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Yellowstone - Roosevelt Lodge, Roughrider Cabin, and Tower Junction - June 2017

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\ Our first three nights in Yellowstone National Park, we stayed in a Roughrider Cabin near Tower Junction and Roosevelt Lodge .  For families on a budget, this place is low-cost, no frills, and a great value - especially since we have seven people in our family.  We were fortunate enough to acquire a three-queen cabin (we also brought a foldable Coleman cot) and it fit our family perfectly.  Remember, when you are visiting YNP, you just need a place to sleep because you will be out and about almost the entire day.  It was one big room with the three beds, a table and chair, and a wood stove for the cold nights.  The community bathroom and showers is just a few short steps away.  There was also a cute little creek right next to our cabin. The first night was stayed pretty warm in the cabin from the hot day temperatures.  But the next two nights, the temps dipped down into the high thirties and we had to light the stove.  It kept us warm and snug and we were definitely gl
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Old West Dinner Cook-out Yellowstone National Park - June 2017

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Our first night in Yellowstone was one to remember!  We had made reservations long in advanced for the Old West Dinner Cook-out  and we were very excited to take the wagons out into the wilderness.  You could also choose to go there on horseback if you'd like, but we opted to keep the family together since we all hadn't reached the appropriate age and/or height to ride the horses.   The wagon ride, although a little dusty, was a lot of fun.  Each of the kids were able to help "drive" the team across the prairie and the driver pointed out all sorts of wildlife and geological features.  We saw lots of yellow-bellied marmots and bison. The cook-out was nestled in a little grove of trees in a location that seemingly felt in the middle of nowhere.  There were quite a few people attending but we still felt the remoteness of the location.  They had some interactive animal skulls and antlers for the kids to touch and observe.  When it was time for dinner, the li
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Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and Into Yellowstone - June 2017

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One thing I've learned from our traveling across country, if and when you see a road marked "Scenic Byway," you try to arrange your path to go on it.  We had driven on the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway  during the night on the way into Cody.  Driving it during the day made me reflect A LOT MORE on what I had driven at night!  Here's what it looks like on your phone when using Google Maps - definitely not taking your hands off the steering wheel!  Lots of switchbacks and steep hills - wow!!!  The Byway takes you north from Cody and connects to the Northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park.   There are lots of turnouts and overlooks to stop and view the amazing terrain.  We stopped at the Sunlight Bridge overlooking Dead Indian Gorge and the Sunlight Creek. Besides the sharp turns and tight switchbacks, as you head north the area is an open grazing area.  We saw many cattle precariously close to the road.  A good reason to take it slow and enjoy
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Cody, Wyoming - June 2017

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After nine days of travel, we settled in Cody, Wyoming for two nights.  There was lots of laundry to do and we also wanted to rest up for Yellowstone and Grand Teton.  The night before, we had traveled over the Beartooth Mountains and then swung south down the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway.  It was well past 10:00 pm by the time we checked into our hotel in Cody.  As always on our trips, we seek out the local Lutheran church on Sunday mornings.  Thank you to Christ the King for welcoming our family and getting our day off to a great start. The next stop on the agenda in Cody was to visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West .  What an amazing place!  There are five museums under one roof - Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Whitney Western Art Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, and the New Cody Firearms Museum. Each museum was unique and fun to explore.  The Firearms Museum was especially amazing and had some of the most rare guns ever produced.  Many of the
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