Plans

Meals during a visit to Yellowstone National Park always require some planning. Whether you eat in one of the many restaurants, pack a car full of picnic supplies or operate with a mixture of the two approaches, dining in Yellowstone means you perform a minimum level of planning unless you want to munch on a bag of chips purchased from a General Store. Here’s a look at our 2009 dining highlights and some pieces of advice.

When you visit Yellowstone National Park, you will need to eat. It is an unavoidable fact. Therefore, for your convenience, here is a list of eateries in Yellowstone, organized by level of formality and food type. Updated for 2010.

How long will it take to see Yellowstone? Wiseguy answer: A lifetime.  

Don’t even think about racing around Yellowstone. The park’s 154 miles of main highway, the Grand Loop Road, is in the shape of a figure eight, but it’s no race track. For one thing, most of the other people in the park are not in a big hurry. The general park speed limit is 45 miles per hour but in normal traffic you’ll be lucky to average 30 miles per hour. Visiting park attractions takes time (parking, walking, and waiting for geysers). Figure ½ hour to 2 hours for almost every stop. Plus there will be any number of unscheduled stops, such as waiting for a bison herd to cross the road.

Sightseeing isn't the only thing to do in the Yellowstone Region; but it's way ahead of whatever is in second place. Even people who come to the area to do things like fishing or hiking will spend a portion of their time seeing (or re-seeing) the sights. So, the question "What's to see?" has got to be very important for making plans. Besides, the Greater Yellowstone Region is one of the most beautiful and scenic in the United States; sightseeing goes with the territory.

By Sean Reichard When someone mentions Idaho, what is the first thing that comes to mind? If you’re like me, it’s potatoes. Mountains and mountains of potatoes, piled so high they block out the sun. Is that what you think when you hear the word Idaho? Well, stop it. There are more things in Idaho than potatoes. Idaho Falls is …

Even before the city was founded, the Billings area already had a history of people nearby, as it was used and settled by Native Americans for land and hunting grounds. The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through Billings (the area at least), and is a scant 30 miles away from Pompey’s Pillar, a 200-foot-high rock formation considered a landmark by …

By Sean Reichard John Bozeman isn’t someone who will be remembered as an important figure in Yellowstone National Park history, especially since he died before it was established. In fact, history doesn’t remember John fondly at all. He abandoned his wife and children in 1858 to make a fortune as a miner before deciding it would be a better business …

We are not going to lead you astray and tell you the hotel rooms at Grant Village are high on our list of favorite places to stay in Yellowstone National Park. Truth be told, they're our least favorite. They lack any sort of character; no standard-issue Yellowstone lodge furniture. The exteriors look like they could be anywhere in the northern United States; no echoes of parkitecture here. Above all, they don't feel like they are part of Yellowstone. The six buildings with 50 units apiece are utterly interchangeable and fairly anonymous.

Back when Yellowstone National Park was first starting out, most of the tourists coming out to see the park were those who could afford the trip out there. That is why places such as the Lake Hotel aren't just humongous log cabins. Lake Hotel was built for the cultured (i.e. rich) tourists who were coming out to the Park. Lake Hotel's Ionic columns and sense of elegancy reflects this (it's also the most expensive hotel in the park).

It’s a beautiful day, the kids are entering their final weeks of school, and you’re finally thinking about that summer vacation. Given recent hikes in airfares, flying the family somewhere is out of the question, so you decide on a automobile vacation. And what better destination for a car trip than Yellowstone National Park? Good luck with that plan, bub. …