Food

Jim suggested each family cook one night, and we eat dinner out for the rest of the nights.

Dinners
We can't cook at the hotel in Red Lodge on Friday.  The Saturday that Lynn and I arrive, Lynn and her kids will be too late for dinner.  So potential eating-in nights are S, M, Tu, W, & Th.  Since we are only staying in Jackson Hole 2-3 nights, it might be problematic to buy a whole meal's worth of food, and then have to move the ingredients and left overs to West Yellowstone.  The day we drive from Jackson Hole, see the Canyon, and then drive to West Yellowstone is also going to be a long day with 3 hr 42 min of driving plus the sight seeing.  Wed and Thursday are good eating in nights.

Can we put together a grocery list for Saturday?  I think there are a number of items that all 3 families will use (bread, milk, eggs, butter, fruit, etc).  The condo is supposed to have paper goods and cleaning products.  We could potentially eat in for breakfast, lunch and dinner for Sunday and breakfast and lunch for Monday.

Lunches: 

Since we need to have packed lunches Mon and Fri, and maybe Sunday, I'd recommend bringing a soft sided cooler.  That might help us to transport groceries from Jackson to West Yellowstone as well.

Sunday, there are a lot of restaurants around Jackson, but there is a lot to do in the Tetons to do it in one day, so if we pack lunches, we could eat on the shuttle boat that crosses Jenny Lake.  Could do some overlooks and Rockefeller Preserve in the a.m., then take a shuttle boat at noon.  Must be back by 4p to get the last shuttle across the lake, or we'll have to walk an extra 3.3 mi around the lake.

Mon or Tues (which ever day we leave Jackson Hole, see the Canyon, and end up at West Yellowstone)  The cafeteria is not open at the Canyon and It is a solid hour drive to Grant Village for the closest caf'.  I think packed lunches will be the way to go this day.

Tues or Wed (Old Faithful day) Old Faithful Caf is open, could skip packing lunch if we want a break.

Wed or Thurs ( Mammoth day) The Mammoth Terrace is grill is open, but it takes 2.25 hr to get there, we'll arrive too early for lunch, and the trail is 4 mi, so when we are done the trail it'll be too late for lunch.

Thurs: if Mammoth day, see above, if it is the break day, plenty of options in West Yellowstone.

Friday: Lamar Valley and Bear tooth Hwy: There are no places to buy food out here.

For Groceries in West Yellowstone there is the Market Place, and Food-Round Up

reviews of Food-Round Up say it is small, as over-priced as you'd expect for a very small tourist town in the middle of nowhere, but ground coffee and beer are cheaper here than at Market Place:  http://www.yelp.com/biz/food-roundup-supermarket-west-yellowstone

Market Place got much better reviews largely because they had more food in stock:  http://www.yelp.com/biz/market-place-west-yellowstone-2

Groceries in Jackson Hole:
Albertson's - 1.9 mi E of condo on 26.  reviews say is similar to a small Safeway with tourist town prices.  One review says the Bear Spray is $60 here, but $45 elsewhere.
Jackson Whole Grocer: 2.6 mi S of condo on 26.  similar to Whole Foods, some organic, some standard grocery.  Complaints about the burrito bar.
Smith's Food & Drug: 3 miles from the condo, very few reviews, but they have a pharmacy and review said the food was well stocked with a good bakery.

Cafeterias and restaurants open Sept 22-26 in Yellowstone:
Lake Lodge Cafeteria: (not open for lunch while we are there)

• September 2 – September 28
  Breakfast: 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
  Continental Breakfast: 7:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
  Dinner: 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Old Faithful Lodge cafeteria: 

• September 2 – October 4
• Lunch: 11:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
• Dinner: 4:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Canyon General Store is open until Sept 29, Canyon Lodge dining room and cafeteria close Sept 14.

Grant Village (in West Thumb, by the lake): sevice station and dining room are open.Grant Village Dining Room opens at 11:30 on May 23, 2014

• Breakfast/Breakfast Buffet: 6:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
• Lunch: 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
• Dinner: 5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

The dining room will close after breakfast on September 28, 2014, Reservations are required for dinner.

Mammoth Terrace Grill (fast food at park prices): 

• September 11 – October 6
  Continental Breakfast: 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
  Lunch/Dinner: 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Roosevelt Old West Cookout, last day is 9/14.  

Roosevelt Dining Room closes 9/1.

Grocery List starting point: 

1 gal 1% milk

1 gal skim milk

1 dozen eggs

1 lb lunch meat

1lb Oscar Meyer bacon

1 lb breakfast sausage

1 lb ground beef for spaghetti

Nature’s own whole wheat bread

½ lb real butter

yogurt

Smallest Sour cream

Macaroni & Cheese

Box spaghetti

Jar spaghetti sauce

Jiff Smooth peanut butter (has to be Jiff)

brown Mustard

Soft tortillas (20+)

Salsa (tomato flavored, not fruit flavored)

Sugar (small box for coffee and lemonaide)
coffee
coffee filters

Small Box of luna bars (or equivalent)

Plain cheerioes

Candy/ Cookies 

Chips, 1 ruffles or lays

Ritz crackers
Juice for the kids.  Mine will drink Apple, or juice boxes, or Capri Sun, or Gatoraide.
Juice for adults?

2 LT Diet Caffeine Free Coke or Pepsi x 2?

beer

Wine, chardonnay 2 btls or 1 box
1.75 L Captain Morgan

Baby carrots

bananas

1 cantelope or ¼ watermelon

strawberries

apples, gala or fuji

2 Sweet onions
2 Green peppers
gallon zip bags
do we need paper plates and solo cups?

Itinerary

Full Week Schedule, Tentatively :
day 1, Sat, arrive, stay in Jackson Hole
day 2, Sun, explore Tetons, stay in Jackson Hole
day 3 Mon, Tetons, or start exploring Yellowstone to allow for a day of bad weather
day 4 Tues, Yellowstone Canyon and surrounding, stay in West Yellowstone
day 5 Wed, Old Faithful and surrounding, stay in West Yellowstone
day 6 Thurs, Mammoth area and Fire Hole canyon hot springs, stay in West Yellowstone
day 7 Fri, Lamar Valley and Bear Tooth Highway, Stay in Red Lodge
day 8 Sat,  drive to Billings Logan Airport, fly home

We can decide Sun evening if we've seen enough of the Tetons, or if we really need another day.  We have 4 days of sights planned in Yellowstone.  There was talk about allowing a 5th day so that if we get a bad weather day, or an illness/over-stressed situation, we can take a day to chill.

Yellowstone Canyon drive times: 
Jackson Hole to Yellowstone Canyon: 115 mi, 2 hours 39 mins

1. Yellowstone Canyon to West Yellowstone: 39.3 mi, 1 hour 3 mins

Total driving for the day: 3 hr 42 min plus stops.  

how road closures are going to affect our vacation

This map is from http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm

Below is my google map of the places we talked about seeing.

First Day in Yellowstone, coming from Jackson Hole:

Drive time condo to Old Faithful with roads open:

1. 98.1 mi, 2 hours 11 mins

   
   

Drive time condo to Old Faithful with road closure: 

1. 157 mi, 3 hours 45 mins

   
   

Proposed change, do the Canyon on the first day in Yellowstone since we'll have to drive by it anyway.

Mammoth: 
drive time cabin to Mammoth with roads open: 48.5 mi, 1 hour 18 mins

drive time cabin to Mammoth with road closures: 

1. 75.7 mi, 2 hours 20 mins

   via Grand Loop Rd

Is is not clear if any of the things we want to see at Mammoth will be accessible.  More research required.  

rental cars

11 days SUV:
kayak.com 9/16 - 9/27, JAC - BIL $1027.55 for a Jeep Grand Cherokee or similar from Alamo.
7 days full size car:
kayak.com 9/20 - 9/27, JAC - BIL $377.89 for a Generic Full Size car from Alamo.
11 days full size car
kayak.com 9/16 - 9/27, JAC - BIL $680.20 for a Generic Full Size car from Alamo.
4 days full size car (will probably need 2)
carrentals.com 9/16 - 9/20 JAC - JAC $128.01 for a Toyota Camry or similar from dollar.
4 days van:
orbitz.com 9/16 - 9/20 JAC - JAC $307.72 for a midsized van Caravan or similar from Dollar.
UPDATE as of 8/21/14, found a midSized SUV directly from Dollar for $179.90.

For some reason renting one car for 11 days straight costs more than renting one car for 4 days and then a different car for the next 7 days as shown below:
1) Renting a car for 11 days = $680.20

2) Renting two cars for the 1st four days, and then two different cars for the last 7 days costs
($128.01 + $377.89)  = $505.90, a savings of $135.

The van is only $51 more than renting two full sized cars for the 4 days and will simplify parking and allow you all to visit and plan on the way to Yellowstone.

So, my recommendation is each family pays $377.89 for a full size car for the week of 9/20- 9/27, and each family pays $103 for 1/3 of the Grand Caravan for 4 days?

A complication would be getting people and gear back to the condo on 9/27.  Lynn's flight changed such that she is arriving around 7p.  My flight changed also, but I have not accepted the changes.  R&T could drop Jim and Casey off at the condo on their way to the airport to exchange to a smaller vehicle.  Update, Connie's flight arrives at 8p and Casey is going to the airport to rent a car for the Phelpses so it will be done ahead of time.  It is 10 miles/16 minutes from the airport to the condo.

West Yellowstone

http://www.cabinsyellowstone.com/rooms.html

336 Firehole Ave

The trip from the Jackson condo to the West Yellowstone cabin is 2 hr 55 min, 128 mi.  Most roads in the park close Nov 3, some as early as Oct 14.  They should all be still open in Sept. 

We are to call the owners once we have arrived.  We've put a deposit down, and owe an additional $1190 after arrival.  They will come to the cabin to collect the balance.  Linens and towels are provided as is dish soap.  The washing machine and dryer in the cabin is "coin operated".  There is satelite and a 60" TV.  Check in is after 5p on 9/22 and check out is 10am on 9/26. We offer ... Satellite TV, and telephones; a gorgeous fireplace and spacious kitchen. High speed Internet is available. 

#1 restaurant on tripadvisor (Cafe Madriz) closes Sept 15 for the winter.

2nd on tripadvisor: Woodside Bakery 17 Madison Ave West Yellostone, MT 59758 Hours Monday–Saturday, 7am–4pm Closed Sunday 406-646-7779 people note good sandwiches, great cinnamon rolls  .5 mi from cabin, 10 min walk, 5 blocks.  

5th on tripadvisor: Running Bear Pancake House 538 Madison Ave, P.O. Box 465, West Yellowstone, MT 59758-9525 good breakfast and lunch, diner style, closes at 2p. .4 mi.,  7 min walk, 4 blocks Menu: http://runningbearph.com/menus/dinner-menu.html people love bfast there, only one review of dinner and they didn't like it.

7th on trip advisor; bar-n-ranch.com/dining-wine/grill-menu 6 miles out of town, great view, $16 burgers, good reviews. menu: http://www.bar-n-ranch.com/dining-wine/grill-menu

8th Smoke jumper cafe: open 8a - 6p.  Might be hard to make it there by 5 to get dinner done by 6p.  3 min outside town.

9th, Madison Crossing Lounge, open 5p, $12-26 entrees.  

Kiwi's take-away: many warnings about the owner being over-the-top rude.

Buffalo Bar: open 10a - 2a daily. People like it, I'm not sure it is kid-friendly.   Oh, this review says "This is a bar restaurant but kids are not allowed. 21 over."

China Fun restaurant just opened this year.  only 4 reviews, on tripadvisor, all good.  No web address or menu.  Reviews on yelp are 1/2 good, 1/2 terrible.

Serenity Bistro: $6 - $27 says tripadvisor.  No prices on their website.  Will only take two credit cards per group.

Geyser Grill:  Good meatloaf, chicken.  Soup, sandwiches, chili.

Beartooth BBQ: decent BBQ, not much of anything else on the menu.  

Canyon Street grill: burgers, friend fish, and chicken tenders only except for the kids menu.

Lakeside Lookout, good reviews, upscale, 8 mi outside West Yellowstone, closed Wednesdays, just opened in May: 
menu: https://attachment.fbsbx.com/file_download.php?id=1518176135069064&eid=ASt-y7QtYXI5pLKfCk3CCDreXkvblh-aNsaSiux71ljOeo1B5_kNFzbU1tr0IrLAa6g&inline=1&ext=1409443463&hash=ASsm3QFDVypodFgC

Ranger program: 

Junior Smoke jumper program: ""The kids will actually hold the tools, they'll dig a little fire line and they'll experience what real firefighters do," Hicks said."

Kids 6 and up can learn about smokejumpers and fire ecology, tools, parachutes, equipment used, and the physical fitness required to fight wild land fires. They are sworn in as Junior Smokejumpers and receive a tote bag, certificate and sticker. 

Sun-Wed & Fri 10am & 3pm; Thur & Sat 3pm & 7pm

Morning registration at 9:30 am for the 10:00 am program; afternoon registration at  2:30 pm for the 3:00 pm program. Two hour program May through the end of September. 

http://www.destinationyellowstone.com/events/junior-smokejumper-program

Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center: 

old faithful area

Junior Ranger program for Yellowstone: http://www.nps.gov/yell/forkids/upload/JR20128-12.pdf

Old Faithful: 
Visitor Center is open year round. 
from :  http://www.trailguidesyellowstone.com/information/upper_geyser_basin_yellowstone.php

Old Faithful

Facility	Opens	Closes
Snow Lodge Geyser Grill Fast Food	Apr. 18	Nov. 2
Snow Lodge, Cabins, Restaurant	May 2	Oct. 19
OF Lower Service Station (credit card fueling available at the pump)	May 2	Oct. 12
OF Lower Store (Basin) General Store	May 23	Sept. 29
OF Upper General Store	May 2	Oct. 13
Wrecker Service	May 2	Oct. 12
Old Faithful Inn; Gift Shop, Dining Room, Bear Paw Deli	May 9	Oct. 12
Old Faithful Lodge	May 16	Oct. 5
Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria	May 16	Oct. 5
Old Faithful Lodge Gift Shop, Bake Shop	May 16	Oct. 5
Old Faithful Clinic	May 16	Oct. 3
Upper Service Station	May 16	Sept. 15
Repair Service	May 23	Sept. 1

Ranger programs: 

8:30a hit the road
9:30 Old Faithful area, hike and view for 2 hours
12:00 lunch
1:00 fairy falls trail 
2:000 grand prismatic parking lot
3:15 firehole canyon
4:45 back at cabin to cook dinner

"Plan on at least two hours for Old Faithful." 32.2 mi from cabin, (50 min) elevation 7349ft.  " Try to miss the lunch time crowd since a lot of people turn up to eat lunch at the restaurant."  From a visitor in August "Be wary of the crowd. If you get there just before she goes off, you've missed it. People get there very very early and crowd around, packed in like sardines."  "Well we had a great visit here in late September and the weather was unbelievable. About 1000 people and we arrived about 30 minutes before it gave us a show. " "Take time to walk over the Firehole river and up Geyser hill where you will see some spectacular sites and if you are really lucky as we were, you will witness Castle Geyser erupting which was more spectacular in my opinion and lasted 20 mins or so " " I suggest you do is do one of the tours with a Ranger that walks around the grounds and listen to the stories and the history." ". I would recommend getting there around 30-40 mins earlier than the time they guesstimate for the next eruption so you can get good seats or standing space."  "Recommend viewing the geyser in an "up wind" position, since the spray of the geyser will obscure the view if viewing from downwind." "Hike to Grand or Riverside at the Old Faithful Loop and wait for fantastic displays!" "The nearby Beehive guyser did erupt nicely though"

Beehive Geyser: Beehive is a favorite of many because of its lovely narrow, tall jet of water. This geyser usually erupts only once during daylight hours, Lately, it has averaged about 12-15 hours between eruptions, with a few extra-long waits of 17 to 19 hours now and then. You can check at the Old Faithful Visitor Center to see if they know when it last erupted.

Doublet Pool: This gorgeous hot spring doesn’t erupt, but it does “thump.” About every half-hour or so, the water level rises to the top of the lacy, scalloped edge and then the thumps start. The thumps come from large gas bubbles that collapse below ground. 

Grand Geyser is consistently the tallest and most spectacular of the predicted geysers. This excitement doesn’t come without a cost though. It has the largest prediction window of the predicted geysers. Even so, it is worth waiting to see. Grand erupts from a pool of water making it a fountain-type geyser as opposed to Old Faithful which is a cone-type geyser. Grand’s interval is usually around 8-12 hours, its height about 150-180 feet and its duration is about 10-12 minutes. It will often stop after about 9 minutes and then restart after a minute or so. This second “burst” and any subsequent bursts are often among the tallest if not the tallest of the eruption. 

Castle Geyser is a very old geyser. Estimates put the age of its 12 foot high cone at 5,000 to 15,000 years. It would take that long to build such a large cone. Even more remarkable is that Castle’s cone sits on top of an even more massive sinter formation deposited by an even earlier spring. Castle is a cone-type geyser. Its interval is usually between 9 and 11 hours. Its maximum height is 60 to 90 feet. The 20 minute water phase of a major eruption is followed by a 40 minute steam phase.
I like this guy's photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lushaevans/3938331924/in/photostream/

Grand prismatic Spring is in the midway geyser basin, is the largest hot spring in the park:

200 ft across.  160F water.  Best viewed from on top of the hill off of Fairy Falls Trail.  There is also a boardwalk that starts from the middle geyser basin parking lot and passes very close to the GrPrSpr.  The parking lot for the boardwalk is 38 min, 24.8 mi from cabin, 12 min, 7 mi from Old Faithful parking.



freeze frame walk through the Fairy Falls trail: http://naturevalleytrailview.com/yellow-stone/fairyfalls#/trail-436
The parking for the Fairy Falls trail is 1 mile South of the midway geyser basin parking lot at these coordinates: 44.5144700, -110.8319920

some more specific maps of the geysers around Old Faithful:  http://www.geyserstudy.org/oldsite/ugb_sub_gmap.htm

Firehole canyon Drive to the hot springs in which people may swim 27 min, 16.2 mi from cabin: 
There is a sign for the turn onto Firehole Canyon Drive, if you get to Madison Jcn, you went too far.  30 min, 17.9 mi from Grand Prismatic Spring parking.  "We took this one-way road, and weren't disappointed. This drive is only 2 miles long but you get great views of the Firehole falls and there is a great swimming area"  "There is also a place where you can park, go down a staircase and swim in the river." "Really unique wonder of nature . Beautiful canyon with rapids . The geological area very interesting to behold" "The firehold canyon drive is a picturesque and hilly (paved) road that leads to the swimming spot. There are a couple of basic toilets you can get changed in. A set of stairs leads you down to a small 'beach' area and some rocks where there is a natural pool of water you can swim in. If you are a strong swimmer (and/or willing to climb over the rocks) you can get upstream and then ride the current back, or go a little higher to jump in front of a small cascade which will similarly push you back down to the pool area. Would recommend sandals for the rocks. " "it was still cold at first. I took my six and eight year old up stream a hundred yards or so and floated down. It was a blast. My daughter couldn't get enough. We floated multiple times. It's great on a hot day " "Take the "Canyon Loop Drive", you'll need to go to the north end as it's One-Way, is the answer. drive slowly and keep a sharp watch on your right. You'll see parked cars pretty soon, where the Firehole widens out into a slow, flat run."

The one-way Firehole Lake drive



Firehole Canyon Drive:

Saturday Sept 20

rental house is 513 S. Cache St., Jackson Hole, WY: http://www.vrbo.com/979136ha  and http://www.mpmjh.com/Unit/Details/81302  Drive time to rental house is 16 minutes from airport.  If you have questions about your vacation home please contact our reservation team at 800-992-9948 or via email at info@mpmjh.com for assistance. "1.      Towels and linens are both provided.  There will be extras as well.

2.      Your final balance is due Aug 20^th.  I will send you a reminder when it is due.

3.      You will pick up your key at the condo.  When you make your final payment I will send you the directions and check in information.

There will be paper towels and toilet paper enough to get your started.  Each group is a little different with usage so you might need a little extra, but should be okay with only a 3 night stay.  Dish soap and laundry soap are all there.  There is soap and shampoo (hotel style) in the bathrooms.  Towels and linens are provided with extras in the closets and in the bathroom cabinets.

We have been offering a discount because of construction.  I would like to wait until it gets closer to your arrival to see if there is still going to be a driveway issue.  Maybe they will be closer to completion! 

Since we have a 4 night minimum we don’t usually give a discount for 3 nights.  This might prove to be an exceptionJ 

There are 4 bedrooms, 2 with queen, 1 with 2 sets of bunks, 1 with 2 singles beds that each have a trundle.  

Grocery stores: Jackson Whole Grocer (1.6 mil away [4 min], or Albertsons (1.5 mi away [ 5 min]).
Snake River Brewing Pub is 7 blocks from the condo: http://www.snakeriverbrewing.com/#the_brewpub
43 North - restaurant listed on mapquest as within 2 blocks from condo is now closed, says tripadvisor. It was replaced by Lift: http://liftjacksonhole.com/menus/ which has a limited menu with $12 burgers and $17 entrees.

This place is the tripadvisor #1 restaurant in Jackson Hole: 4125 South Pub Place, Jackson, WY, 6 mi from condo.  http://thebirdinjackson.com/ It is a sandwich and burger place with the "best veggie burger anywhere".

Persephone Bakery is 12 blocks away (.5 mil, 10 min walk).  is ranked 2nd best place for food in Jackson  Open 7a - 5p except Sunday 7a-4p.  People say great bread, great desserts, great breakfasts.  Lots of mentions of croissant, some mentions of chocolate croissant.  One mention of brownies and chocolate chip cookies.