Summer 2008 Trip

Hi All-

My wife and I live in NYC and have never been out west. We are planning a 10-12 day trip for this summer. We def want to visit Yellowstone and Teton but are looking for suggestions for other places to add to the itinerary. We are definitely interested in seeing the sites and maybe a little active/adventure portion as well (i.e. rafting, kayaking, etc).

Any suggestions or help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Summer 2008 Trip

Hi cornelljordo and welcome to the forum

If you are flying, do you know which airport you will be flying into? There are several choices and different things along the way.

Major airports are Denver and Salt Lake City. Midsized airports would be Billings, MT or Rapid City, SD. And a small close would be Jackson, WY.

If you are driving, it would be 3 days one way.

Let us know, there are many here on the forum to help.

Summer 2008 Trip

Hi-

Thanks for the response. We%26#39;ll be flying out of NY (JFK or LGA). We are very open to which airport to fly into. I guess the decision would really be based on price and proximity to where we are going, but any recommendations would be great. I would assume that the larger airports will be cheaper, so we would prob go with Salt Lake or Denver.

Most forum members have been talking of the high car rental prices at SLC. It is my understanding that DEN in more reasonable.

Take a early flight(we spent 2 hours last year at JFK waiting to take off. Our 7 pm flight took off at 9:05 pm) Less chance of delays.

Some ideas for you would be:

Rocky Mountian National Park north of Denver.

The Rapid City area:

Mt Rushmore

Badlands National Park

Wall, SD(I can%26#39;t explain it)

Wind Cave National Park

This is just a few

Devils Tower National Mon. WY

Cody, WY

Buffalo Bill Muesum

Rodeo(hels nightly)

Beartooth Highway

Yellowstone National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Jackson, WY

This is just a few ideas, there are mamy many more.

It may be too late to book lodging in Yellowstone. You can check it at http://www.travelyellowstone.com/

Or stay at West Yellowstone, MT just out side the park: http://www.westyellowstonechamber.com/

I am sure that other members will have more great ideas for you.

Thanks RWDW! I did a quick airline search and it seems that we may fly into Rapid City and leave from SLC. Is it feasible to do all the South Dakota sites and Yellowstone and Teton in one trip?

Yes, many people have. Just read back in this forum for the past month to see other members plans. You will not have time to do everything, but will be able to get a great feel for the area.

Flying into Rapid City and out of Salt Lake is a good idea. I would check the car rental prices before booking. They can be much higher when you drop the car off at another location.

If you%26#39;re looking at flying into Rapid City and out of SLC, I%26#39;d suggest Hertz, National or Alamo - they occasionally offer reasonable one-way car rental rates. And, yes you can do the Black Hills, Yellowstone and the Tetons in 10-12 days.

Thats a great trip!

Hi cornelljordo and welcome!

I just wanted to say that if you check the (Yellowstone) Xanterra web site for lodging and it looks booked up. call the 800 number. A friend of mine was able to find availability by calling directly when the website said it was booked.

Good luck and have fun planning! We are going for 20 days in late July.

lots of good options already mentioned in this thread but here are my thoughts. we are repeating the same itinerary this summer for the 3rd straight year we like it so well. we are flying into FCA (kalispell, mt) which is only 25 miles from the west entrance of glacier national park. if you%26#39;ve never been to gnp you will be hardpressed to find a more impressive area as far as beauty. the going to the sun road is 53 miles long, crossing the continental divide but you could spend 2 weeks on it %26amp; not get tired of everything there is to see %26amp; do.

alamo allows you to do a one way rental dropping in jackson, wy. we spend 3-4 days in the gnp area then start drivng south into yellowstone hitting all the areas here including cody, wy rodeo. continue on down to grand teton national park, finishing in one of america%26#39;s great little areas, jackson hole. delta is the main carrier into both FCA %26amp; JAC but there are others too.

Hi cornelljordo -

I live in the area of Yellowstone Park, and have lots of contact with folks coming here to visit the Park. With 10-12 days, that%26#39;s perfect to visit both the Yellowstone and Grand Teton area.... but I wouldn%26#39;t add another destination to the trip. In southwest Montana, if you are based in one of the %26#39;gateway%26#39; areas to the Park, you will also find great recreation of all sorts very easy to do. Whitewater or scenic river trips on the Yellowstone/ Gallatin/Madison rivers. Fantastic fishing. Kayaking too of course. Horseback riding outfitters just outside the park have great trips in the Gallatin Mountains, Absaroka Beartooth range, as well as within the Park. Livingston and Bozeman both have tons to offer for days not spent in the park - great restaurants, art galleries, live theater, etc. They are very much ';real towns';, whereas the towns at the Park entrances are very touristy, and good for a day or two, until you%26#39;re sick of the crowds.

Anyways, I hope that helps some. Oh - and for sure fly into Bozeman, or Jackson Hole. The 5-7 hour drive back to SLC or other major airports essentially makes you lose two days of your vacation. Just my two cents....

You%26#39;re getting plenty of good suggestions on what to do, so I%26#39;ll defer to the great suggestions. However, I strongly suggest flying to Jackson, Cody, Billings or Bozeman. The last thing you want to do after flying across country is to get in the car and drive 5-7 hours, and that%26#39;s what you%26#39;re faced with. Don%26#39;t forget the end of your trip, driving 5-7 hours the other way. It will cost more to fly to these places, but your time has to be worth something.