Yellowstone National Park Tips

Yelłowstone, the world's first national park.  An area so interesting and scenic that it could start a trend of preserving natural treasures from being developed giving the world a place to unplug, breathe some fresh air, and look up at the night sky to see millions of stars reminding us that life doesn't have to move quite so fast.  We spent four days in Yellowstone, sort of a must-do pilgrimage for any national park visitor, and boy is that park huge!  If you're planning a trip to Yellowstone, here are a few tips to plan your stay and especially where to eat while you're there...

Being the first national park of the world, it is quite the tourist destination!  Not just American tourist, people come from all over to visit Yellowstone.  We frequently heard many different languages at all of the main "sights".  Many people are exploring the park in large groups, loading and unloading from tour buses making parking and crowding a bit of an issue.  Others are cruising around in their RVs with kids in tow.  This crowd makes Yellowstone feel like a bit of a scavenger hunt going from Old Faithful to Grand Prismatic to Mammoth Springs to Lamar Valley to Upper Falls.  If you're going to see the big five, you'll probably be following the same people around the park and be in the traffic jam that comes with that crowd.  Don't get me wrong, all five are amazing and really a must see, but there is more to Yellowstone than checking off a list.

Take a hike!  Probably the best hike in the park is Mount Washburn.  It's not for the casual tourist though (although I saw a woman with one leg and crutches make it to the top, so you can too).  About half of Yellowstone is one large caldera, which is essentially a flat volcano.  There are mountains surrounding the caldera, but only one mountain remains within it, which is Mount Washburn resulting in an amazing, uninterrupted panorama of the entire park.  On the east side of the park, you can drive partially up the mountain, then start your hike from the parking lot.  The trail is wide since it is a service road to the fire watch tower on top of the mountain.  Don't forget your bear spray, bears can be anywhere in Yellowstone.  It is about two miles of switchback, take it easy, you'll get to the top eventually.  Once at the top, you can see snow capped mountains, Yellowstone canyon and lake, and even the Tetons!

1. Book your lodging about one year in advance.  The beautiful lodges book up very quickly and the hotels nearby are just as expensive and certainly less beautiful.  If you didn't book the lodge in time consider camping, glamping, airbnb, or staying in a nearby town (Bozeman or Livingston).

2. Minimize the crowds and traffic by going in May or September, getting to the park really early or staying really late in the day, and only go on the weekdays.  You don't want to spend your entire trip sitting in traffic or finding a parking spot!

3. See the famous sites, they are famous for a reason... Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful and Morning Glory), Mammoth Hot Springs, Grand Prismatic, Lower Falls, and wildlife spotting in Lamar Valley.

4. Obey the signs.  Stay 25 yards from any vegetarian animal (bison, elk, deer, mountain goats, rams) and 100 yards from meat eaters (bears, wolves, coyotes).  You will definitely see tons of the vegetarian type and you'll also see people trying to pet or take selfies with them.  They are wild, let's keep them that way... and you don't get gored... win-win! :)

5. Find a trail and walk it!  It's easy to spend a lot of time in the car in a park so big, but pretty much every trail leads to a waterfall or a hot spring or ten geysers.  There will be less people away from the boardwalks 

Here is a bunch of pictures showing some of the crazy unique and wonderful sights there are to take in at Yellowstone.  Below the *probably* way too many pictures is where we ate and recommendations based on our experience.

       

     

         

Eating in a national park can be challenging because there are not a lot of options.  Within the park, there are restaurants and snack bars at all of the lodges, and Yellowstone has several lodges.  But just because the restaurant is busy, doesn't mean the food is good.  Old Faithful Lodge was beautiful and the architecture amazing, the food was not so great.  I had a bison burger which looked like it spent too much time in the freezer and was very dry and flavorless.  My husband had a grilled cheese sandwich and it was just okay.  The next day, we went to the Mammoth Springs Lodge for lunch and had a really great meal!  Warm goat cheese salad, bison and trout tacos, and a smoked salmon club sandwich... all were very delicious.  Both places are run by the same company (Xanterra), so we were expecting similar food.

 

 

 

  

For dinner, we ate outside of the park.  We were staying on the North end of the park in Pray, Montana and based on the recommendation of our hosts, we drove another 30 minutes to Livingston, Montana and we were glad we did.  A quaint little town which would have been fun to explore if we weren't starving and focused on food!  We went to 2nd Street Bistro which was a cute and reminded me of a restaurant we ate at in Rome.  The food was easily the best we had our entire vacation with hand made raviolis, hunter chicken (marinated chicken on mashed potatoes toped with sautéed peppers and onions), and coffee creme brûlée.  Mmmm... sooo goood!  We liked it so well, we went to their more casual sister restaurant, Gil's, the next night for pizza and pastries.  :)

   

We also went to the Lighthouse Restaurant one night which is somewhere between Gardiner and Livingston, not really around anything.  The restaurant itself is an eclectic mix of seaside decorations including a live lobster claw machine.  The menu is just as eclectic with foods from all around the world.  We went more of the safe route with a bison burger, crab cakes, and mac and cheese since new foods can sometimes make hiking not as fun... Everything was decent.

When we got to West Yellowstone, which is where most of the hotels outside of the park are located, we were surrounded by chain restaurants and tourist traps.  If you stay in this area, you might want to drive to Bozeman or Livingston for some good food.  We got to Timberline Cafe a few minutes before they closed and had some chili and sliders.  Probably could have gotten something better at Wendy's, but we were so hungry that we just wanted some food!

We moved on to Bozeman after that... definitely a college town with trendy coffee shops and restaurants.  Wild Joe's took me back to memories of college and we were probably the oldest people in the room.  Good coffee, a selection of pastries, but they ran out of their burritos which we were excited to try.  For dinner we went to Montana Ale Works which is in an old railroad storage building.  We tried some local brews and had a decent meal.  Their mac and cheese (which I am realizing now that we had a lot of mac and cheese in Montana) included goat cheese as one of the four cheeses, which made it extra creamy and a tad sweet.  We also had enchiladas, BBQ pulled chicken, and a fried chicken appetizer that sounded interesting and different, so we had to order it.  We finished it all off with some food truck ice cream... who had Nutella ice cream... mmm!

 

 

Hopefully this helps you plan your trip to Yellowstone and you know some places that were really good and others to avoid while fueling up for your site seeing adventure!  

Weekly Menu

After three weeks of traveling (and therefore eating out) I am so ready to be home this week back on a normal schedule and cooking some of our favorites.  Lots of squash, apples, and potatoes!  After weeks of neglect, it's also time to harvest all of our peppers and tomatoes before the threat of frost.

We went for a walk at Inniswoods Metro Gardens to see the fall colors here in Columbus.  The park was so busy with family and senior photos trying to take advantage of the fall colors as well.  People were parked everywhere!  But it was definitely beautiful with the bright blue sky in the background.  :)

Alright, ready for some home cooking!  Here is the plan for this week...

baked ravioli

salmon burgers and crispy potatoes

butternut mac and cheese

baked potato soup

jerk chicken and rice with salad

Weekly Menu

It's been a couple weeks since the last meal plan for good reason, we've been on vacay!  Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks in Montana... pictures from the trip will come soon as well as tips on eating around those parks.

We're not fully unpacked yet and we have more travel plans soon, so meal plans are short and sweet for the next few weeks.

spaghetti squash and meatballs
pizza night with garden veggies
sausage stuffed peppers
ravioli and garlic bread
jerk chicken sandwiches and crispy roast potatoes

homemade pickles
kale chips

Anyone go to Oktoberfest this weekend?  I think it was my first time having schnitzel... but I'm always up for some Bavarian pretzels (had one in Switzerland last year and it was the best ever!).  And I'm pretty sure I would not be able to survive an Oktoberfest in Germany...

A couple pics from our trip, more to come...

 

Camp Breakfast Is In the Bag - total time 30 minutes

Have you seen those pins on Pinterest where they show a paper bag sitting over the campfire to cook breakfast?  I definitely have.  But have you ever seen the end result?  So many pins about allegedly being able to cook a camp breakfast without any clean up... sounds too good to be true.

So I tried it out...

To my surprise, no Pinterest fail occurred, which is good because we were hungry.  I shouldn't really be a surprised that the layered cooking works on a campfire because I did it with bacon, onions, and potatoes last year... but had to clean my cast iron afterward.  So now we can go pan free!

I love breakfast sandwiches, so the ingredients in this are perfect after a night sleeping in tents or really any time.  The bacon acts as a liner to the paper bag preventing the eggs from leaking out and the fat prevents the bag from burning in the fire.  I also add a little cooking spray just to be in the safe side.   The biscuit on top gets just enough air through the paper bag that it cooks perfectly (unlike covering a pan of biscuits with foil... if the steam can't escape, your biscuits will be soggy).  Where to put the bag once you have everything ready becomes the tricky part.  You don't want flames constantly hitting the bag... the bacon can protect the paper that well.  But you also need it close enough to cook before you get hangry.

Weekly Menu

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day, long weekend!  And that you stayed hydrated in this heat!  I am so glad summer weather came back, because the fall weather we were having recently was weighing on my mood... not because I don't like fall... but what comes after it.  :/

Any time there is a long weekend, it seems like it centers around food.  Okay... maybe all weekends center around food for a food blogger.  :)  We have been meaning to try Los Guachos as soon as we saw that the Food Networked ranked them as one of the top five tacos in the country (article here).  I tried a chicken taco and the pork taco that they are famous for (and what ranked them number three by FN).  The pork taco is kind of like a taco take on Hawaiian pizza.  It was pretty good.  The chicken was a little dry and not as flavorful as I was expecting... actually very similar to the chicken tacos I had in El Paso.  Then my husband had the spicy shrimp tacos... I had a taste and it was sooo spicy!  While we were eating, several Mexican-Americans were coming in ordering tacos, so I think the tacos are probably very authentic, but I prefer Local Cantina or Condado Tacos... perhaps they are a little more "Tex-Mex"?

Went to the Chocolate Cafe in Grandview with some work friends which I had never heard of before.  While I thought by the name it would be chocolate only, kind of like the Chocolate Bar in Cleveland, but it was also true to the cafe name with sandwiches and soups as well.  The martinis were on point and I took some brownies home to try later (also very tasty). 

Did you know Alchemy Juice Cafe and Crest Gastropub are partners?  You can get Alchemy juice mimosas at the Crest and they are delicious!  My favorite was the Strawberry Chia... mmm.  And we can't go to Clintonville without stopping at Pattycakes... I have a serious cookie addiction.

I finally got over to Grandview to try out Zest juices... their green smoothie (which is actually purple) tastes like a blueberry muffin and I always love a good orange + carrot juice.  :)  Finished off Saturday with pizza and drinks at Forno, which has become one of our food go-to's in the Short North, and some gallery hoppin'.  That picture below is made out of crayons!  So crazy!  

The new Whole Foods opened at Easton this week.  I have been waiting for this for sooooo long!  We used to live across the street, literally within walking distance, to the Whole Foods in Dublin.  But when you're just out of college and living in a tiny apartment, Meijer was more budget friendly for groceries.  Now that I want (and can afford) all of those fun, different foods... it is such a loong drive from Reynoldsburg.  This new location is definitely smaller than the Dublin one.  And you could definitely tell it was opening weekend because it was CROWDED.  Like, fire code might be breached, my foot was run over by carts, and playing human bumper cars kind of crowded.  I wasn't looking to buy groceries, just a few items... like cheeses and tea cookies... some breads... quickly filled my basket and had to checkout because it was too heavy to carry.  Oh, and a cold brewed coffee on nitro... just what we needed on our way back out into the heat.

Alright, it is a short week and we're getting ready to go on vacay... so the menu is simple and short.

summer veggie pizza
fresh raviolis (from Whole Foods)
steak tacos and corn on the cob
jerk chicken with rice and beans

Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers - total time 35 minutes

My pepper plants are producing an endless supply of peppers (finally).  I typically make one of two things with sweet peppers... some sort of fajita tacos, quesadilla, casserole... or stuffed peppers.  You can change up both meals enough for it to feel like you aren't eating the same thing you had for dinner the night before. You won't hear a single complaint out of our house if tacos are in the menu for the third time this month, but you'll probably hear some sighing if I said "stuffed peppers". And I can understand, the filling to pepper ratio can be a little off for certain preferences.  For me it's the fact you have this beautiful dinner package and then the first thing you have to do is cut it up for three minutes to be able to eat it.  Why not just serve it all cut up to begin with?  Because it's not as cute that way!

Well here comes mini sweet bell peppers to the rescue!  It's like combining our not-so-favorite anymore standby with the fun of jalapeño poppers for something that works for dinner or an appetizer!  Also, we normally have done either quinoa or ground turkey for the filling.  Now I have completely converted to sausage. We get local sausage delivered by GreenBEAN Delivery and it is so good with bell peppers!  Of course we're going to add a little more vegetables for flavor and nutrients... and there you go... a dinner you can eat with your hands.  No more cutting up the cute presentation, just eat it!