We were very excited checking-in on Friday afternoon, the house had a warm and pleasant look and feel. Love the fact the house is at the end of the street and across from a parking/picnic area, very little car traffic comes through the cul-de-sac. The driveway is somewhat of a challenge, but negotiable.
There were a couple of snags that we dealt with in the house as you'll see below.
We had planned for eight of us staying at the house, but two from our party cancel at the last minute.
We'd like to point out a couple snags. The bed in the basement wasn't very comfortable and not used the second night, good thing for the bunk beds as a backup. We ran out of hot water for showers Saturday afternoon, this was an inconvenience while everyone was getting ready to attend a wedding. If these two issues were the only issues to address our rating would have been higher.
Overall navigation in Big Canoe was not a major challenge when Waze or Google maps worked, about 95% of the time. Navigation wasn't the issue here, it's speed and other drivers. Its impossible to safely drive the posted 35mph speed limit, especially in a large SUV with six people. We found ourselves driving 25-30mph most of the time, however driving under the speed limit presents a problem for others who want to drive fast through the twisting turning hilly roads. Saturday evening was the pinnacle for us, navigating through the dark roads only to have another SUV with there bright lights tailgating us. It was virtually impossible to drive the speed limit and the driver behind us was very upset that we weren't going fast. We even stopped at one point to let them pass but they didn't until we were seconds away from the first stop sign. We had to slam on our brakes to avoid rear ending them. Needless to say everyone in our vehicle was very upset, emotionally and physically. What a horrible way to end the day.
The check-out list, which was never shared in any of the rental agreement information was absurd to say the lease, especially when the fee includes cleaning service. We had to strip bed linen, load the dishwasher, take trash to trash depot, and do general clean-up by all by 10am for check out on a Sunday morning. This should all be shared upfront with renters so they know what is required. Renters may have second thoughts renting this property if they read the check-out procedures. Of course if you don't follow the check-out tasks you risk being charged additional fees. Needless to say it's not a very convenient check-out process.
Overall experience and consensus in our group was to never return to Big Canoe in the future, primarily due to the roads and crazy drivers. It's sad because we thought it would be a great place to have a relaxing weekend and not feel like we were driving in downtown Atlanta.