We are now at Yellowstone Lake Hotel, which sits right on Yellowstone Lake. Built in 1891, it is the oldest of the 3 historic hotels we have stayed in within the park. It is enormous and very recently renovated. It's lovely and grand. Here's a view of the hotel front (which shows only about 1/4 of the length of the hotel).
The view from the hotel to the lake is also the view out our hotel room (we got lucky and asked for a lakeside view when we arrived!)
Hotels of this age retain a few old fixtures, such as this lovely water fountain and this fireplace, both from the early 1900s.
By contrast, here's all the choices for what to do with your coffee cup, water bottle, etc.
This hotel also has a lovely lounge area with views to the lake.
This morning I did my morning walk along the lake. Here's the Lake Ranger's station (with a lake view of course).
This meadow opens onto the northeast edge of the lake.
I found more blue flax as I walked along.
Chuck and I wanted to do a walk today, but the easy one, a 3 mile trek on flat ground called Natural Bridge was just opened and still had the possibility of encountering bears. So we opted for a real hike: Elephant Back Trail, which was 4 miles long and up 800 feet to the top of Elephant Back mountain. Since the trail begins at 8700 feet, it was tough slogging up. But the woods were delightful. I found these Globeflowers along the way.
Here's Chuck on the trail. At the trailhead there were hiking sticks to borrow, which we were really glad to have!
Here's the view at about the point that I wondered if I would make the top (our hotel is just at the water's edge at the bottom in this photo).
Here are the rewarding views for our efforts!
I discovered this lovely native orchid (the Fairyslipper, also called Calyso Orchid) on my way down, right along the path. I think I was working too hard on the way up to notice it!
No comments:
Post a Comment