10/14 day trip out west
 

Hi everyone
i was wanting to plan a trip out west for my family leaving from Illinois. I was wondering what are my best options to see the most out of this trip. that being said what i mean is what would be my best circle to do like yellowstone or grand canyon ? just looking for ideas to see a lot of these wonderful thing and i am aware i probably left out so so so much.....

Any help would be great

So are you driving your own vehicle from home or flying to Denver or SLC and renting a car?
My style is taking the train and renting a car but that may not suit your style.
How many people and what do they want to see? What month?
Welcome to Fodors.

When are you planning to go on this trip? What kinds of things do you want to do? Hike, photography, see wildlife, historic places etc.

If it is summer, I would want to do the northern parks like Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier, Mt. Rushmore, maybe Rocky Mt. NP etc.

Spring/fall, Rocky Mt, Mesa Verde, Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Bandelier, Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelley, etc.

Winter, farther south, Suagaro, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Carlsbad Caverns, Death Valley etc.

All the states have nice state parks too.

Thanks for the responses!!!!
There would be 5 to 6 kids range from 18 to 10 we are still on the fence about drive of flying. More than likely we will be drive. I think we would enjoy wildlife along with some neat historic/scenic things Elaborate alittle more about train option. Thanks for any help again.

For wildlife Yellowstone can't be beat. Do a loop with the Grand Tetons and the southwest corner of South Dakota (Badlands National Park, Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, etc.).

Several years age we drove from CT to Chicago for a wedding and decided that since we were halfway there we should push on to Yellowstone. It was a great trip.

We went out on I-90, stopped at Badlands NP and Mt. Rushmore, then did up Yellowstone (snow on the way in, June 24). Then down for a quick drive through to Grand Teton and down to I-80 and back to CT.

We saw tons of animals in Yellowstone, including baby bison and baby elk.

It is a long way over and back, and we didn't have any kids with us, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I should add that you need to have your lodging/camping reservations for Yellowstone now.

Reinforce Emalloy's comments. If you want to stay inside the park at Yellowstone, you need to starting calling every day for any cancellations. Yellowstone books a year in advance so about the only thing available will be random cancellations.

Suggest this book:

Fodor's The Complete Guide to the National Parks of the West (Full-color Travel Guide) Paperback – May 10, 2016

https://www.amazon.com/Fodors-Comple...ks+of+the+West

Vaga