Originally posted by JERZEE73:
Thanks for taking the time. That goes for everybody.
Will
Several questions.
Do you know which place that was that was so close to Old Faithful?
I was trying to figure out how to squeeze the Tetons & Yellowstone in the same trip. Also like the 320 Guest Ranch idea offered earlier. Sometimes doing less makes a vacation better, especially with a young kid. Too much rushing around can be a little stressful & take the fun out of a trip.
Looking on line, flights to West Yellowstone appear to be basically the same price as flying to Jackson Hole & can save driving time.
For those thinking the Tetons & Yellowstone can be done in 7-8 days, you may be right. Just know what my daughter likes & some of the horseback riding at Roosevelt Cabin & 320 Ranch sounds like her dream.
Plan on doing the Grand Canyon in a few years. Went on a whitewater rafting trip 10 years ago that was wonderful & hope to take my daughter on the rafting trip in to the Canyon in a few years. BTW, the outfit I used was SUPER & I will use them again. Western River Expeditions. Truly a remarkable trip for all, especially families. Perfect for ages 10-70. Helps to be somewhat fit. Last trip was 5 days on the Green River out of Moab, Utah. Highly recommend that tour group!
I will take all the Williamsburg tips in to consideration as well. Hot & sticky isn't fun, but want to give my daughter a little taste of Colonial history.
JERZEE73,
You can't go wrong here either way. Each Yellowstone and Williamsburg are national, actually, international, treasurers. Plan things correctly and each will be the trip of a lifetime.
With regard to cabins at Yellowstone, most, and I think all, of the Lodges in Yellowstone have adjoining cabins for families, including Old Faithful. They are in no way fancy, but entirely functional, clean and safe. You can stay in a cabin for the fraction of the price of a Lodge room. But, the "amenities" are almost non-existent. You, basically, get a bed and electric. Some cabin areas in the park have bathrooms, others don't, which then requires you to share functional, clean and safe bathrooms and showers.
At Old Faithful, there are a handful of cabins that directly face the geyser with views that exceed anything offered at the Lodge and, again, are available at a fraction of the cost, but
none have bathrooms. We're campers. So, the lack of bathrooms was irrelevant. And, the cost-offset allowed use to spend three nights at Old Faithful for the cost of one night in a room opposite the geyser in the Lodge.
In my opinion, even if you consider a cabin with a shared bath to be "roughing it," it's worth it for a night or two for the cabin experience at Old Faithful (and, if you're interested, Roosevelt, as well). It was the first, and last, time in my life that I was awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of an erupting geyser, which I could watch go off from my window. If you're interested in one of the choice cabins,
book now! We did so about a year out and got what we wanted. I wouldn't wait much longer.
As for whether you can hit Yellowstone and Tetons on the same 7-8 day trip, it primarily depends on your organizational skills, stamina and destination hub. Yellowstone is, deceptively, large. It approaches the size of Connecticut, but comes with steep mountains, twisty roads with a complete lack of markings or guardrails, bear/bison-jams, endless numbers of RVs and 30 mph speed limits. It just takes time to get from place-to-place and it's a waste of your time to rush. The trip from West Yellowstone (or Roosevelt) to the Tetons could easily take the better part of a day. If you do that twice, you spend two days in the car just travelling within parks.
Consider as well, you're travelling with a 9-year old. My twin girls were a similar age when we went. In order to make it work for your daughter, you need to keep changing it up. See the geysers one day, go for a hike the next, then go swimming in a thermal stream, follow-up with a horseback ride, hike again, then go fishing on the lake, go for a hike, the next day take bus tour, then get-up early in the hope of seeing big game at Roosevelt, etc. In my opinion, you can do all this within Yellowstone. A stay at a ranch would be a nice addition, as would seeing the rodeo in Cody, amongst other side-trips. In this regard, you could simply day-trip the Tetons, if you simply want to see the range.
Lastly, with Williamsburg, it's definitely a not miss in your lifetime trip, especially for anyone with even a bit of historical interest living on the East Coast. But, as
everyone has pointed-out, the heat and humidity are
insane during the summer. This doesn't mean, don't go. It means don't push an overly ambitious agenda--start early, tour until noon, have lunch at an air-conditioned inn, go back to the hotel for a swim in the pool, comeback for late-afternoon events, grab dinner downtown, etc. Then, change-it-up with day-trips to Busch Gardens and/or its water park, Jamestown, Yorktown, etc. My girls loved this trip at age nine.
Lastly, lastly, thanks for the tip on Western River Expeditions. We've taken the mule train to the bottom of the Canyon and visited Arches and Canyonlands. But, we've never rafted the Colorado, which is on the within-the-next-5-year bucket list. I've already jotted these guys down as possible guides.
I'm always amazed by the amount of great free advice you can get on any topic simply by following a site devoted to Rutgers Football. This thing of ours is a cool thing. Good luck on future adventures with your family.
Scarlet
