August 30, 1999

ROMANTIC WEEKEND

On our Friday we left work early in the afternoon. With our bags packed for the weekend, we were off for a romantic weekend. We drove alone the lake for thirty miles to arrive at the Lake Hotel. The hotel is one of those old, elegant hotels built in the 1890's. It's a mammoth four story wood structure sitting on the lake shore with mountains behind it. After checking in, we lounged in the large sunroom, overlooking the water, waiting for dinner reservations. The massive dinning room, with waiters in tuxedos, still shows the elegance of the past. After dinner we walked along the lake down to the Lake Lodge. When the lodges were built in the park, they were made to be very rustic using logs to construct the large lobby and restaurant surrounded by cabins. Several huge stone fire places were burning in the lobby. Wood is no longer used, so on close inspections one can see that the flame is really a gas log. I think we liked the lodge better than the hotel, but the hotel was giving people who work in the park a 50% discount. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in the village store where we bargained for Sarah. Sarah is a four foot grizzly bear. We had intended to buy one before we left the park and since the manager offered us 20% off, we walked out of the store carrying Sarah.

In the chilly morning we packed up and left for Roosevelt Lodge in the northeast corner of the park. The lodge is built of logs with a large front porch with rocking chairs. Our cabin was in the trees at the end of the row. The cabins are very simple, just like turning the calendar back sixty years. There is a bed, a table, a pot bellied wood stove, and nothing else. Bathrooms are in a nearby building. After lounging on the front porch, we walked down to the stables to meet for our trail ride and cookout. These are my favorite breed of horses, "dude ranch walkers". After a short safety brief, we rode in single file, over a hill, through a meadow to where supper was being cooked. Cowboy coffee was already waiting. As we listened to a cowboy play his guitar and sing, we thought, "Maybe being a tourist isn't as bad as we thought." On the way back to the lodge a coyote escorted us across the meadow. It was dark and cold when we got back to our cabin, so we built a fire in the stove and went to bed early. During the night we woke to rain on the roof.

After breakfast, we were off, in the rain, to Mammoth in the northwest part of the park. A large heard of elk, one with a massive set of antlers, was lying on the lawn around the hotel. We drove on to Gardiner, Montana just outside the park to do some shopping. The rain continued as we drove the seventy miles home.