tragusa3 wrote:
Thanks guys.
Regarding lunch. On this entire trip we ate out a total of ONCE (a Chinese place in Cody). We always pack picnics. It saves money, sure, but that's the third reason we do it. The first is that lunch becomes part of the park experience for us. The second is that it saves time. For instance, on the Northwest loop of Yellowstone, there is a fairly long unpaved road that you can take that meanders through the rolling hills. We drove until we were far from anyone and stopped there for lunch. I'll post those pics in the next section.
Most of the time we have no trouble finding picnic tables. The main map for Yellowstone shows where you can find them. Once we waited about 15 min for one to become available. All other times, our truck tailgate is a great picnic spot. We can put it where we want it and it is always available! LOL We didn't do it on this trip, but on our last trip we brought the Coleman grill and grilled burgers and stuff while touring the parks.
I would think that in the majority of parks (at least the ones we've been to), eating lunch at restaurants is either not an option or you pay dearly for the time it takes to leave the good stuff to find food.
Hope that helps.
We were at Yellowstone in May. We drove from the road from Norris to Canyon. As we were going up a hill a mother grizzly and 3 cubs came walking toward us and walked right by our van!Then we went to the Canyon visitor center. The restaurant wasn't open yet but the snack bar was. My wife and I each got a hot dog, a cup of soup and a soda. $26.00 ! There was a big raven sitting on the picknic table right outside the door. I took our food to the van to eat and he followed me over. I sat at the sliding door with our dog behind. The dog and raven eyed each other up but they were both more interested in the food. I gave them each a little piece of bun.
