Take the time-machine back a century, and you'll find that Yellowstone was already a tourist destination: the tourists, however, were upper-class and knew a thing or two about quality and good taste-- not to mention the modern creature comforts of electric lights and hot-water heating.
Three wonderful hotels in Yellowstone were either designed or influenced by the architectural genius, Robert Reimer. The fabulous log hotel, the Old Faithful Inn is a classic early work of rustic architecture that defined many National Park hotels. (It's also, by the way, the inspiration for the Fort Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World.)
The Yellowstone Lake Hotel (-- click photo above), meanwhile, looks like a wedding cake with pastel colors and sugar-white columns-- yet Reimer defined the look of this hotel too.
Reamer's masterwork, however, was a third hotel, built in the rustic style: the massive Canyon Hotel that, sadly, exists no more. When the modern Canyon Village was built in the fifties, the old Hotel deteriorated and was sold for salvage before mysteriously burning down.
Present-day accommodations in the Canyon Village area are comfortable and attractive (--see picture at left.) Still, one can't help mourn the loss of the magnificent Canyon Hotel.
Fortunately, the Old Faithful Inn is protected as a National Historic Landmark. Also fortunate: the Inn survived the giant Yellowstone fire of 1988, which menaced the Inn from only a few hundred years away. Farmers from Idaho brought their own sprinkler systems by truck, to help save the Inn.
Also in the Park, the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel has much historic interest, and is just a short walk from the amazingly beautiful Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. At the Mammoth Visitor's Center, sign up the kids as "Junior Rangers" and add some easy education to your trip.
Finally, not far from the Park is the Chico Hot Springs Hotel: a rambling, century-old place with a resident ghost. High points are the swimming pool fed by hot springs, and superb cuisine.
For reservations at Park Lodges: see the National Parks site or Travel Yellowstone.
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