Matt and Michelle were excellent hosts. The communication was efficient and fast. The house was exactly as we expected. My oldest (12yo) loved having the upstairs bedroom to himself along with the reading nook. (There is a super super soft rug in the reading nook that he fell in love with.) The layout to the house was great for the 4 of us and we loved the extra plush mattress in the primary bedroom. My children loved fishing off the end of the dock with the provided fishing rods. We used the canoe, paddle boards, corn hole game, fishing poles and life jackets. The sauna was more of a storage room, so if you are going specifically for the sauna, discuss with the host first to see if it's available. The stairs leading to the house are a little wonky, but as they say in the listing they are made of stone and not accessible for everyone. We didn’t use the bunkhouse but it was super cute. The lake itself was very green and murky (visited in August), but Matt and Michelle offered to have us use the pump to circulate the water to help with swimming. The window air conditioning was sufficient to keep us cool during the day and at night in each room. Also, for anyone visiting remember to pack soap for the shower. I failed to check the listing and forgot to bring that for our stay. OH! The outdoor shower is FABULOUS! It was warm and a lot of fun after being at the lake for a long day.
As for Big Lake we went to the farmer’s market and bought some delicious salsa and spent a lot of time at Big Lake proper. There is a lovely sandbar to sit at and the lake bed isn’t rocky. There is a playground right next to the shore so it’s great for kids to hang out at if they want something else to do besides playing in the water. We also got ice cream at Cocoa Maas and had some beer at Lupulin Brewery. The restaurants weren’t very diverse but we had pizza delivered from Pizza Factory. (Big tip for the delivery person.)
We would definitely recommend this place for anyone looking for a fun getaway!