Yellowstone lodge question

We are planning a trip to Yellowstone next July. this is primarily a family vacation. Of course we want to see Old Faithful and all of the tourist sights. I should mention that we have never been there so we want to see it all! ;) in about 3 days! Which due to time restraints and the almighty dollar is all that we will have. Or perhaps I should say the lack of the almighty dollar LOL. Anyway I really want to fish where the Firehole Gibbon and Madison come together. My wife wants to go on the cowboy supper at the Roosevelt lodge. My boy just wants to go. With all this being said I'm pretty sure we will arrive at the worst possible time on Saturday:(. I'm fairly certain the crowds will be awful. We will probably stay in some of the frontier cabins. Just to save a few bucks. I have 2 questions at least for now :) 1 which lodge would you reccommend and why and 2 can you cook at these cabins? Is there picnic tables or anything around close? I have searched the web but I can't find anything about cooking at the cabins. I know they don't have kitchens but we can grill and stuff like that if there's a place close by.

Thanks in advance,
hNt

PS. We are probably going to set an actual date and reserve a spot this month. I don't have a calendar in front of me but I think we will be there the last Saturday in July. Thanks for all your help!

The Firehole and Gibbon will be too warm to fish at that time of year. The Lamar valley is a short drive from the lodge. The Lamer , Soda Butte and Slough Creek are there and should be fishing good then .

The Firehole and Madison do warm most years around the 4th of July. I would also recommend Slough and Soda Butte or the Lamar, but I don't think it's a short drive. Really no short drive in the park, you always get side tracked looking at something. See and do what you can but you won't see it all in 3 days. Keep your expectations real, you won't be dissapointed. Really the most beautiful place I've ever seen.
Gene

P.s. can't help you in regard to the lodge, always stay in West Yellowstone, although I have heard that the Old Faithful Lodge needed to be booked a couple years in advance, good luck.

Fly's have to be lead free and lead shot is a nono. You'll spend a lot of time stopped behind a line of cars because someone want a photo of a buffalo 1/2 mile away (They will stop for every one!!)
The drive from Old Faithful to the Lamar River is a good 60 miles and may take over 2 hours.
You will also be at a higher elevation than Middle TN.

I have been to YNP many times some for fishing others not. If your gonna be there for just three days I would stay at Roosevelt. That way you can get to do the chuck wagon, well worth it, but you do have to make reservations early. From there you can easily fish the LaMar and Slough very easily. You can also observe Bison, sheep and wolves. To go to Old Faithful it will take awhile depending on road construction. This past year to get from West Yellowstone to the south entrance took about four hours do to road construction.

If you are on a food budget buy your food outside the Park. You will not be to far from Mammoth so you can drive out of the Park to buy some food. One thing no food is as cheap as it is in your area. In other words it is costly to eat around the Park, both in and out.

I've been fishing the Yellowstone area for over 30 years. It is hard to mix fishing and a family vacation, and specially when you only have 3-4 days.

The Yellowstone area is not cheap.....whether you stay in the Park or in Gardiner on the north side or West Yellowstone on the west side. Actually, families can spend a whole day in the town of West Yellowstone and enjoy themselves.....plus, there are 6 fly shops there which are really worth visiting!

At that time of year, fishing is better outside the Park....either on the Madison or down on the Henry's Fork....either location no more than a 45 minute drive from West Yellowstone. That is NOT to say there is no good fishing in the Park, but it is consistently better on the Madison outside the Park than in the Park at that time.

There are some reasonably priced cabins right on the Madison at West Fork and you can reach the Park from there in about 45 minutes and see Quake Lake along the way.

But, again, hard to mix family vacation with fishing. Usually a tension there......

I agree with Byron. Having lived in the Yellowstone area for 40+ years I would not recommend Yellowstone National Park in July, especially if it is in early - before July 15th - July. High water is a distinct possibility, crowds are a given, and fishing is uncertain. Take Byron's advice.