Birch Lodge, Trout Lake Mi, 2015 Update

Finally, Birch Lodge received permission to open as a Bed and Breakfast!   Late last fall, the building inspector gave us permission to open the two downstairs suites.  We will have to do some work on the stairway before we can use any upstairs rooms.  

 All rooms will have one queen bed and are limited to double occupancy.    I have not opened any bookings for the lodge yet, pending finding some housekeeping help for summer 2015.  

Birch Lodge, Trout Lake, MI

Dr.'s Suite (downstairs, lakefront):

Dr.s Suite

Dr.s Suite

Dr.'s Suite Bath

Dr.'s Sitting Room

Across the hall from the Dr.s Suite is  Aunt Ada's Suite, which is more handicap friendly:

Ada's Suite

Ada's Sitting Room

Ada's Bathroom


Rooms upstairs are in progress, for a peek check out our next blog!
 

 

2014 Eastern U.P. Calender of Events

  Birch Lodge and Motel at Trout Lake Mi, is just about a half hour from all these events!  You might want check these events out while you stay with us!




June 6-12th     Mackinac Island Lilac Festival   Daily events, hayrides, festivities celebrating the beautiful Lilacs of the area, some of which are over 200 years old!

June 7-8th   Free Fishing Weekend!   Throughout the State fish for free

June 20th   St. Ignace, MI 18th Annual Antiques on the Bay Restored classic and  antique vehicles displayed along the bay

June 26th -29th  St. Ignace Car Show Weekend

June 26th  Kewadin Casino Cruise Night...Classic Cars Cruise from St. Ignace to Kewadin Casino

June 27th   Down Memory Lane Parade.....Cars, floats, and entertainment downtown St. Ignace

June 28th   St. Ignace Mud Run......4pm at Little Bear East.  Also Kewadin Casinos Monster Truck Throwdown

July 4th   St. Ignace Fourth of July Activities beginning at 2:00pm parade, activities, fireworks.

July 12-14th   Port Huron to Mackinac Yacht Race  92nd Year

July 19th  St. Ignace Fish Feast   Music, entertainment and lots of fish!

July 19th-22th  Chicago to Mackinac Yacht Race 106th Race!  Yachts leave Chicago Sat. morning, arrive Sunday to Monday depending on conditions.

August 9th Hessel, MI  Les Cheneaux Antique Boat Show  Restored Classic Wood and Glass Boats dating from the early 1900's on display.  Music, food, events.   Held in conjunction with the Festival of Art, a juried art show and sale featuring the works of many Midwestern Artists.

August 15-17th  Wild Blueberry Festival, Paradise, MI  Music, entertainment and lots of Blueberry pancakes, muffins, pie and buckle! 

August 17th   28th Annual Honda Gold Wing Ride  Grand Rapids to St. Ignace, MI  Bikes ride at night and arrive about 8:00a.m. in St. Ignace.  Show, parade, festivities.

August 22-24th St. Ignace, MI  Rendezvous at the Straits Powwow....Reenactment of French Voyagers and Powwow

August 30-31st, St. Ignace, MI  Arts and Crafts Dockside  Music, Food, Fun and Art Dockside at the Marina

September 1st,  St. Ignace, MI  Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk

September 5&6 St. Ignace, MI  Owosso Tractor Parts Antique Tractor Show and Parade..Antique Tractors Cross the Bridge and 9:00 a.m. Show, Parade, events.

September 12-13th St. Ignace, MI  24th Annual Car/Toy/ Truck Show and Swap Meet...  Cars, Collectible Toys, and  Trucks show, swap and sale.

Birch Lodge, Trout Lake, MI,  Update 2014, Part Two

View from Upper Deck, Birch Lodge, Trout Lake, MI

The last post ended with the new lakefront suite over the Dr's Suite downstairs.  Across the hall on the second floor were three small bedrooms and one bathroom.  

   The new bedroom across from the lakefront suite over the Dr.'s Suite does not have a sitting room, but it is now a generous sized room with a large bathroom all it's own.

 It is now one of my favorite rooms with a view of the lake through the tops of the birch and pine at the end window.  Frequently there are warblers outside in these tree-tops, sadly I have no photo of that window!  This room is full of light!.

New Bedroom with Bath

Bath

 The second floor lobby at the lodge was washed, scraped walls repaired and re-painted.

2nd Floor Lobby Before

2nd Floor Lobby After (Actually During)

  The long hallway to the rear of the lodge was also repaired and repainted, and the two rooms on either corner of the lobby and hallway were turned into corner suites.  The corner suite on the north side of the hallway had the doorway into the bath re-opened, and the bath redone.  When we re-opened this doorway, we found the 2 x 4 with a note from Cliff Badgley on it! (We saved it.)

Badgley 2x4 note

Corner Suite before doorway behind chair was reopened

 

















We opened a doorway into the next room further down the back hallway to make a "sitting room" for the suite.  Now it has it's own bath and sitting room!

Corner Suite After

Corner Suite Bath

Next we took out the remaining partition walls over the Birch Bar and in two areas over the kitchen to complete the demo of the remodeling, and finished most of the drywall in those areas.  Some photos of those areas will be in the next post!

Birch Lodge, Trout Lake MI Update 2014 Part One.....

Birch Lodge, Trout Lake, MI

We have finished our fourth year now at the motel, and work still continues on the lodge.  This year we finally started on making the rooms into suites.  Removing some non-bearing walls,  Closing some doorways, and re-opening some others that had been closed.  More bathrooms added.  The floor plan is now adjusted for an 8 unit bed and breakfast.

We still have finish work to do, but five of the suites have finished baths now, and have been re-wired, plumbed and painted.  We also have new furnaces in the lodge with air conditioning!    Pictures are greater than words, so here are some before, durings, and afters!

Downstairs Lakefront is the old Dr.'s Suite:

Dr.'s Suite Before

Dr.s Suite After

Across the hall from the Dr.s Suite, were four small bedrooms.  These have now been transformed into a suite with a bedroom, a sitting room and a large bathroom.  This is planned to be handicap friendly, and we will be installing a ramp on the side door of the lodge.

Handicap Suite in Progress

Handicap Bath in Progress

On the second floor over the old Dr.s Suite were two lakefront rooms, a double one nearest the stairway, and a small blue bedroom with two twin beds.

2nd Floor Lakefront over Dr.'s Suite Before

2nd Floor Blue Bedroom Before

 These rooms have been transformed into a lakefront suite with bath, bedroom and sitting room. The wall with the alcove doorway was removed,

Old alcove doorway coming out, new alcove doorway cut into blue bedroom

 and a similar alcove doorway added in the wall to the blue bedroom... now the sitting room.   A new bath was also added.

New Lakefront Suite (view from previous Blue Bedroom)

New Bath

Next blog we will continue upstairs......

Birch Lodge Tree Time

On the Porch at Birch Lodge, Trout Lake, MI

It's hard to believe we have finished our fourth summer at Birch Lodge. We've come a long way, but realize we still have a  long way to go.  Even as work continues on the Lodge, it also keeps us busy taking care of the grounds.

Things didn't get off to a good start this spring... a large spruce fell across the drive, taking out our power. We could only get into the property because Mark Beaudoin of Beaudoin Sanitation, who plows the drive in the winter, sawed open a "drive through".  Mark also collared the Cloverland Electric Coop guys who were eating lunch in town and got us back on line.  Thanks Mark!



 We also removed a few large diseased birch trees that overhung the cabin and trimmed some dead branches near the lodge.

 American Tree Service expertly did the job, after arriving in their vehicle with its uniquely Yooper hood ornament.

Yooper Hood Ornament

  We have also begun transplanting young birch trees across the property and encouraging the young sprouts at the bases of the large old trees.

 We must encourage these little birch for future generations. As Bill is fond of saying,

 "Without the Birch trees, its just, ...Lodge." .

Birch Lodge Taxidermy

As our many guests are aware, when you walk into the old lodge lobby you are usually greeted by the friendly faces of Deb and Bill. For decades, however, folks in the lobby have also been greeted by blank stares, courtesy of various mammals and fish associated with this historic north woods lodge. This particular glassy-eyed specimen is one of the few labeled wall hangers. A label on the rear indicates he was mounted by Wm. Grant, a taxidermist from Vassar, MI, for Alfred Getts, who shot it on November 22, 1929. (The label also stated the mount should be washed three times a year . . .). Another large mount has a metal 1941 Michigan Deer tag on a horn.

This vintage taxidermy is the "stuff" that was the focus of generations of sportsmen who stayed at the lodge. Hundreds of sportsmen stayed here over the years - as indicated by this paper-wrapped cardboard we found labeled "Deer Season 1956" with a plan of the lodge and cabins revealing over 70 hunters booked at that time (so this is how they kept track of guests in the pre-computer age!!!!)

Ah, imagine the "tails" these animal parts could tell!

Deb has been lightly cleaning and stabilizing our collection, fixing this Mallard duck's broken neck and blacking in a buck's cracked eyeball - saying it used to give her the "Creeps."

 

We can only imagine the memories associated with these guys (and gals?), but some provide insights.

We think this large walleye is associated with the long-time owners of Birch Lodge, the Badgleys - the one we think Ann caught and is proudly displaying to an embarrassed Cliff in an old photograph.


We think the most interesting plaques are the two smallest "racks" in the room because they are so personal to the lodge and its previous owners. On the rear of this first spike mount, written in cursive in pencil is, "First buck ever killed, 1st day of season 2:00pm Alger Michigan 1940,"

and on this second is, "Clifford's 1941 Buck Alger", both we believe written proudly in Cliff's own hand. The second is perhaps a bit more impressive than the first (and Cliff doesn't appear to have been quite as excited), so  perhaps Cliff was becoming a better hunter?????


All these dead things play into the unusual wallpaper in the Birch Bar which appears to celebrate the "Spirit" of the Sportsmen - with ghostly images of hunters and fishermen pursuing their prey:


Whether or not hunting and fishing are in your plans, we hope you can make it up to Birch Lodge to create some memories of your own.  We'll leave the stuffin' and glassy eyes to those guests who eat a few too many of Deb's yummy muffins!!!

Loons on the Lake....Trout Lake, MI!

In the evening the light comes across the lake and illuminates the birches in front of Birch Lodge with a beautiful glow.  This is the time I like to walk along the frontage and reflect on the day.

 The loons have been very active this year, and we have frequently had one pair out in front of Birch Lodge.  Others seem to come and go, initiating a great deal of calling and display.

Last evening, I decided to walk down to the beach, and noticed as I walked along that I was being followed.....by a loon.

At first I thought this was coincidence, but I paused....and so did it.  I continued on, and so did the loon!  I sat on the beach a bit, and it sat in the lake watching me....STRANGE!

It's mate began to call down in front of the lodge . There was no action from my little stalker, but I got up and began to walk back....of course it followed along.

 When we returned it rejoined its mate as I sat in front of the motel and thought about it.  I noticed that I had on black jeans, a black jacket and a white turtleneck....could it be it thought I was a real BIG loon?   Perhaps it was right!