We learned early on in our time here that August has a reputation on Mackinac Island – Angry August. Who is angry and why are they so angry? We weren’t sure but we were very curious to find out.
The month started very busy, with many visitors to the island and the fort. On August 3, I found myself being angry three times (I was righteously angry for various reasons that I now can’t remember)! August was off to a rough start. After that day, I decided not to be angry the rest of the month…turns out that all it took. August was very, very busy with some frustrations, but overall, we turned Angry August into Awesome August!
The house kicked off August with one of my favorite activities – a group bike ride around the island, also known as a “Porter Jam”. The rules of a Porter Jam are simple, you start riding in the evening before sunset as a group, stopping at each mile marker to hang out. There may or may not be alcohol involved, I’ll let you decide. Our August house jam took place on a beautiful evening and we had a big group of co-workers join. Lucas and I rode the tandem. Emily D. was in charge of the music and we all had an absolute blast.
Other notable activities in the month included an epic Hide-and-Go-Seek Game within the fort. Lucas and Adrian were the clear winners. Lucas hid off a small tunnel at the bottom of a well for more than 45 minutes. He watched multiple flashlights point down the well and the light beams come within inches of his feet. I also watched the epic Sturgeon Moonrise over the island during a special night walk sponsored by the park.
Our five jobs kept us very busy all month. One of my favorite work nights was a double cruise on the Sip N’ Sail boat. Our first cruise was a typical sunset cruise with a nice group of guests. We quickly docked the boat, unloaded the guests and then boarded our next group – a local Girl Scout troop. The bartender and I kept the Shirley Temples flowing and Lucas was put in charge of the music. Turns out DJing for a group of pre-teens is a job that Lucas has been preparing his Spotify account for his whole life. He started strong with TayTay’s “Shake it Off” as we left the dock and kept the hits going all night. We were taking requests from the scouts and they asked for a hilarious range of songs.
My favorite conversation of the night went like this…
12-year-old scout: “Can I put a song request in?”
Me: “Of course, what can we play for you?”
Scout: “Pretty much anything Disney!”
Me: “Let’s pretend your DJ is a 35-year-old man, I’m going to need you to get more specific with your request…”
Scout: “Hum, ok how about Frozen, Gaston, Smash Mouth and Olivia Rodrigo?”
They danced the night away to all the Disney hits and surprisingly, some Nirvana too, while we went under the lights of the Mackinac Bridge to Taylor’s “Welcome To New York (Taylor’s Version)”. We all had a great time!
Mid-August rolled around quickly, which meant it was time for many of our college-age friends to go back to school. There were a lot of goodbye parties at the Grand, final Booty Nights and last bike rides before their departure. It was so sad to see them go, we are thankful to have met such wonderful young people this summer. They welcomed two 30-something sailors with open arms this year and tried their best to teach us about Brat Summer. Very demure, very mindful.
As island friends were leaving, we had a few friends from home come for a visit too. Sheryl and Clay stayed for two nights. We had a lovely lunch with them at the fort’s Tea Room restaurant, one of the best views on the island! Chris, Kaitlin and Milo made a quick but special trip just to see us. We met for drinks at a local patio and made pizzas together at our place. We also got to spend time with sailing friends that we originally met on our travels in St. Augustine this spring. Mariah and Evan are sailing their boat, SV Novella, on the Great Loop and they stopped for a few days at Mackinac Island. We really enjoyed catching up on their adventure and showing them our favorite parts of the island. They even joined us for a Booty Night! Until we meet again, SV Novella and MV TITS (Toes In The Sand)!
The month ended with my new favorite island festival – the Fudge Festival! This three-day event was packed with fun activities, including a scavenger hunt with fudge prizes. A team of people from the tourism bureau wrote out amazing clues, hiding fudge gift baskets all over the island. We got really into it! I found one prize during a morning break from work and got a sweet (pun very much intended) gift bag. There was also a Fudge Olympics between the fudge shops and a slow bike race. I had to work during both of those events but I know what I’m doing next year at the end of August. Tandem slow bike race!
All in all, it truly was an Awesome August!
