We rented this beach home for a week for our extended family group. The home was exactly as described in the listing, with a wonderful, clean beach and room for up to 16 people to sleep. The home is clean and well-maintained. The kitchen was well equipped with plenty of dishes and silverware for a large group, cooking utensils and pots and pans.
The majority of our group was looking for rest and relaxation and a mini family reunion. We enjoyed the ability to walk to the lighthouse and old Bailey schoolhouse for a tour. We spent lots of time on the large deck, long walks on the beach, and the nice fire pit area with plenty of seating. When needed, the television was available, along with DVD and video players. It was nice that the owners have a cell phone booster that gave us the ability to use our cell phones. Our teen member looked up some activities in Alpena, and we had fun on two different day trips to the city. Harrisville is a quiet little town and has a few nice restaurants, a couple of nice gift shops, a nice park and harbor, a nice state park and a small IGA grocery store. One thing we hadn't anticipated was the spotty cell phone service in the area, so it was good to have great directions to the house and a paper map of the area, since GPS didn't always work and cell phones sometimes didn't have service while driving up US 23.
I would say that if you're looking for night life or places to take children for commercial attractions, you might need to drive north to Alpena or south toward East Tawas. We were perfectly satisfied with the solitude and relaxation at the beach and had a lot of fun.
Regarding space, we had one bedroom for each of our families, with some of the younger people opting to sleep on a couch or in the family room, just to spread out a little bit. The nice thing about this home was that even with 13 people at one time, we never felt crowded.
The owner of the property was very helpful in answering questions and keeping in touch prior to and during our rental week. Although I prefer not to send a check directly to a property owner, I did some research and talked to the owner prior to sending a deposit. Everything about our financial transactions went smoothly. She called during our rental week to make sure everything was okay and to answer any additional questions.
Our whole family was so pleased with this rental that we've already booked for 2015.
