Summer Intentions 2025

The spring blooms are (finally) arriving in Cleveland, and with the arrival of May later this week, I’m already looking towards summer. It’s time for one of my favorite life strategies from the podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin: Design your summer.

I shared about this strategy last year in a post where I laid out my Great Lakes summer intentions for 2024, all of which I completed between May and the end of September. It’s hard to believe a year has passed, but it’s time to share Great Lakes summer intentions for 2025. As a reminder, the idea is to embrace the different cadence of the summer months and make a plan for the things that you want to do to maximize the season. 

Here they are:

#1: Repeat two of my intentions from last summer to formalize them into rituals. Rituals can be wonderful anchors for a season. I will participate in at least two local beach clean-up events with the Cleveland Metroparks. I will also join the 4 Miles 4 Water fundraiser for Drink Local Drink Tap. This year I am going to bring the whole family.

#2: Continue Memorial Day weekend Great Lakes day trips (2023: Kelleys Island; 2024: Presque Isle State Park) and spend a day in Huron, Ohio on Lake Erie. We’ll likely aim for a visit to Nickel Plate Beach in the morning, find a local favorite place for lunch and then visit a park before heading home. I’m looking at Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve as a possibility. Marshland is a critical element of the Great Lakes environment. It’s particularly rich as a destination for birds. 

#3: Small Adventure: Holland, Michigan. In mid June I will drive my older daughter up to Northern Michigan for sleepaway camp. We’ll break the trip up this year with an afternoon, evening and morning exploring Holland on Michigan’s west coast. It will be well past the famed Tulip Time Festival, but I’m still excited to see this town and its Lake Michigan beaches.

#4: Big Adventure: Rochester, New York. My husband and I are going to take our younger daughter on a solo adventure over July 4th weekend. She still loves to play, and my husband has never lost some of his playfulness, so we are going to plan for a full day at the Strong: National Museum of Play. We’ll explore the lakefront at either Ontario Beach park or Durand Eastman Park for a morning before heading home. 

#5: Kayak tour with 41N Coastal Adventures. This is a kayak tour and guide company that offers lots of options for getting out on Lake Erie including kayaks and stand up paddleboards. Tours go out of Whiskey Island near downtown Cleveland or at the Emerald Necklace Marina at the mouth of the Rocky River.

Also, let it be said for the record that while I can’t make it a summer intention since I am not in control of it at all: I fully intend to cheer the Cavs on well into the summer months and hopefully to a NBA championship!

#LetEmKnow #cavs