Summer 2026 reviewed

Every June, I have so much to say about Pride Month, and without fail, every June, I am so busy I barely have a chance to answer emails, let alone sit with my thoughts long enough to write.

I’ve been semi-nomadic since January, moving from Massachusetts to the Midwest, going on an audition tour for grad school, and traveling to and from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for various trips — a belated honeymoon, work conference, and now a summer road trip.

I recently read John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed, in which he shares his thoughts on phenomena ranging from Diet Dr. Pepper and air conditioning to the Canada goose and Halley’s Comet.

In homage to Green, who was a childhood favorite author of mine for his deeply tragic and beautiful young adult romances, I wanted to share some of my reviews for this summer so far (rating them in rainbows, of course).

I spent the first half of my honeymoon in Iceland, a longtime bucket list destination for its queer-friendly culture and beautiful sights. From the moment the plane landed, Iceland was the most magical place I have ever seen. In particular, I loved hiking to visit so many of their waterfalls.

In our current age of AI, I had thought that some of the photos I had seen of Iceland might be edited, or at least digitally enhanced. I was so wrong! Here are some unedited photos from my Android.

By some measures, Iceland is the gayest country in the world. It has one of the best ratings for LGBTQ+ safety and legal protections, and more than one-third of the population attends Pride annually in August (granted, it is a small country). Anecdotally, I have never felt so safe being queer, which was such a gift for our honeymoon.

I give Iceland (and its waterfalls) 5/5 rainbows.

The first Pride I ever attended was in Pittsfield, MA, in the summer of 2022, so I have a soft spot for rural Pride celebrations. It is one thing to go to Pride in a giant city and feel the energy of so many people celebrating, and it is another to attend a Pride in a place where the entire celebration can fit in a local park. Both are so special.

The UP Pride in Marquette was bustling with energy. I was excited to see how many local organizations were present to support and share resources. I also learned that there is a small and dedicated furry community in the UP, so there’s that.

In one precious moment, the Coast Guard came in from Lake Superior, hopped off to attend Pride and grab some rainbow swag, and stopped by the “Free Mom Hugs” booth before they left. It was some serious wholesome Midwest content.

I give UP Pride 4/5 rainbows.

Post-Iceland, I managed to catch a bug between the Gatwick airport and entering our cruise to Ireland and Scotland. After a few hours in the cruise hospital, I left with the diagnosis I told the doctor (when I have strep, I know), some antibiotics, and a bill so heinous I almost passed out. Thank goodness for travel insurance (to my parents, you were right about that one).

Although having strep for most of the cruise was not in the least enjoyable, it did lead to some buffoonery. During one outing, my wife and I were wearing masks in a bus of people who were coughing so hard I was sure we would get some other disease. At that point, I had been on antibiotics for days and was not in the least bit contagious, so I was a bit perturbed at the wet-cough-without-use-of-elbow vibe the bus was bringing. I jokingly said to my wife, “We’re on the tuberculosis bus,” which stuck for the rest of the trip.

For giving me the joy of the tuberculosis bus, I give cruise ship strep 1/5 rainbows.

I attended and presented at the Outreach Conference for LGBTQ+ Catholics (more on that oxymoron later) in D.C., and it happened to fall on the same weekend as Pride, which was also World Pride, as I learned.

Shannon and I were able to catch the tail-end of Pride after the conference with some friends, and it brought some much-needed joy and levity to the weekend. Plus, it was my first Pride in a big city and my first World Pride, simultaneously.

The day was blistering (after a UP winter, I am wholly unprepared for a humid summer day), so I was grateful for mist fans and lots of water. The only real damper on the day was the overwhelming presence of the National Guard.

I give DC World Pride 4/5 rainbows.

I’m currently roadtripping back to the East Coast to attend Bates Dance Festival in Maine. Shannon and I started our drive early in the morning on Sunday, July 5. We stopped at Kitch-iti-kipi, a freshwater spring, in the morning and made our way leisurely through the Upper Peninsula.

When we arrived at the Mackinac Bridge, we faced a traffic backup for miles. Upon perusing Reddit, I realized we had perhaps picked the worst day and time to travel downstate. More than two hours later, we crossed into Mackinac City. We reached our friends in downstate Michigan by nearly 8pm, making what we thought would be a 7.5-hour drive a 12-hour day.

I give crossing the Mackinac Bridge on July 5 0/5 rainbows.

Post-strep, Shannon and I hiked through the Glens and Cliffs of Antrim in Northern Ireland. We stopped for what they called a “wee scone” at a small bakery to discover that it was the most delicious blueberry biscuit, topped with butter, jam, and cream. Toast will never be the same.

I give the wee scone 5/5 rainbows.

While packing for our road trip the other day, Shannon found one of her awards from attending a dance competition during her senior year of high school. She won the award for best original choreography for her senior solo, which was also the solo that earned her entrance into the University of Michigan’s Dance BFA program.

Excuse me for one second while I brag — many dancers at competitions pay thousands of dollars to have acclaimed artists choreograph their solos. Shannon’s childhood dance studio has their dancers choreograph their own work, and her original choreography is part of what caught the eye of the UMich Dance Department all those years ago.

When she showed me the award, I immediately started crying tears of joy. I give the experience 5/5 rainbows.

Shannon and I stopped in Cork for a day, and they had just reopened the city after their annual marathon. We paraded through the banana-laden streets (what is with marathons and bananas? I don’t think I could stomach one while running) and walked 8 miles on a sightseeing roundabout.

I give post-marathon Cork 4/5 rainbows.

I grew up swimming every summer in Lake Michigan at South Haven, but I had never ventured to another one of the Great Lakes prior to now. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and is known for its hundreds of shipwrecks in its frigid waters.

In the summer, the water feels more like a gentle cold plunge than a freeze, though my Yooper wife claims the lake has warmed over time. She remembers childhood swims in freezing water, even in the summer.

For the perfect summer day and sandy beaches, I give swimming in Lake Superior 5/5 rainbows.

On the way to Copper Harbor for a day in the northernmost town in the UP, friends and I stopped at The Jampot, a small bakery and jam store run by monks. They were tragically out of the coveted thimbleberry jam, but they had a wide selection of homemade jams, jellies, and preserves, plus a fresh bakery and fruitcakes. I grabbed blackberry jam (my favorite) and a muffin. The prices are high, but worth the deliciousness, in my opinion.

I give The Jampot 3/5 rainbows.

Shannon and I enjoyed mild weather for the entirety of our honeymoon (we beat the summer heatwave in Europe), with the exception of a day of showers in Dublin. Normally, rain doesn’t deter me. I was born in the Pacific Northwest, where rain is a reality, and then spent most of my childhood in places where fire and drought is so severe that any rain is a relief.

Unfortunately, we had tickets to a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of Dublin for the day it rained, and we shivered on the uncovered roof of the bus. Luckily, some ladies next to us had an extra umbrella that they loaned us (out of pity, I am sure). We survived the tour with our spirits mostly intact, but no photo evidence of Dublin to recount our harrowing journey.

I give the bus tour in the rain 2/5 rainbows (adjusted for the receipt of a generous shared umbrella).

I was honored to present at the Outreach Conference for LGBTQ+ Catholics at Georgetown University in June. Being back among a group of Catholics, and a queer group at that, was a really special experience, and the generosity of the community throughout the weekend was a balm to my soul. I stayed with the Paulists in DC, and they welcomed Shannon and I with open arms.

Going back to a Catholic Mass was challenging. The language, which once felt so soothing to me, now feels abrupt and outdated. While I am excited by the incredible advocacy of so many people I met throughout the weekend, I am exhausted by the parts of the Church that are antiquated and slow to change. For me, the most sacred parts of the weekend happened outside of church spaces — in a panel of trans Catholics where we cried together, in a pizza restaurant where an intergenerational group of queer couples and priests mingled over dinner, in an impromptu ice cream run during a lunch break.

I give going back to church 3/5 rainbows.

I’d love to say I am now a pro at living out of a suitcase (which I am generally pretty okay at), but my obsessive brain really struggles with constant change. It’s been a season of true exposure therapy, for which I am simultaneously grateful and ready to move on from (hello apartment living that begins in August). I can’t wait to have one home address.