If you are looking for the ultimate Yellowstone camping experience minus the wet tents and bears eating your food, you must stay at Roosevelt Lodge. Roosevelt Lodge consists of many spartan cabins with a full-size bed, a woodstove, and a table and chairs. Nothing much, but it is cozy. So, if you stay at Roosevelt Lodge, make sure that you bring sleeping bags, blankets, towels, and pillows because they are not provided by the Roosevelt Lodge staff. The bathrooms and showers are located in another building on the grounds and are fully equipped. Dad forgot about the facilities being in another building when he and Mom went back to Yellowstone in 2001, and he thought he would encounter a bear on one of his many nightly visits to the bathroom, but he didn''t encounter Yogi and Boo Boo and came home safely.

Dad, Erika, and I enjoyed three days at Roosevelt Lodge in July 1990. It was a different camping experience. Erika and I shared one cabin and bed while Dad stayed in another cabin next door to us. Every morning we were in Roosevelt Lodge, Dad would come to our cabin and wake us up with leftover corn muffins from our dinner from the night before and get our woodstove going so we wouldn''t be cold while getting dressed. Even in July, Yellowstone mornings can be very cold (40 degrees F) or less. Then Erika and I would argue with each other about her hogging the bed and sleeping bag all night long. She is 5''10" and spreads out. The next night, we went without our sleeping bag "pillow" and slept in separate sleeping bags on the bed and were happy. So was Dad because he was not looking forward to the rest of his vacation being spent listening to his two daughters fighting like alley cats.

Roosevelt Lodge is one of the cheapest accommodations in Yellowstone National Park and very nice and clean. The rustic lodge has a great restaurant and an expensive convenience store in case you want ice cream or souvenirs. It is worth two or more nights to get the total Yellowstone experience.