LUXURY LAKEFRONT 2800 SQ/FT HOME NEAR GAYLORD/ALPENA - AKA, PAPA BEAR

We just completed our week getaway at Papa Bear with our three adult children, their spouses and two grandsons. This house is extremely spacious and the two levels are perfect for families to have their own space for activities and the set up of the four bedrooms is perfect. We found the lower level entertainment center and workout room were favorite hangouts at various times of the day while the upstairs dining area provided a perfect spot for board games and cards. At night the fire pit down by the lake found most of us roasting some kind of s'mores concoction and chatting away for hours!

Everything was extremely clean and all the listed amenities were provided and much more. The description of the property almost doesn't do it justice! Marc is a wonderful owner and very helpful answering questions promptly.

The true highlight for our family was renting the pontoon boat and we had many excursions for fishing or just touring around the lake. We caught a fair amount of fish, delighted in observing the wonderful loon couple who resided on Crooked Lake not to mention all the turtles and birds. Our grandsons, ages 3 and 5, enjoyed long swims off the dock and we also took them to the nearby beach for some fun in the sand!

The location of Papa Bear is perfect for short excursions or day trips. We made a fun trip to Lewiston to the Talley Bar for their fabulous hamburgers! Other highlights included hiking around Avery Lake and some of our children ventured out on an early morning jaunt to Clear Lake where they encountered a few huge elk and some deer!

I would highly recommend Papa Bear for families looking for that relaxing nature inspired vacation without any of the 'roughing it'. You will feel back to nature, but feel very pampered too! Thanks Marc for sharing your great home!

My group of friends decided to rent out the cabin/house for a weekend getaway. This place is everything we could have hoped for and more. The house is located on a beautiful, peaceful lake. The nature was amazing; loons, you could hear the elk at night, and fishing for days.

Marc was really great to work with. Easy to get a hold of. Was there for anything we needed help with. Overall, this is who you want to be renting from.

If you rent this beautiful property (which I absolutely recommend), I would recommend spending the extra amount for the pontoon. We spent most of our time out on the pontoon and had a blast.

I would definitely recommend this place to anyone and will be back very soon!

Our cabin rental was 8/20-8/27, 2011. First let me say that one can not call it a cabin; it seemed more like someone’s house for rent. It was nestled in a very nice quiet wooded area. They certainly had all the amenities one would need. We paid the extra cost for the pontoon boat and made the most of it, most of our time was on the boat; one evening could not have been more perfect; the weather, sunset and great family conversation; it was awesome!! We fished everyday without catching a thing; so that was disappointing. There are a few negative things we found, the weather was awesome(not a negative), its just that we would have really liked to have been able to open the windows to enjoy the sounds and coolness in the air, we could here the loons when sitting outside; what an awesome sound but unable to hear inside with windows closed. However, the master bedroom and side bedroom had screens. There was a beautiful view of the lake from the upstairs living room but again no screens to open the windows, along with the downstairs area. It would really have been great to open the whole house and take it all in. Second, the rental agreement mentioned that large dogs must stay outdoors in the kennels provided. Because our dog is such a people person, we choose to pay the extra fee that allowed him to be inside with us, we also made sure he was bathed and flea treated before our arrival. We looked at the kennels they provided there at the cabin and found that they were not close to the house and not kept up, so needless to say paying that extra fee worked out. They only other thing I would have to suggest is to update the information about what is offered in the area, we found that to be somewhat out dated. I really hate saying these few negative things because all in all we really had a great time. On a final note: I suggest that you make a visit to J & B’s Bar and Grill there in Vienna, they have the BEST Strombolis’; huge and made with homemade dough; we had to go twice before returning to our home back in Flint.