ANN ARBOR, Mich. – As cases of COVID-19 increase around Washtenaw County, it’s easy to get frustrated with everyone and everything after a year of being cooped up inside. De-stress while supporting Ann Arbor businesses and organizations at the same time.
We can’t promise that these will solve all of your problems, but they might make things a little easier.
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Here are four ways to blow off some quarantine steam:
YELL INTO THE VOID
Leave anonymous love notes, sassy secrets or pre-COVID-19 memories on Literati Bookstore’s virtual typewriter. Like the downtown Ann Arbor’s actual public typewriter, there is no way to go back or make edits so typos are stuck on your little note forever.
Ann Arbor Summer Festival’s void-like Quarantine Confessions page is still up and running. Created in early 2020, the page is a collection of hidden confessions from those working from home, parents sick of their kids and those secretly celebrating their forced alone time. Read other anonymous confessions and make your own to let off some steam.
SWEAT IT OUT
Really feeling that quarantine cabin fever but avoiding public spaces? Work it out at home with virtual classes offered by private gyms and studios around Ann Arbor. Check out Vie Fitness & Spa for spinning and mat pilates or yoga at aUM Yoga and Mota Thai Yoga.
YMCA Ann Arbor and Ann Arbor Community Education and Recreation also offer adult fitness classes, including cardio drumming and strength training.
Read: Stay active with virtual workouts, classes by these Ann Arbor area gyms
If you aren’t feeling up for a class, take a hike. With over 160 nature areas and parks, Ann Arbor is known as Tree Town for reason. There are plenty of spaces to relax and de-stress in nature while discovering paths less traveled.
COZY UP WITH A BOOK
Forget that you’re in 2021 during an ongoing pandemic by being transported to another time, place and world.
Join a book club, browse recommended reading lists and order online from your favorite local stores. Order books online at BookBound, check out staff picks from Literati or attend a virtual author event through Nicola’s Books.
Not sure what you’re in the mood for? The Ann Arbor District Library offers “Quarantine Reads,” a book review program hosted by one of its librarians on AADL TV. Catch some episodes here.
EAT YOUR FEELINGS
Sometimes you just need ice cream. Feel your feelings while going to town on three scoops from Blank Slate Creamery in a waffle bowl. Order a pint to go from Michigan Creamery or snag some doughnuts from Washtenaw Dairy.
Skip the arduous process of planning, shopping and cooking meals by ordering take-out from any of the city’s restaurants like Chela’s, Everest Sherpa Restaurant or Mani Osteria & Bar.
If you have many mouths to feed order something pre-prepped and family-sized from Zola Bistro, Satchel’s BBQ and Seva.