The Listening Inn

The best place to relax in the UP!!! As a musician from Los Angeles on tour with a band, you never know where you are going to stay. This was a pleasant surprise! When pulling up to the house, it looks like a postcard. And then coming into the house, you see the beautiful woodwork, the tastefully placed taxidermed animals, and the incredible views. You are greeted by Carol, and she is the sweetest. She’ll take you to your room and it looks like a fairy tale. Great comfortable bed that is perfectly made, a futon for added seating, a comfy sized bathroom, and the best part, a jacuzzi in EVERY room! The provide you with all natural products in the room and cater to all of your needs. The breakfasts in the morning are like what mom used to make. And Carol is the type to have a great conversation with you like if you were at home with your aunt. I can not recommend this place enough if you are passing thru or even just a «get outta dodge» for a few days kind of vacation. P. s. There are no TVs in the rooms so you HAVE to relax!

Love this place. It is so unique and the breakfasts are delicious. We’ve taken our two kids, a one and five year old, to the UP for the past two summers and stayed at The Listening Inn. Both years we’ve had fantastic experiences. Carol and Les were extremely nice and accommodating to us and our little ones, very patient with our 5 year old who had about a million questions for them. We all enjoyed watching bears and all kinds of wildlife go about their business while we nestled in a comfortable room. We went on a family bike ride on one of the trails on site and learned about different trees that were marked with information. Our daughter was very excited to go back up this year, especially to see the resident sweetie pie of a dog. This is one of our favorite places to go because it is so unique. It’s been a great oasis for us from everything else in the UP and a very nice break from city life here in Chicago. If you do bring kids you do need to keep a good eye on them because it may be more of a place for adults or big kids (they did have a high chair which was greatly appreciated!), but with that in mind our experiences here have been nothing but very positive. The serene nature of The Listening Inn seemed to mellow out our kids and it’s always fun to see wild chickens cluck about. If you are looking for a remote, serene, quiet place where you could mill about your own business then this is definitely the place for you. If you bring kids, there is no TV in the room (this was a plus for us, and there is one in the common area to use) and it’s a fantastic spot to learn about nature (bears, turkeys, chickens, colorful birds, chipmunks, and all kinds of plants). My husband and I are both artists and I think it’s a FANTASTIC artist retreat if you can get away for that! You can really have a ‘Thoreau’ kind of experience here if you come alone, bring your sketchbook or writing pad, and just watch and ‘listen’ to all of the wildlife this place has to offer. It’s obvious that a lot of love and pride has gone into the building of this place. I’d love to see this spot in the winter time. I’m sure it’s gorgeous with snow. It’s the perfect secret spot.

Got a great deal for a two night stay at this gorgeous bed and breakfast on Living Social. We went in the summer (August, 2012) which I mention only because they are open in the Winter as well. This home is absolutely gorgeous! Les and Carol may seem a little less than gregarious at first but they open up in due time. Les has some interesting hunting stories! The food that Carol makes for breakfast is a) healthy, at least the fruit course, b) creative and homemade, and c) some of the best food you may ever have. You can expect coupons for the «sports bar» in Crystal Falls and for the supper club just north of town. I may fill out reviews of both places to help others make a decision about either place should they also choose to go. Let me just say here that the sports bar is not like any sports bar to which I am accustomed and the Westwood Supper Club will meet with mixed reviews. I offer as proof the fact that another couple that was at the Inn while we were there went to the supper club and had a pleasant experience. If you choose to read the reviews of Westwood II, you will see that service is an issue mostly, with food issues coming in a distant second. We were unfortunate to have both. It took over two hours to complete our dinner and my filet was a bit undercooked. Before any wise acre starts in on why not just go elsewhere — if you are there you will learn there are not many places to eat nearby.
With that being said, I read some of the other reviews on the Listening Inn. Not sure why Frank has to comment negatively on Norm’s experience. As I discussed our experience with my travel companion, we came to the conclusion that it is likely that other B & B’s may be very different, and certainly may not be for everyone. However, it IS good to read about the experiences of those who have been there: good, bad, or ugly. The pine stairway is a little dangerous, especially going down it — but it is absolutely gorgeous. So, it just depends on how one looks at things. Overall we had a wonderful experience and would go back again. I would like to see the place in the Winter. If you choose to go, make sure that you share your opinions, likes and dislikes so that others may make an informed choice. I would also like to add that because we got the two day deal, we were able to go on a 3+ hour canoe trip with a small lunch provided. If it is hot I recommend bringing more to drink! They provide each person a bottle of water but one may find that more is needed. Beautiful views, beautiful house and an overall good experience.
WiFi is available at the Inn, but it is very slow, for those who have an interest.
And the travel companion says: The chance to see bears up close is a unique and exciting experience!

Carol, You have totally missed your calling — as it most assuredly is not running a bed and breakfast! May I suggest you start by Google-​ing «customer service» and maybe waving your eyes over it to see if you can get an idea of how to treat customers.
First, the Listening Inn is appropriately named because you can hear everything that goes on in the place because the walls are so thin.
Checking in was scarey and almost turned us around in the first 15 minutes to send us looking for another place to stay. We had purchased a living social deal and since we had called and made the reservations and then followed up again to check on the reservations just a couple of days prior to our arrival, we didn’t bother «printing» out the voucher. Also, because with these deals you can usually use your smart phone to bring it up we failed to print it out. Well Carol pointed out to us clearly and in no uncertain terms that we were supposed to print it out. This was reiterated to us a few times while I am scrambling to get on the computer and bring up the living social voucher. When I finally did get it, she said we didn’t need to bring it all the way up as she had the info she needed. Seriously!!!
Oh, did I mention we were not greeted nor welcomed to the Inn as we arrived and said we were there to check in.
She then walks us up to the room via the stairs which I will mention in the «safety» segment, as she is lighting the gas heater in our room, she hits us with a bunch of rules which start with quiet time starts at 9 PM and the front door is locked at 11 PM. I asked (nicely enough I believe) if the room key fits the front door. She very sternly lets us know that it does not. Says again that the door locks at 11 and that if we don’t like it we could check out now! We were to say the least a little taken aback. After spending 20 years in the military I can handle some rules but, OMG I am an adult and sure didn’t need that kind of crap. We actually spent some time in bewilderment and considered leaving as we were pondering our options. We had just driven 5 plus hours to a desolate location, it was now dark and did not look forward to picking up at night and trying to find another location and not knowing if we would get refunded. We decided to stay.
I can tell space will not allow me to really go into detail so…
Safety — I think there are laws about some of this stuff and someone should look into it: That spiral stair case I think is not engineered correctly and really needs to be looked at. Isn’t there something about floor levels changing yet the color being the same? Serious tripping hazard in a place you have to watch your head. Steps down in rec room in dimly lit area — partner actually did trip on it.
Skiing and snowshoeing was great!
Food was average — oh and only one hour time window for breakfast. Not allowed to take food into upper-​level room but no offer to use kitchen, yet not many choices of anything nearby as far as dining facilities.
We left Sunday morning right after breakfast. Before we drove 5-​minutes away we received a call on my phone. The phone was in my jacket in the back. By the time we got the phone we missed the call. The message, the phone hanging up from — the Listening Inn.
To sum up — the area was great for skiing and snowshoeing! The potential of that facility really is amazing and there — just not for those folks who are running it. Maybe they could visit a B&B or two to get a clue and again look up customer service.
We did not drive up there to go to an event and sleep here — this was the event — the destination! There is so much more I could say but whew…

I am having a hard time putting in narrative everything that was good about the inn, so I’ll go with a list.
*Looks great: clean room, fabulous wood furniture and building, clean jacuzzi tub in room
*Smells great: I have never stayed in a bed and breakfast where the linens smelled so fresh and it was obvious that someone cared about these things because when you open up the front door the place greets you with a soft scent of cinnamon and you just want to make yourself at home
*Wildlife: We got to watch deer, turkeys, beautiful birds during the day time and at night could hear the bears and the other animals howling away the night.
*Breakfast: Our room was on the side of the inn above the dining/​kitchen area and I woke up to the aroma of coffee brewing every morning (such a nice scent when you didn’t have to get up and make it yourself). Breakfast had coffee, juice, breads, fruits, eggs, meat. Very yummy.
*People: We were never steered wrong by the owners in their suggestions of where to go and in other guests. It was a very friendly atmosphere.
*Quiet: No TV, quiet time at 9pm– all that means you will get rest.
*Green: They are very conscientious about their impact on the earth and introduced me to some new products I will be looking forward to using at home.
*Location: We were mainly here to rest but did a little bit of a trip to see some of the rapids and falls. It’s near some great places to eat and there is lots of wildlife to see. If you get a clear night you will see the stars… if you live by a big city, that view will simply take your breath away.