At YNP we stayed at Grant Village and Mammoth Hot Springs. The rooms at Grant were motel style, slightly below your average Best Western with small bathrooms and shower. Even though the rooms looked like they were recently repainted and upgraded to meet building codes (i.e. sprinkler systems) the furniture and carpet could use an upgrade. Made good use of the coffee maker though. At Mammoth Hot Springs, we had a room (nicer than at Grant) but with shared baths which turned out to be less of a pain than I had expected. But then we were only there 2 nights instead of 3 nights.
We ate at the dining room at Grant and the Lake House (which was cheaper than the dining room). Both were pretty nice, the latter being more downscale in terms of decor and price. Be prepared to pay Washington DC prices for meals though (as well as kids meals - i.e. $5 for buttered pasta). We also went for lunch at the Lake Lodge which was pretty expensive as well. At Mammoth we mostly ate at the dining room which was another upscale restaurant since the kids didn’t find anything acceptable at the grill. I had breakfast there though which was pretty good.
At GTNP we stayed at the Jackson Lake Lodge in one of the cottages. This was more spacious than at YNP and we ate mostly at the grill (which the kids now found acceptable since it had a decent children’s menu) and occasionally at the dining room which had a great view of the mountains.
Internet access was available at Jackson Lake Lodge in the lobby which can get pretty crowded. I was able to get data service at Mammoth (but not Grant) and Jackson Lake Lodge using my Palm Pre/Verizon as a mobile hotspot. The speeds were decent. It’s unfortunate that there is now internet service at YNP though I detected some wireless networks at Mammoth. I’m assuming that we could have had better access at Old Faithful instead of Grant but we were not able to get rooms there for the dates we wanted.
The altitude at YNP affected me more than I expected. I was constantly falling asleep in the car (good thing I wasn’t driving!) though things were better at GTNP. I definitely experienced some shortness of breath when we walked a little ways up Mount Washburn (Dunraven Pass).
We ate at the dining room at Grant and the Lake House (which was cheaper than the dining room). Both were pretty nice, the latter being more downscale in terms of decor and price. Be prepared to pay Washington DC prices for meals though (as well as kids meals - i.e. $5 for buttered pasta). We also went for lunch at the Lake Lodge which was pretty expensive as well. At Mammoth we mostly ate at the dining room which was another upscale restaurant since the kids didn’t find anything acceptable at the grill. I had breakfast there though which was pretty good.
At GTNP we stayed at the Jackson Lake Lodge in one of the cottages. This was more spacious than at YNP and we ate mostly at the grill (which the kids now found acceptable since it had a decent children’s menu) and occasionally at the dining room which had a great view of the mountains.
Internet access was available at Jackson Lake Lodge in the lobby which can get pretty crowded. I was able to get data service at Mammoth (but not Grant) and Jackson Lake Lodge using my Palm Pre/Verizon as a mobile hotspot. The speeds were decent. It’s unfortunate that there is now internet service at YNP though I detected some wireless networks at Mammoth. I’m assuming that we could have had better access at Old Faithful instead of Grant but we were not able to get rooms there for the dates we wanted.
The altitude at YNP affected me more than I expected. I was constantly falling asleep in the car (good thing I wasn’t driving!) though things were better at GTNP. I definitely experienced some shortness of breath when we walked a little ways up Mount Washburn (Dunraven Pass).
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