Roosevelt Lodge is a great spot for being in the Lamar Valley early. Can't get much closer :)

I haven't seen the rooms/cabins though. Perhaps someone else can jump in here and comment on them.

-doo

If you want to be in the Lamar Valley you could camp in the Slough Creek or even the Pebble Creek Campground.... We have not stayed in the cabins at Roosevelt but have visited friends that were. From what we saw of the cabins are spartan, but clean. Communal bathhouses. On several occasions we have used their facilities when visiting and we were camping nearby..:-D

We loved staying at Roosevelt--our favorite area of the park. It's quiet and the perfect spot to go out early for the best animal viewing. We stayed in the Frontier cabins. They are very basic, but fine. The Roughrider cabins do not have bathrooms and have a stove for heat. My favorite place to stay is Old Faithful Inn. It is a fabulous old hotel. The rooms in the old section were all redone last year. If you are only going to stay in 2 locations, I would stay there and either Roosevelt or the Lake Hotel, another neat old hotel. The Canyon area is the busiest area of the park. You can visit Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from either Roosevelt or the lake area.