Life of Riley Lodge
Yellowstone's Finest Luxury Waterfront Log Cabin
What's New at The Life of Riley Lodge....
February 2021
The snowfall this year has been low but we have been hit with a snow last week with more coming. We are so excited!
This week, the federal government issued a mandate that masks be worn at all times in the National Parks so come ready with your finest face fashion.
This winter we are working on building a small outdoor kitchen on the deck. The red BBQ needed too much love so replacement is the answer. We are hoping to find the time to do the Gear Room makeover we have been planning. Crossing our fingers! It's not that it isn't great already, but as a professional organizer, I can't help but pester Riley about building in more storage. He can blame himself. The man is clever and he should have never showed me his skills.
You might not be as excited about this as I am, but week before last we had an HVAC guy come out and add vented ducting to the hood vent over the stove. Yay!
June 2020
It's been a while since I added anything, but that is not for lack of activity. Talk about a busy time!
Since last I logged here, we replaced the old wood log deck with a larger Trex deck and cable wire railing to open up the view and better weather the variables of Yellowstone. That was in 2019. In 2020, we replaced all the windows and doors. What a difference! The temperature control in the lodge is now stable and precise and the UV glazing on the windows makes an especially big difference on the bright mid-days in the great room. The windows all have built in screen systems and have made a noticeable improvement to the ability of insects to make their way inside. We feel that it was money well spent!
In an unexpected turn of events, we discovered a micro leak in the pipe running from the well head to the cabin. The remedy? Excavate the entire line and replace it. Remarkably, this only took two days to do and a third day to patch the driveway. We have to wait to do a slip coat over the driveway to make it pretty and sealed again, but that is a small price to pay for a well maintained water system.
During the excavation process, the basketball court was damaged, but we think the new one is 100% better. We can't wait to hear what you think about it!
Covid-19 has caused interesting changes to how we operate. We feel acutely our responsibility to protect our guests and housekeeping staff during this crisis. After a ton of research, we decided the best course of action would be to purchase a hospital grade machine to fumigate the lodge with virucide rated by the CDC to kill all the cooties. Our staff are using this technology, along with their usual extensive scrubbing, between guests. We think if it's good enough for hospitals, it should do the trick for us.
Additionally, the NPS has had to adapt. As I write this, most of the usual park services located in the big lodges and the the hotels within the Park are closed. But the Park itself is experiencing renewed interest to US travelers. Fresh air has never been so welcome.
Next projects: we are considering expanding on our outdoor entertainment options, refining our gear room, and perhaps changing up the bathrooms. You'll just have to wait and see what we do next. We know, the suspense is killing you!
January 2018
It has been an abnormally dry winter with sporadic and low snowfall. Consequently, the moose have stayed higher up as they enjoy deep snow to deter predators.
We were able to replace the roof in the early Fall as planned. Once the fine weather hits in the Spring, we are hoping to update our photographs to reflect the new look. Here's a hint: It's RED! We are also going to make an attempt to get photos of the new dining table and the updated furniture in the Theater Room. It's a notoriously difficult area to photograph well, so wish us luck.
As mentioned before, we are replacing the dining room table. One of our guests last season accidentally scorched the top of the existing table (hey, that's what the accidental insurance is for!) and as we are absolute perfectionists when it comes to our home we are in the hunt for a new one.
We were able to remove the former side door and hang a new one. No more drafts!
Another update we are hoping to accomplish in the Spring, weather permitting, is removing the existing deck that overlooks the waterfront and replacing it with a new one. We are really crossing our fingers that we can make this one happen. This beautiful family cabin has been a joyful labor of love and we continue to make updates to bring it up to our very high standards.
July 2017
Our guests are reporting lots of moose and eagle activity at the lakefront. There is a mated pair of bald eagles that live in the tall pines on the neighbor's property, so if you are watching, you will definitely spot them. If you sit out and bird watch for a bit, you will also notice golden eagles which are larger than their black and white cousins. The bold ravens and eagles sometimes have tussles, which is quite the sight. We have also seen owls, American pelicans, loons, swallows, all manner of water fowl....the list goes on and on. But the huge variety of birds of prey are our favorites. Have a look!
We are happy to report that the insect population died down pretty quickly and was back to normal levels in early June. Hooray!
Our contractor has temporarily shored up the side door in a more efficient and far less unsightly manner than our amateur attempt. No more eyesore, but the door is still out of commission until the Fall when the whole thing will be removed and rehung properly. This project will be done at the same time as our new roof is going on. We are pretty excited about the new roof! There are about 50 colors to choose from and we need to decide...
We also had the siding stained and the deck repainted so we are bright and shiny like a new penny!
May 2017
We like to maintain pretty high standards here at the Life of Riley, so it should be no surprise that after only 3 years of use, we replaced the leather seating set in the Theater Room after noticing some surface damage to the couch. Riley and I think they are an improvement over the leather set when it comes to good looks and comfort. Let us know what you think!
In the last year, Riley has become quite the coffee expert. He quickly realized the coffee grinder and maker were not quite up to the task of brewing his perfect cup of coffee. We have replaced the coffee maker with a Bunn drip machine and the grinder with a Kitchenaid Burr grinder. We had to leave hand written instructions on how to use these wonderous contraptions, but if you still need help, give us a call. Leave it to a couple of Portlanders to get nit-picky about coffee!
Speaking of being picky, we didn't love the solar lighting we provided outdoors along the paths. It just didn't live up to our high standards. We installed new motion detected lighting along the paths and driveway that will not only provide excellent lighting during the dark hours, but also automatically turns off after 30 seconds, making it ideal for our beautiful waterfront to prevent light pollution for our star-gazers.
We also replaced the hammocks. They are in heavy rotation at the Lodge!
We planted the property with lovely flowers that we hope will flourish. Send us photos if you notice new growth! We can't wait to see how they look when they establish themselves.
In the kitchen, our savvy cooks will appreciate the addition of a set of cast iron skillets accompanied by special cast iron soap and oil and hot grease bags, a mandolin, a salad spinner, and aprons.
In the bathrooms, you will notice the addition of curling irons and a straightening iron for those ladies who forgot to pack these essentials.
And another change due to our perfectionism is a replacement of the Bose Surround Sound System in the Theater Room with a Samsung Soundbar with Dolby Atmos Technology for even better movie theater quality surround sound. The audiophiles among you will enjoy this improvement. We left instructions on how to use the remotes, but call us if you need help.
After an unusually long and very very very snowy winter, we noticed a few things:
- The midge population is very high this year. Midges are small insects that look almost exactly like mosquitoes. Luckily, however, this variety is non-biting. They are still pesky! We are recommending you keep the windows and doors shut (the screens cannot be relied upon to keep the tiny juveniles out 100%) and use the indoor climate control systems to keep the cabin pleasant. We noticed we were able to enjoy the mornings outside without encountering them and outdoor fires were a real deterrent too. We heavily sprayed the outdoor areas with solution to deter any new hatches originating from our property, but we fully expect nature to win, as usual. Hopefully their hatches are short-lived.
- The side door in the Great Room was a casualty this winter. The seals have failed. In order to stabilize the climate controls in the cabin so you can be cozy, we have temporarily stuffed the door and jam with material and insulated it. We have hired a contractor to repair it, but due to the busy season underway, it will not be repaired until June. Thankfully, this door is rarely used so this should not be an inconvenience for you, but we hope you can forgive the "band-aid fix" we have employed until then!
- The logs and deck took an especially tough beating with the heavy and continuous snowfall this winter and are in need of new staining and painting. We employed a crew to do this for us before our first guests arrived for Memorial Day Weekend, which would normally be a very reasonable timeframe, however Mama Nature kept giving us more snow and freezing temps at night well into late May. We are scheduled to squeeze in the staining and painting between guests, but we still have no control over weather so although we are doing everything we can to prevent it, there might be a bit of overlap between guests and painters. We will let you know if you will be seeing those workers on your trip so there won't be any surprises.
- Late in Fall we noticed some micro leaks (trickles or drops coming from random and transient spots) from our roof when driving rain and high winds happened at the same time. Again, our plans were dashed to replace the roof this month by weather that made it impossible. Since this is such a large and inconvenient project for you to endure during a vacation, we have opted to wait until Fall to do it-especially as it is unlikely that you will encounter a micro leak on your trip. But if it does occur, just let us know.