story by RON BURTZ
“ It has been the best thing we never thought we ’ d ever do !”
So say Minnesota natives Ryan and Jodi Frisk who are the most recent owner / operators of the Black Forest Inn Bed & Breakfast , situated just south of Lake Pactola along U . S . Hwy . 385 .
The “ it ” in question was buying , fully renovating and then actually running a bed and breakfast in the Black Hills of South Dakota . A mere three years ago the Frisks owned a successful real estate flipping business in their hometown of Rochester , Minn ., and were the owners of three Airbnbs . The story of their western migration in 2020 has the ring of a spiritual pilgrimage and , indeed , this devoted Christian couple believes the hand of God was directly responsible for their move to what they now consider home .
The Frisks say even though their real estate career was doing well and plans were falling into place for their business , they had begun to feel unsettled in Rochester . That feeling was ratcheted up several years ago when a friend showed them pictures of the Black Hills and they realized that , although each of them had visited the Hills as kids , neither had strong memories of the beauty of the place .
Then came the COVID pandemic of 2020 with its “ crazy lockdowns ” in Minnesota . Like thousands of their fellow Minnesotans they were feeling the need to get out .
“ We needed a break ,” said Jodi , “ and Ryan said ‘ we ’ re going to the Black Hills .’ I said , ‘ Well great , but we ’ re not moving there .’”
They decided to head for the Hills for the July 4th weekend and were stunned at the beauty and freedom they found there . Jodi remembers standing and looking at the waters of Lake Pactola and feeling like God was saying , “ This is home !” But still she resisted . “ I went home scared to death because I knew right then and there ... this is where He wanted us and I did not want that ,” said Jodi , adding that Ryan went home sad and depressed because he didn ’ t think he could get her to make the move .
It didn ’ t take long for God to convince her , however , and in less than a month they were actively looking at properties in the Hills . As real estate veterans , the Frisks knew it was customary to look at many properties before deciding to buy . That didn ’ t happen either in this case .
“ It ’ s the only property we looked at and God was very clear ,” said Jodi , “ It ’ s like God said , that ’ s home — that ’ s it .”
That ’ s in spite of the fact that in their tour of property they found it to be particularly unimpressive on several levels .
“ When we walked through it , it was unbelievably overwhelming ,” said Jodi , noting that it was not overwhelming in a good way . “ It was like you were walking into 1982 ,” added Ryan . The rooms were dark and dated and almost none of the furniture or fixtures looked like they could be reused .
On top of all this was the fact that neither of them had ever so much as stayed in a B & B , much less had any aspirations of running one .
However , the Divine nudge they were both sensing was stronger than all their objections , and they put down an offer that was accepted . They closed on the property the day before Thanksgiving 2020 .
Asking the previous owners to button up the property for the winter and to get rid of as many of the furnishings as they could , the Frisks moved in right away and went to work renovating the 9,000 square foot inn which took the next six months . Having flipped eight houses in Minnesota , they were no strangers to the process , but they figured this task would be the equivalent of remodeling four houses at once .
They admit folks back in the Land of 10,000 Lakes thought they were crazy because they took such a leap of faith in the middle of a pandemic , but they agree what seemed like poor timing from a human perspective turned out to be perfect timing in Heaven ’ s eyes .
25