My wife and I stayed here in mid-July with our two chihuahua mixes. We all loved it. The cottage itself well kept and Philip not only left some water, oatmeal, granola bars, and coffee for us, he personally stopped by to say hello and make sure our stay was a good one. The cottage had everything we needed to cook and we ate about half of our meals in. We could see the lake from our cottage and enjoyed sitting in the front enclosed sun porch/all-seasons room with our dogs. The walk to the beach took less than a minute. The beach is shared with four other rentals of Philip's, but it is good enough in size that we were able to get off by ourselves and enjoy it without it feeling crowded at all. The water is cold (around 56 degrees at the surface in July), but we enjoyed wading and even brief swims. We had never seen Lake Superior, so we were surprised by how clear and beautiful it is. Using the cottage as our home base, we explored Calumet, Copper Harbor, Hancock, Houghton, and other nearby cities and areas. We particularly enjoyed the following: Quincy Mine Tour, Peterson's Fish Market (across from the mine, excellent baked and fried fresh fish), Suomi Home Bakery & Restaurant breakfast (try the Pannu Kakku), Jampot Holy Transfiguration Skete, Hungarian Falls, Black Creek Nature Sanctuary (1 hr hike to amazing private beach), Shute's Bar (1890s bar in Calumet), and Carmelita's Restaurant (delicious thimbleberry margaritas and perfectly done chimichangas). We had never been to the UP, so we didn't know what to expect. We loved the nature, the history, and the people. We will definitely return and hope to book in one of Philip's wonderful rentals.