Peak season on Mackinac Island starts Memorial Day weekend and goes through Labor Day. With that in mind, I was prepared for a very busy Memorial Day weekend on the island but the northern Michigan weather didn’t really cooperate. It was a chilly 60 degrees and rainy, which kept most of the tourists at bay.
After Memorial Day, the next big event is the island’s Lilac Festival, something neither Lucas nor I have experienced. The festival officially kicked off on June 7 but the peak bloom was a few days earlier. There are so many lilac bushes throughout downtown. Every morning on my way to work, I’d stop in front of a few lilacs just to smell them. The number of tourists on the island really increased throughout this festival, especially at our visitor center downtown. After 10 days of lilac activities (including lilac beer), the festival ended with a parade. This year’s theme was Petals and Pedals, so the state park team put together a bike-themed float. Lucas helped to build some stands on the float and worked with the team to pull it all together on the day of the parade. He walked in the parade and I joined halfway through after I finished my shift. As I was walking next to the float, I realized that the last parade I had been in was in the passenger seat of a snow plow. Oh how far we’ve come.
By mid-June, just as schools were getting out, the tourist season really kicked into high gear. We were really busy with all of our jobs. We both usually work 1-2 nights a week on Sip N’ Sail and Lucas puts in about six hours a week at the arcade, in addition to our 40-hour per week jobs at state parks. Lucas even got to drive the Sip N’ Sail boat one night (under close supervision by the captain). He took her from the dock to under the bridge and back to the dock. As Lucas put it, “I’ve never worked so hard and earned so little!” That may be true, but between our five jobs, we are making enough to support ourselves and save for the next sailing season, which is exactly what we hoped for.
It wasn’t all work with no play though. One of my favorite activities in June was going to our first house “Grand Night.” The Grand Hotel has a jazz night that is open to the public, so every couple of weeks, a group from our house will get dressed up and make the trek to the grand. We’ve been twice so far and I really enjoy them. On our second trip, we even went up to the Cupola Bar at the top of the hotel but it was so humid that all of the windows were fogged up, so we couldn’t see the famous vistas…next time!
We were lucky enough to have some great visitors in June too, including Susan, Lucas’ mom, Susan’s friends, our friends Aleyna and Brendan and my parents. We had a blast showing them all around the island and sharing all that we have learned about this special place. With Susan and her friends, we got to check out the Woods, a “hunting club” restaurant operated by the Grand Hotel and Sunset Rock. The group even joined us for a Sip & Sail. With Brendan and Aleyna, we found the infamous Mackinac Island Car buried deep in the woods. Later in the month, my dad completed his third century bike ride (second time on Mackinac Island). We joined him on a few laps with my mom. Later that evening, they also came out on a Sip & Sail cruise. The next day, we managed to surprise my notoriously difficult-to-buy-for dad with a birthday cannon firing! He was so pumped and nailed the shot.
June just flew by. It is hard to believe that we have already lived on the island for two months. I definitely miss Alaya and our sailing life but we are feeling very inspired for our next sailing season and are planning our next boat projects and dream destinations. Lucas started ordering some parts and has already warned me that we are going to have to lift Pierre (our diesel engine) out of his hole once again (I really appreciate the 4-month notice, it gives me time to mentally prepare). In the meantime, we are loving our lives on Mackinac Island. We’ve made some great friends and have lots more adventures planned during our time here. It has been amazing to stay in one place for a while and to be a part of this magical community. The views aren’t bad either.
