The Last Good Weeks of Summer

There’s a morning that comes every year around this time when you step outside and it’s forty-five degrees and the light has changed. Summer isn’t over — but you can feel it counting down.

That’s not a sad thing. It’s just how it works up here. The stretch between now and Labor Day is some of the best weather we get all year: warm days, cool nights, and far fewer bugs than July. If you’ve been meaning to get out and do something, this is the window.

Here’s how we’ve been spending ours.

Get on the trails

The heat has backed off and the mosquitoes have mostly given up, which makes late August about the best hiking we get. Aspen Park is right in town and easy if you’ve only got an hour. If you want more country than that, the Pigeon River Country State Forest is a short drive east and worth every minute of it — you’ll want a full afternoon and good boots. The North Central State Trail runs right through Gaylord and is flat enough for anyone in the family who isn’t up for climbing.

Bring more water than you think you need. It’s cooler out, and people forget.

Eat outside while you still can

Pack a cooler and go. Otsego Lake State Park has the picnic tables and the water, and there’s nothing wrong with a blanket in your own backyard either. Bring a frisbee or a kite for the kids and let dinner take two hours.

[Image: overhead shot of food spread on a table or blanket. Warmer than photos with people in frame.]

Catch what’s left on the calendar

There’s usually more going on in a northern Michigan August than any one family can get to — the farmers market downtown, the county fair, festivals in the surrounding towns, and outdoor movie nights on warm evenings. Take a look at the community calendar before the month gets away from you. These are the things people say they wish they’d done, come November.

Fire up the grill one more time

Nothing complicated. Call a few people, put something on the grill, and stay outside until it gets dark. Some of the best evenings we’ve had this summer started exactly that way and were planned about forty minutes in advance.

Look up

The Perseids peaked in the middle of the month, but the sky doesn’t clear its calendar afterward — late August still gives you dark nights and long views, and we’ve got less light pollution here than almost anywhere downstate. Pull a chair into the yard, or drive north to the Headlands Dark Sky Park if you want the full show. Give your eyes twenty minutes to adjust and be patient.

Summer up here is short, and that’s part of what makes it worth something. However you spend the rest of it, I hope it’s outside and with people you like.

One practical note before you go: if you added a boat, a camper, a side-by-side, or a trailer to the family this summer, it’s worth a few minutes to make sure it’s actually listed on your policy. That’s a gap we find more often than you’d think, and it’s an easy one to close before hunting season and hauling season arrive. Give us a call at {{Agency Phone}} and we’ll take a look together.

Enjoy the last good weeks.

Marcus Wegmeyer MI Insurance