Insel Haus Bed and Breakfast

Bois Blanc Island, Michigan

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ay goodbye to shopping malls, fast food restaurants, traffic, stress, and urban sprawl. Escape to Bois Blanc Island (Bob Lo), in the Straits of Mackinac, Gateway to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Visit Insel Haus, without a doubt one of the most beautiful, captivating, and affordable world-class Island Bed and Breakfast & Retreat Centers North of the equator. No other home is within eyesight of this portion of paradise. Our visitors arrive by ferry, plane or helicopter to discover luxury and comfort inside, wilderness and adventure outside. Insel Haus accommodates up to twenty guests, yet is more than inviting. It will swallow you up and may never let you go. You'll be embraced by the beauty of antique furniture, Persian rugs and cushions, leaded, beveled and stained glass, candelabras, paintings, and Bakers cabinets filled with hand spun Alpaca yarn.

The Living Room with its ten-foot high ceiling features a large fieldstone fireplace of native rock. The chandelier, a sailing ship's helm, reminds you that you are on an Island. Across the room, French doors lead to a sunken veranda. Here, you can enjoy a splendid view of the Straits of Mackinac while lying in bed. Our guests find this a truly unusual observation post. Rise early to greet the dawn or sleep late in one of three superb master bedrooms. Five additional bedrooms offer dramatic views.

The Great Room overlooks the wide deck, meadow and surrounding forest. It features a wall of glass ten feet tall and sixteen feet wide. A corner fireplace of cobalt blue tile with accent pieces thrown by John Glick, a world-renowned potter, creates a warm and cozy atmosphere.

Our library, with several thousand volumes, invites you to read, study, write or research. It also includes Dish-TV and a large collection of videos, CDs and DVDs. You'll find this library unique with its unusual architecture, beveled glass, antique lighting fixture and stained glass pocket door.

A large second floor studio with vaulted ceiling leads to a balcony and a commanding view of woods and water. Here you may doze or meditate as Great Lakes freighters and pleasure craft sail through the Straits. The distant sound of the foghorn is comforting as Cheboygan sends its twinkling lights five miles across the water and the night sky adds millions of lanterns. This is truly Island living.

Insel Haus provides seven bathrooms and a Jacuzzi tub placed among the treetops on the second level. There are three completely equipped kitchens for your culinary enjoyment. Among the many amenities and creature comforts are separate zones to control radiant heating and air-conditioning and three sets of washers and dryers. If you must remain in touch with that other world, eight rooms boast Broad Band Internet connections. Telephone, fax and copier are also available. Or, close the door to your wing and set your own rhythm beyond the dictates of computer, fax or telephone, beyond the restraints of time and schedule.

Bois Blanc beckons if you seek beauty and peacefulness, walks through forests, down Island paths, or driving over one track trails. Let the season dictate your mode of travel, cross-country skis, snowshoes, bicycle or shanks mare. The only sign of civilization may be an occasional vehicle or snowmobile moving along our twenty-five mile an hour country road. Instead of paved roads Bois Blanc promises unspoiled, undiscovered wilderness and spectacular views of swan, ducks, geese, loons, and eagles against a backdrop of unbelievable sunsets.

We love our 1800 feet of shoreline and more than a mile of wilderness forest that ends at an inland lake. Deer and smaller critters populate our woods. A fox rears her kits each spring just beyond our front door. While enjoying our evening meal we have counted up to twenty-two deer dining on the meadow. As I write, Monarch butterflies decorate the lilacs outside my window. A troop of wild turkeys marched across our lawn this morning. Their Tom, displaying his magnificent colors, entered the forest and the patrol disappeared.

Most folks don't realize how much they need "nothing to do". But if you require activities there is charter fishing, sailing, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, bird watching, photography, cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing, and within ninety minutes of Bois Blanc you'll find casinos, golf courses, down-hill skiing, and dozens of other Michigan attractions.

The Township marina awaits your boat, the landing strip your plane. The only store on the Island, Hawks Landing, provides hearty meals, dispenses spirits, household items, video rentals, and souvenirs. The Bois Blanc Tavern contributes local color. Passengers, freight and provisions are brought in by boat and plane from Cheboygan, St. Ignace and Pellston.

Bed and Breakfast or Retreat Center, think of our island home, Insel Haus, as an ideal year round location that offers a unique environment for you, your family, friends, colleagues, educators, workshops or spiritual contemplation. Though Insel Haus measures 6200 square feet it is a warm, intimate home. Open yourself to tranquility, serenity, solitude and peace. Open yourself to the essence of Insel Haus. Then write your own description of paradise.

Meet your hosts, Shelby and Christa Newhouse. This husband and wife team has produced, directed, written and edited motion pictures and videotape programs for thirty-seven years. Shelby has organized and directed productions in studios and on location in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America. Shelby, always seeking a new audience, will relate adventures and misadventures. Christa immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1964 and in 1967 organized Unique Film and Video, Incorporated, a film and video postproduction studio. Today, Christa and her creative staff finish programs and commercials and produce graphics, animation and print design.

Their love of animals has led them to become owners and breeders of Alpacas. Christa spins their fleece, makes yarn, and creates one of a kind garments, which win blue ribbons in international competitions.

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

• Insel Haus estate includes 1800 feet of Straits of Mackinac shoreline and over a mile of wilderness forest ending at an inland lake.
• Each of our seventeen rooms supports an inspiring view and the second floor balcony is an exceptional observation post for viewing Great Lake freighters and pleasure craft.
• Our library with its unusual architecture, beveled glass, antique lighting fixture, unique stained glass pocket door and collection of several thousand volumes welcomes the reader.
• Insel Haus offers three superb master bedrooms, five additional bedrooms, a large second floor studio, three completely equipped kitchens, seven bathrooms, six showers and a Jacuzzi tub.
• The large Living Room with its fieldstone fireplace of native rock and genuine ships helm chandelier reminds us we are on an island.
• The Great Room features a wall of glass ten feet tall, sixteen feet wide leading to a large corner fireplace of cobalt blue tile with accent pieces thrown by John Glick, an internationally known artist.
• A surprise at every turn, Insel Haus embraces us with the luxury and beauty of antique furniture, Persian rugs and cushions, leaded glass, stained glass, beveled glass, paintings, candelabra, French doors and Bakers cabinets filled with hand spun Alpaca fleece.
• Insel Haus has radiant heating and air conditioning and offers eight rooms with Broadband computer connections as well as fax machine, telephones and copier. An atmosphere of privacy is present since no other residence can be seen from Insel Haus.
• Eighty percent of Bois Blanc Island is wilderness, which is mostly owned by the State. Yet you are only forty-five minutes from Cheboygan by ferry or ten to fifteen minutes from Cheboygan, Mackinaw City or St. Ignace by plane.

Innkeeper: Christa and Shelby Newhouse
Mailing Address: HCR 1 Box 157, Bois Blanc Island, Michigan 49775
Reservations: 231-634-7393 / FAX 231-634-7163
Price Range: $85 to $700 USD
Payment: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Check (personal, business, travelers), Cash
Check-in: 4 to 10 pm
Check-out: 11 am

We will provide a continental breakfast though your rental may include one of our three completely equipped kitchens. Remember, Insel Haus is on an island with one restaurant operating nine months of the year. Bring your own food or send us a shopping list and your food will be here when you arrive. Fee: cost plus 10%. Do your own cooking or we will arrange for a local cook. Terms negotiable. We can also recommend local help as maid service. Insel Haus is a smoke free environment. Children must be 12 years of age. Sorry, no pets.

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( christa@retreat-center.com )

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