Nemo

A little over a month ago, Marsh and I were looking for a luxurious yet cheap cabin in the Black Hills for a relaxing night off the Rez. Scouring the free internet at Dunn Brothers in Rapid City, I came across this website, so we decided to give it a try. It was a little farther from the ski slopes than we were thinking, but it was far more luxurious than anywhere else we looked at, and also far less expensive. The place turned out to be spectacular--just a beautiful little house surrounded by nothing but Black Hills Spruce. On our first trip out, we needed groceries but I figured we could buy them when we arrived in Nemo. Nemo, it turns out, consists of about seven buildings, one of which did indeed sell groceries--we ended up buying both of their frozen pizzas.

When we arrived at the Lodge we were surprised to find that we were the first visitors since July. Since then the place has become a kind of TFA retreat in the Hills, as we have given them some $900 over the past five or six weeks. It's gotten to the point where a couple of us ended up beating out a rival group of TFA teachers who were also planning on booking the lodge for this weekend (sorry, guys). There has even been some talk about renting the house out for the entire summer.

Reservations secured, I met a bunch of friends out at the lodge this weekend. On the way out I stopped over in Rapid to finally get my South Dakota driver's license (I am now a full-fledged legal resident, and no longer a resident of Connecticut). I also stopped in to the Subaru dealership to get an oil change and to get a small grinding noise I've been noticed checked out--so I was quite pleased when I discovered I would need $1,200 of repairs on the car. That cancelled any plans for skiing.

It was still a perfect winter weekend, with temperatures getting up to almost 60 degrees on Sunday, ideal for lounging around a cabin in the middle of nowhere. (Many photos thanks to Shannon.)

Jenny napping on the couch, a common activity.

Walking Kim's dog.

Some of the girls built a snow fort while I was napping inside. They had hoped to have a snowball fight, but everyone else got back from skiing too late. The next day they built a snowman while I was napping again (see below). Dave invited me out to look at the snow man, and I was ambushed from the snow fort.

Shannon is demonstrating proper snow fort technique in the second photo.

Kim, Irv the snowman, and Kim.

Detail of Irv. Note the man boobs.

The national forest started about 30 feet behind the house (right where the fort was built). There was a beautiful clearing another eighth or a mile back into the woods. This is what it looked like before we sullied it with snow angels and snowmen.

Kim in the clearing.

Sleeping in the snow.

Matching $20 Men's large snow overalls from ALCO.

More snow overalls. Note the massive animals mounted to the wall. That elk's head is about 4 feet in lengh and stares you right in the eye as you walk out of the upstairs bedroom. There is also a bearskin rug mounted to the wall off to the left, and in the study there is a collection of photos depicting Vince (one of the owners--they are super nice) after taking the bear down. I'm considering hiring him for a hunting excursion in the spring.