Wisconsin West
Magazine
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pleasant View
Bed & Breakfast
Find Pampering and Solitude Along the Shores of Lake Wissota
By Beth Ellie
A welcoming sign invites the weary traveler to drop anchor here!
At Pleasant View Bed and Breakfast, located along the shores of 6,300-acre Lake Wissota, innkeepers Jeanine and Mike Adams' goal is to pamper guests and give them the space they need to relax. It is now a full time pursuit for Jeanine, a former school district employee, and Mike, a computer sales and marketing specialist. Visitors have no lack of creature comforts and solitude while staying in this postcard-like setting.
Guests can choose from five theme rooms: the nautical Wind and Waves, the cabin-like Northwoods, the turn-of-the-century Cozy Corner, the bucolic Secret Garden and the newly unveiled eastern seaboard visions of Hidden Harbor. Each chamber features a private bathroom, shower, iron, ironing board, telephone, cable TV and CD player. Visitors also enjoy the benefits of central air-conditioning.
Each room in the 4,000-square-foot inn has small nuances revealing area lore and the Adams' own family. Guests are immediately greeted not only by Mike and Jeanine, but by faded black and white images of Jeanine's Pritchard ancestors displayed in graceful oval frames in the foyer. Family heirlooms are interspersed throughout the dwelling, creating a warm, personal atmosphere. The parquet hardwood floors in the entryway are lovely, but one's attention is immediately diverted to the colossal view of Lake Wissota. Windows spanning nearly 30 feet offer a panoramic view for guests relaxing in the comfortable gathering room with a homey hearth or the nearby glass-encased atrium area.
Guests can lounge in the atrium and soak in the quiet or wander out on the 60-foot deck that sports flower boxes and chaise chairs during warm weather months. With 140 feet of lake frontage, guests can also meander in the yard where maple, pine, sumac, and butternut offer their shade or a take a chair lift ride down to the dock area to fish, or meditate to the sounds of busy waterfowl and waves creeping up the shoreline.
Perhaps the smell of Jeanine's fresh-baked muffins will lure you back inside for breakfast. The common dining area on the ground floor also faces the lake, offering a bright, peaceful view. Typical breakfast fare consists of muffins, strawberry/banana baked french toast, frozen fruit slush, sausages and a beverage of choice. Visitors have the option of eating in their room or with other guests. No forced socializing. Pampering really starts in the evening when soft drinks, wine, tea and cookies are available and continues until about an hour before breakfast when an optional wake up tray with beverages and muffins is dropped off at guests' doors. Jeanine says they are happy to plan menus around diet restrictions.
Mike recalls a couple from Vienna, Austria attending Rock Fest in nearby Cadott. The last night of their stay they requested a “cowboy breakfast." Puzzled, Mike and Jeanine asked the guests what they meant. The Austrians said, "You know-bacon, fried eggs, toast, hashbrowns." Jeanine said the next morning all the guests enjoyed eating a “cowboy breakfast."
But the breakfast treats and common areas are only the tip of the iceberg, the theme rooms are the five stunning jewels of Pleasant View. On the upper floor the Northwoods Room sports local touches like a Leinenkugel's Brewery canoe paddle autographed by Jake Leinenkugel, brewery president. Rustic furnishings, such as two crosscut saws and a deer rack, give animation to the walls. The queen-sized bed is covered with a handmade quilt and a single whirlpool offers travelers a place of refuge.
The nautical look of the Wind and Waves Room is captured by nets strung about the room nestled with sea treasures.
Comedienne Joan Rivers picked this room for her stay more than five years ago. Guests can awaken to the sounds of waves brushing along the shore or drink in the views of Lake Wissota through their patio door to the deck.
The Secret Garden Room indeed features a secret garden, but you need to find it for yourself. Oozing with springtime warmth, a double whirlpool bath is framed with pillars of lattice and floral decor that conjure up visions of an old English garden. A fireplace gives a romantic air to the chamber.
Cozy Corner, the largest guest room, is filled with turn-of-the century family heirlooms including Jeanine’s great aunt's dresser that now serves as a sink and the painting "Waiting For Papa," a wedding gift to Jeanine's grandparents in 1905. Along with the luxurious double whirlpool and adjoining sitting room with a fireplace set in an ornate antique mantle, guests have a private corner of the deck overlooking the lake.
Pleasant View's newest alcove is Hidden Harbor. Making its debut this spring, it is reminiscent of a Cape Cod seaside cottage with white headboard, yellow walls, seagulls, and sailboats. The eastern seaboard theme threads through the room with such details as a denim blue couch, a fireplace with white antique mantle, a king size bed covered with a blue, white, and yellow patchwork quilt, and a private lakeside patio.
The Adams' stumbled upon the property by accident. Having just completed building their dream home, a realtor friend told them to investigate the Lake Wissota property because it would make a good bed and breakfast. Mike says he had always wanted a home business. After a few months of foot-dragging, the couple eventually took the journey to Pleasant View Drive in the middle of the winter and fell in love with the home, which stood vacant for a year. After a year and a half of remodeling all 4,000 square feet, they opened the doors to their first guests in September of 1994. The inn's name, Pleasant View, came from the name of the road on which the property is located. Over the years the couple's main challenge has been working multiple jobs while trying to balance the needs of the inn, which is busy almost non-stop April through October.
Pleasant View Bed and Breakfast offers lodging/leisure packages for guests including a 1-1/2 hour Champagne Cruise on Lake Wissota and dinner at High Shores Supper Club and a golf package featuring 18 holes at the PGA-certified Lake Wissota Golf Course and golf cart rental. Mike says he plans to add lake tours and canoe outings to the list of packages offered to guests. The inn also caters to the needs of corporate travelers by offering business rates. Near golf courses, the Old Abe Bike Trail, snowmobile and cross country ski trails, and Lake Wissota State Park, guests have the opportunity to participate in recreational activities that are just minutes away. Many quality restaurants and eateries are also nearby.
Open year round, the Pleasant View Bed and Breakfast offers personal service with quality accommodations that make guests feel truly pampered. The picturesque views of Lake Wissota offer surroundings perfect for solitude and rest. Mike and Jeanine are hosts with the goal of spoiling you rotten and it appears that over the years they have made many loyal customers following this strategy.
Just the Facts
Pleasant View Bed and Breakfast can be reached by taking U.S. Highway 53 north of Eau Claire, right at Exit 99 (Highway S). Go five miles on Highway S, cross Lake Wissota bridge, and then turn right on 96th Avenue. Drive one-quarter mile on 96th Avenue. Pleasant View Bed and Breakfast is on the right.
Pleasant View Bed and Breakfast can be contacted by writing: Pleasant View Drive, 16649 96th Avenue, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 or calling (715) 382-4401.
E-mail inquires can be addressed to: inquire@pleasantviewbb.com. Their web site, which includes a virtual tour and price list, is located at www.pleasantviewbb.com. Sorry no pets allowed.
Comments From Past Guests:
The Pleasant View Bed and Breakfast has hosted several thousand guests since it opened its doors almost seven years ago. Among its most famous guests is comedienne Joan Rivers, who spent a night at the inn just five weeks after it opened for business. Rivers frequents bed and breakfasts during her travels across the country and chose Pleasant View as a midway point between speaking engagements in St. Cloud, Minn., and Madison.
The lodge has also hosted many foreign visits from locales such as Ireland, Hong Kong, Australia, Austria and England. Pleasant View has the accolades of many guests through the years who have written about their experiences in journals that serve as a diary of each room. The following comments were taken from inn guest journals, offering another perspective of the Pleasant View experience.
"Congratulations for having such great taste. This place is just wonderful! We have had a magnificent time watching the endless lake..."
"You have mastered the mix of affording privacy and great company to your guests. Thank you for a wonderful four days."
"Your small town hospitality and warm personalities made our stay extremely pleasant. The room was incredible. Any weary traveler would find peace and serenity at your establishment."
“The convergence of so many happy factors-your gracious hospitality, the lovely appointments of your home, your tasty menu, the lush foliage and fauna, proximity to the Old Abe Trail-all combined to make our visit a most delightful experience."
"Thank you so much for your wonderful hospitality! Returning from our round of golf to a glass of wine on the dock was a perfect way to unwind. Your suggestion for dinner (even making reservations for us) was superb! Relaxing in the whirlpool was the best way to end our day. Breakfast was delicious! We hate to leave-but we will be back!"
(Reprinted with permission from Wisconsin West Magazine, Modern Communications, Inc. 2905 Seymour Rd., Eau Claire, WI 54703)