It’s official. Yes, the BH Ski Club finally skied Big Horn Resort. The Emerson’s captained the weekend getaway of 28 folks (plus two late shows) to the Big Horn Mountains. And was the trip ever eventful!

We arrived Friday afternoon (March 21^st) at Deer Haven Lodge to find the doors locked and no one around. As the same management operates Deer Haven, Meadowlark, and the ski hill itself, Rick and Julie drove back up the two miles to Meadowlark to see what was up. Seems the folks they had coordinated with were gone, management was having a few personnel problems, and no one had keys to Deer Haven. Rick had a list of who was supposed to be where so he and the person in charge (Tom) started finding lodging at Meadowlark to “match” accommodation at Deer Haven while the troops bellied up to the bar for comp drinks of Fat Tire. Most of the accommodations at Meadowlark were a tad rougher than Deer Haven, but we had expectations for rustic anyway so we took what they had available. We learned the place was so rustic it didn’t even have wine at the bar - lucky (and needless) to say, we had plenty of our own for the weekend…

Folks did a moonlight snowshoe and cross-country ski Friday night. It started to dump the white stuff later that evening and everyone committed to downhill on Saturday. We woke up to a good six inches plus and made the trek to Big Horn Resort. Of course no staff knew about our group discount and two free tickets negotiated with management so a few of our folks had credit card billings to tweak after the fact. The snow was excellent and the Hill had a lot more runs and secret stashes that we had originally thought. Two more folks made the trek over from Rapid City just for the day so we were also up to 30 participants. We met most of the hill staff (workers and ski patrol) so fun was had by all.

Saturday night found us having an impromptu wine and cheese party before dinner in the Cheyenne Cottage (the dogs' digs). The lodge had prepared a prime rib dinner and then the Club hosted festivities in the bar. Julie and Rick had planned Easter games: egg roll relay race, peep toss (at a target for points), and egg hit (single elimination – no using both ends). They had cooked and personally colored 48 eggs. Anyway, we had three teams of eight so there was a raw egg distance toss and catch as a team tie breaker. The management loved that one! Everyone was very entertained and we didn’t have too many cheaters on the egg hits.

Sunday dawned as a clear, calm, and sunny day so the vast majority of folks donned cross-country skis – ultimately making our way down to Deer Haven on a back trail. The staff person was there this time and folks saw the lodge they would have had for a home base. Maybe next time… We had wine, cheese, and munchies in the parking lot and then made our way back up the hill to Meadowlark.

Everyone was pretty exhausted from the weekend, so folks motored off in twos and fours back east to home late Sunday night. Thanks to all for making the Big Horns Getaway a successful adventure! If you missed this event, be on the lookout for pictures around recaping the festivities!