Our family has always always wanted to see the west and go visit places that we've only heard or dreamed about until now. We were up in the air of should we drive or fly, should we tent camp or rent a camper and all of the above. Well, we just returned from a glorious 9 day vacation out west and it was splendid. Before I begin, I will give you a general list of things to take notice of.
1. Figure out what method will you go there. Will you drive or fly?
2. Will you tent camp, rent a camper or stay in airbnb etc?
3. Plan, plan, and more planning. Ask people that have been but also watch Youtube videos on "top things to see at XX place and discuss it with your family.
4. Get an America the Beautiful pass from the National Park system. It will save you tons of $$. BUT I will warn you. I ordered these 3 weeks BEFORE our trip and I still didn't have them. So I had to print off the receipt of sale before I went, which they accepted. They were in our mailbox when we got home.
5. This area of the country is absolutely beautiful, but barren. You fill up your gas tank regardless if you need to or not because you literally do NOT know when you'll see a gas station again. Do NOT count on there being a nearby Walmart or major chain stores either.
4. We ONLY had LTE signal in Atlanta and Denver airport. After that, It was either zero signal or roaming. I know many depend on their smart phones, but you really need a REAL, paper map for wherever you're going. Rest Areas can have these but make sure you have an Atlas.
5. Get a NPS Passport book. It's SO worth it to document your trips with stamps and stickers. I didn't get ours until later, so I printed off photos for ours on sticker paper.
Here's what we did and our itinerary:
Day 1:
DAY 2:
We drove all day to Driggs, Idaho (about 8 hours). We wanted a place that was about half way between The Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone. Driggs is it. Also look into Victor, ID. We got a wonderful 3 br/3ba Airbnb in Driggs.
Day 3:
We started off early and went to the Grand Tetons NP. You have to drive through Jackson/Jackson Hole to get there. Don't miss Jenny Lake. We also did the boat ride across the lake for $18/rt/pp. It's incredible. We spent dinner time in Jackson Hole, shopping and eating dinner. The bottom photo is from Mormon Row. It is outside of the GTNP but part of it. Some of the most photographed and painted barns out there but you can see why.
Day 4:
We left early in the morning to head to Yellowstone. There is ZERO signal in Yellowstone. Map things out and do everything you can in one area. We went through West Yellowstone (a cute little town) and divided everything into sections. Due to some updates and construction at the time, there was a few things not available to visit or see.
Yellowstone is 2.2 MILLION acres. It takes an hour to go from one exit to another. We noticed after checking the weather, that it was going to rain on Weds, so we packed as much in as possible on Tuesday (DAY 4). Divide the map up and do everything you can in that area. Even as we were driving through Montana, almost EVERY exit had a reference to Yellowstone, just to tell you how big it is. Yellowstone is WAY more than just Old Faithful. We also packed our lunches wherever we went. Because we checked the weather in advance and we knew it was going to be raining the next day (Wednesday), we chose to extend and go as long as we could on Tuesday.
Here's what we fit in Day 4:
We entered through West Yellowstone because it was the closest to where we were staying. West Yellowstone is a wonderful little town by the way and is in the bottom tip of Montana.
One of my biggest tips is plan ahead. Yellowstone is absolutely MASSIVE. Prioritize how long you will be there and divide up the map into quadrants. From each exit to another is about an hour. Also look ahead at the Weather. Our first day there was a Tuesday and we realized that it would be drizzly and rainy Weds, so we tried to use the more daylight and extra time on Tuesday.
So our first day we did the following:
Norris Basin
Old Faithful
West Thumb Basin
Day 5:
Day 5 was our second day at Yellowstone. We finished the park that we didn't get to see on day 4. We also spent time in West Yellowstone, Montana. Cute little town with lots of great shops.
The ONLY change in this trip that I would've done different is this. Since this Airbnb was 1 hr 45 minutes from West Yellowstone, we would've stayed somewhere from the North entrance of Yellowstone on this night instead of going ALL the way back to Driggs. This would've saved about half of our day.
Day 6:
Day 6 was a driving day to Sheridan, WY. We drove through the through Montana. We stopped at Little Big Horn National Battlefield (Custer's last stand and where he died) and Pompey's Pillar, signed by William Clark. Thanks to my friend Cynthia for telling me about that. We spent the night in a hotel in Sheridan, WY.
Day 7:
We spent the day driving to SD. We stopped at Devils Tower NP. A little side note. Devil's tower is quite a ways off of the interstate. Like 30-40 miles of nothing. First of all, make SURE you have a full tank of gas before you go. Secondly, You can easily get on Hwy 14 and turn LEFT (instead of right from where you came) and head to I 90 from there. It's about half the distance than going the other direction.
We also went to Mt Rushmore, Wall Drug and The Badlands. Wall Drug is about 8 miles from the Badlands. The Badlands is amazing and HOT. So it's best to go early morning or later in the evening.
Day 8:
We spent the day visiting the Crazy Horse Memorial. Crazy Horse was a diamond in the rough. It's so many things and it's got so many wonderful things to see. They take no federal or state funds but we wished we spent more time there. They get no Federal or state funding, so it's all privately funded. I think it was a $30 fee for our car.
We also did Custer State Park. Custer state Park is the 2nd largest state park in the country. It's 71,000 acres. It's massive. Totally worth every penny. Make sure you go and see the Nettles and parkway. Sylvan Lake is where they filmed part of National Treasure 2. Also there's a Game Lodge that President Coolige and Eisenhower stayed out for vacation.
Mt Rushmore for their evening lighting ceremony and we visited the Presidential statues in downtown Rapid City. It pays to have history lovers in the family.
TIP: Your parking ticket for Mt Rushmore is good for 1 return trip for free.
Crazy Horse was a diamond in the rough. It's so many things and it's got so many wonderful things to see. They take no federal or state funds but we wished we spent more time there.
The lighting ceremony was a must see at Mt Rushmore.
Day 9:
We Flew home on a Star Wars plane from United. They only have 1 in their fleet but our Star Wars nerd family was overjoyed.
