White Lake

Lisa and I spent this past weekend in Whitehall Michigan at the Michillinda Lodge. Michillinda is located on Lake Michigan close to White Lake in the town of Whitehall.

One of the most noticeable features of the drive up to to Michillinda are the decorative light posts that lead up to the lodge.
Here is a shot of the Michillinda Lodge. In the picture the lodge looks grand, but on closer inspection it is really badly in need of a paint job.
Here are Lisa and I on the landing down at the beach. The lodge sits up on a bluff about 100 feet above the beach. The weather was pretty bad. It rained most of the weekend and we did not spent too much time outside.
The first night we stayed in another building next to the main lodge. Here is the view off our balcony.
Here is a great shot of a rainbow, I got in between rain storms.
Here are a few shots of the lodge's interior. The pictures make it look nicer than it really is. Most of the furniture is well worn and the carpet needs to be replaced.


The restaurant was very nice and all the windows overlooked Lake Michigan. Here is Lisa at out breakfast table the first morning.
We spent most of the weekend sight seeing and visiting places that I had been to as a boy over 20 years ago. Here are a few shots of the White Lake Lighthouse.

Here are a few shots of the view out of the top of the lighthouse. In this picture you can see the White Lake Channel. The end of the far break wall was my favorite boyhood smallmouth bass spot. Many smallmouth bass met their demise off the end of that breakwall.
Here is a shot of the the Lake Michigan side of the channel. Waves were breaking over the pier heads all weekend long.

The Pigeon Hill Family Resort and Old Channel Inn are still there and have not changed in 20 years. The cottages I stayed in as a boy were still there and had not changed a bit.
The folks The Old Channel Inn still cooked up a great cheese burger.

Here are some pictures of Armstrong's Bait and Tackle in Whitehall Michigan. Lisa called it Shitty's Bait Shop. She was so grossed out by the place that she had to shower when we returned to the Lodge. This shop was awesome. Bass Pro or Cabelas have nothing on this place. It is the way tackle shops should be. This shop was exactly the way I remembered it from 20 years ago.
There are thousands of fishing rods thrown around everywhere. I spotted at least 6 old mangy dogs laying around on the dirty floor. Most of the dogs were by the three wood burning stoves that heated the place.
If you wanted a specific rod it would take hours to find it, but I guarantee they had it. Everything was covered with a healthy layer of dust.
There were thousands of lures hanging from the ceiling and anywhere else you could hang a lure.
More Lures.
There was not enough room in this shop for everything they had in there, so they just threw the overstock on the floor. Every angler should stop in and buy something at Armstrong's. We need to keep small town shops like this in business for our kids to enjoy. I know I could have spent at least 2 full days in there.

Here are a few shots of nearby Duck Lake State Park. It rained most of the weekend, but we snuck out to Duck Lake to hike a bit. Duck Lake SP is just a few miles from the Michillinda.