Just returned from a week at this awesome home. The house is in a beautiful location with amazing views of the bay from most of the rooms. It is quiet, private and very relaxing. The amenities in the house are the best we've experienced in a rental home - central A/C for the warmer days, fully-stocked kitchen (including paper towels, garbage bags, spices, dish soap, etc). Judy also includes all of the linens, beach towels, laundry detergent, toilet paper, beach toys and inside toys for the kids. These are things that I've often not found included with a rental. The house is very large - we had 2 families staying and there was plenty of space to congregate as well as private space when needed. The house was very clean and has beautiful furnishings. Judy met us at the home when we arrived and showed us around and answered all questions that we had.
Outside, there are beautiful gardens, a great back patio with a Weber grill, a well equipped beach with plenty of seating and a fire pit. The beach is easily accessed by a set of beautiful stone slab steps. We were able to bring our kayaks down to the water with no problems at all. The bay is mostly sandy and shallow making it a fun, safe place for kids to play as well as an easy spot to launch kayaks. I found it to also be a great spot to nap on a lounge chair while listening to the water lap at the shore!
The location of the home proved to be an excellent home-base for short trips to Traverse City's Cherry Festival, Sleeping Bear Dunes and kayaking the Lower Platte River out to Lake Michigan (highly recommend Riverside Canoe for rentals). It was nice that the home was within a mile to Elk Rapids which allowed us to bike into town and explore the quaint downtown. It has several antique shops, gift shops and restaurants that we enjoyed. We especially liked Harbor Cafe, Siren Hall and the Chinese take-out. Our daughter had a great time on the playground at the Veteran's Memorial park which also has a great beach. There is also a great beachfront sculpture garden to explore on the way into town.
Overall, I highly recommend this vacation home and hope to be able to return to it one day. It had everything we needed and more to make for a wonderful vacation! Thanks Judy!