As we've covered recently in the Traveler, there are restaurants in and near national parks that serve up some mighty fine food, but not all of them offer an outstanding view to go with your meal.
There are, however, some dining rooms where the scenery could be considered the ultimate complement to a memorable breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Examples include the view across Bartlett Cove toward the Fairweather Range from the Glacier Bay Lodge in Alaska or the mountain panorama from the Pisgah Inn, along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
What are your choices for the restaurants with the best "national park view"?
Comments
El Tovar
Yes, I love that view from the Prince of Wales. I also like the view from the dining room at the Many Glacier Hotel, as it looks out over Swiftcurrent Lake.
Mike and Rebecca have spoken true! I would add the Grand Canyon Lodge at the North Rim!!
Breakfast at dawn at the El Tovar after a snowstorm!
Any picnic table in Loop A at Norris campground in Yellowstone at sunrise while mist still floats over the meadow, a few elk are grazing and a trumpeter swan or two are browsing for algae in the stream.
I have sat and played cards one evening at the Prince Of Wales while drinking a nice cool beverage from the bar. Spectacular. I have also been at the North Rim at Grand Canyon and some choice picnic tables at Yellowstone. All great views. But I have too add the chuck wagon dinner at the Tetons. They took us in a horse drawn wagon to a spot where they had dinner waiting for us. It was only my family and a friends family in the wagon. Others rode horses. Our kids were too young to ride horses so we chose the wagon. It was a great memory with great views of the Tetons.
To tell the truth eating a meal at any of the Nat.park Lodges is a memorable experience....just being there is what makes it special.
Sipping a cool sarsparilla (root beer to some) while gazing out over ridge after ridge of blueish-grey mountians that seem to disappear into the distance from the restaurant at Skyland Lodge in Shenandoah National Park, particularly after double digit miles of AT hiking, is particularly refreshing.