recovery ahead of them, but I will say, in that moment, it was incredibly healing.\u201d <\/p>\n

In her work as a travel blogger, Caffee emphasized the importance of traveling as a family \u2014 even with young children. But for Caffee, the trip itself was always secondary to the time spent together as a family, according to Rosenhan. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe that means going to Egypt, maybe it means going to Zion National Park,\u201d she said. \u201cBut getting away from your environment and being together as a family was always her emphasis.\u201d <\/p>\n

Though traveling with young children was difficult, Caffee prioritized taking those trips and making those memories with her family. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know when our time is, and Elise could\u2019ve waited till her kids were older (to travel), maybe a lot easier, and she didn\u2019t,\u201d Rosenhan said. \u201cAnd if she had waited, she would not have built those memories with her children. \u2026 They built a family culture around travel. And that\u2019s a legacy all three of her daughters want to carry forward, is this commitment to traveling and being good global citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The future of Jumelle Press \u2014 and \u2018Pippa and Poppy\u2019 <\/p>\n

The future is still a little hazy for Rosenhan, who says that the logistics of the work at Jumelle Press will likely have to change because Caffee is \u201cirreplaceable,\u201d adding that they\u2019d often joke that \u201cit took, like, four people to do (Elise\u2019s) job.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for now, Jumelle Press, which has already published six books (including \u201cPippa and Poppy\u201d and Lichty\u2019s cookbook, \u201cLet\u2019s Eat Cookies\u201d), has two more books on the way<\/a>: a romantasy novel by Utah author Sara B. Larson, which will be released Oct. 28, and a children\u2019s picture book by Utah first lady Abby Cox that\u2019s expected sometime in the spring. <\/p>\n

As for Rosenhan herself, she\u2019s finishing up the sequel to \u201cGirl From Nowhere\u201d and getting it ready for publication, as well as working on her first adult novel, which she says will be about her great-grandmother. <\/p>\n

She also says that a sequel to \u201cPippa and Poppy\u201d may be possible. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, keeping Jumelle Press running is important to Rosenhan, though she acknowledges there are challenges. <\/p>\n

\u201cNone of this is easy,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom a practical perspective to an emotional perspective, it\u2019s not easy. But I hope I can make it work and keep (Elise\u2019s) legacy alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosenhan says that as she moves forward, she\u2019ll still carry with her the memories of building Jumelle Press with Caffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a partnership like that is magic, and it\u2019s rare, and I want to just, like, wrap it up in a bow and cherish it forever.\u201d<\/p>\n