KandKsmom

We are starting to plan a graduation trip for our rising senior next summer (with the best weeks being the last two weeks of June). At first he said he wanted to do a tropical vacation, but after thinking about the fact that we have always gone to the beach (mostly HHI and Florida), he now believes he would like to try something new. We have never been out west, nor to New England.

We have a budget of about $4000. There are four of us. Our daughter is 13. She loves animals and is an avid Little House on the Prairie fan, so I thought a Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone trip might be nice. The Maine coast and Arcadia national park look lovely, too. Help!

After reading some of the Yellowstone threads, I am a bit concerned about our timing. Would June 21-end of June be dicey as far as decent (not too cold)weather?

We are from Virginia. If we were to do the GTNP- YNP trip, what airport would be the best/least expensive to fly into? Sorry for being all over the place with my questions! Thanks everyone!

Otis_B_Driftwood

By all means do Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. June is one of the best times to go. These are the crown jewels of our National Park system.

I like flying into Billings and driving over the Beartooth Highway. But, Salt Lake might be a more logical and less expensive airport to begin your trip.

utahtea

I haven't been to Arcadia or Maine, but I've been to most of the National Parks in the west and my vote would be for Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. We've been there during the first week of June two different times and had really mild weather.

Utahtea

china_cat

I'm not trying to be a nitpicker...really. But just so you know, it's Acadia National Park. There is no "R".

its a gorgeous place. and late June is a great time to go. But its not nearly as dramatic as Grand Teton or Yellowstone.

I don't think you can go wrong either way.

dfr4848

You can't go wrong with YNP and GTNP - would make for a very memorable trip. June would be very nice and not too cold. Check air fares also into Jackson Hole, which is very close.

ausc59

We have been the end of June and the weather was great - we had hot sunny days at the geyser areas of the park and snow in the Tetons....just enough to dust the ground and enhance the feel of really being someplace special. We have flown into and out of Idaho Falls each time we have gone - it is about 2-3 hours from West Yellowstone - a pretty drive - if you are lucky you can see the backside of the Tetons as you head out of town - there is also a scenic cut-off about halfway to Mesa Falls - a nice stop on the way.
I would check, first, to see if you can arrange for accomodations in the park - they do fill up for the summer months. Try the Snow Lodge Inn at Old Faithful, the lodges at the Canyon and the Lake Yellowstone Hotel - in Jackson, we liked the Wyoming Inn - not within walking distance of the downtown area but a nice facility....
Have fun!

Katie_H

Just a heads up KandKsmom; Fodor's just put out a brand new guide for the national parks of the west. We've received a lot of good feedback on the new book in the last few weeks.
Here it is:
http://www.fodors.com/shop/buy/?isbn=1-4000-1627-4

You can view sections of the book here on the site, including PDFs of some of the sections. Might be worth a browse:
http://www.fodors.com/parks/

Lord_Mesron

I have yet to make it to Grand Teton or Yellowstone, though really want to one day.

I have however been to Acadia and would recomment that. That area of Maine is just beautiful and not too commercial yet. However, with cruise chips now stopping in Bar Harbor, I am not sure how long that will last.

Being that you're in VA you could probably just drive up there. I have done it from the Philly area and it is about 8-10 hours. We usually have 2-3 drivers for the trip and do it in one day.

GoTravel

What about New York and Boston?

As a kid, I wasn't too thrilled with GTNP, YNP, the Painted Desert, The Grand Canyon and all the other wonderful sites.

It wasn't until I was an adult that I could appreciate them but then again, that is just me.

My vote for an 18 year old would be New York City and Boston.

You could easily take the train from Virginia to both and both cities are fun for teenagers.

Dukey

I would definitely look into flying into JAC through DEN on United from DUlles (if the latter is convenient).

To the Editor: could someone please explain why the Black Hills have been totally excluded from the list of Fodor's "destinations" on this site?

janiekins

We went to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone 2 years ago. Our boys were 16 and 17 at the time. They had a wonderful time. We rented a condo at Spring Creek Ranch which is in Jackson and we would venture into the Grand Tetons every day. The town of Jackson Hole is a lot of fun for walking around at night.

We then spent 4 nights at Yellowstone at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. It was a great trip. Your family would very much enjoy this!

RobinG

My older son is a rising junior and my younger son is 13. We went to Yellowstone/Grand Teton 2 years ago and Acadia (with a stop in Boston) last year. Yellowstone/Grand Teton are much more dramatic than Acadia.

We flew into Jackson Hole. You walk off the airplane onto the tarmac (no jetway) and the Grand Teton Mountains are right there. Very spectacular way to start a vacation. But the airfare is very high. For my family though, there was no way we were going to drive 5 hours from Salt Lake City (probably the cheapest fare) after a 5 hour flight (from Newark).

Neither of my kids loves a city vacation. Old buildings are not interesting to them at all.

KandKsmom

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies! I just got back from B&N exchanging my Fodor's caribbean guidebook for the Frommer's Yellowstone and Grand Teton edition! Didn't see the Fodor's edition KatieH but maybe I can get that one at a later date. I really think we would enjoy this after looking through the guidebook briefly. GoTravel, thanks for the suggestion of NYC. Thanks to many great suggestions from this forum, we have been there 3 times and loved it more every visit.

I guess I am going to have to determine the approximate cost of airfare out west in order to make up our minds. We could drive up to Maine and JetBlue has some ridiculously low fares to Logan from RIC.

Thanks again and keep the suggestions coming!

daisy07

I think the national parks and Jackson Hole might hold more interest for teenagers than Maine. But the most important thing is to go where your son wants to go...and involve him in the planning! Have fun wherever!

vivi

We took our kids to Jackson Hole/Tetons/Yellowstone. Had a great time. Magnificent place.
We flew into Salt Lake City, rented a car, and drove to Jackson as the airfare into Jackson was exorbitant. Nice, scenic drive.

Another fabulous family destination is the Black Hills of South Dakota.....Mt Rushmore, Badlands, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, Jewel Cave. I recall visiting a sod house there because my daughter was a fan of prairie stories.

KandKsmom

daisy07, I agree. This is his trip and a celebration for all of his hard work. I have been looking online at some of the airfares. It looks as though flying into Salt Lake City would be the cheapest for the four of us. I also looked into reservations in Yellowstone. Boy they do fill up quickly at that time of year in the park. Should I go ahead and make reservations now for the lodging and then try to get the best air later? It doesn't seem that the Northeast option would require as much advance planning.

gail

Book the air. Jackson Hole is generally much more expensive to fly into, but SLC adds another day at each end of trip to drive.

Then try to get in-Park lodging if you want. If not available, keep calling. Meanwhile, book cancellable reservations in 3 places - Jackson Hole area (for GTNP), West Yellowstone and Gardiner - about 2-3 days at each place.

We found out of Park lodging less expensive with more space - we could get one room/suite for the 4 of us and sometyimes found places with included breakfast. Do search here for GTNP and YNP lodging - lots of suggestions.

While in-Park experience is special, we found with teenagers a place closer to "civilization" in terms of TV, food, pool, was a good counter balance to spending 12 hours/day in the Park.

Kay2

Oh course, only you can decide if the trip out west fits your budget, which is a big "if."

I hae been to both and must say that while Acadia is nice, Yellowstone and Grand Teton are wonderful. No offense, they just aren't in the same league/category.

Because of the way the in-park lodging books up, I would suggest you make cancellable reservations while you make up your mind. A search here will provide lots of differing opinions about in-park vs. out-of-park lodging, number of different locations, etc. None are wrong, just some people want a more standardized, air conditioned hotel/motel with swimming pool and lots of restaurants nearby while others want to be in a cabin or hotel or campground right by the geysers with a peanut butter sandwich. Some people mostly drive the park so one location is fine while others want to hike more, wait with a scope to see the wolves, time their trails to see eruptions, etc., which requires staying in two or more locations in the park.

I would suggest you put all the options for flying destinations (SLC, West Yellowstone, Billings, etc.) into one of the fare notification services (such as on Travelocity, Kayak, etc.) so you will get an email if the fare drops. You could set a max price you're willing to pay for the (in)convenience for each one and wait to see what happens. As you said, if it doesn't work out, you can always plan a driving trip to Maine later and get your deposits refunded on the hotels.

Same with rental car. I usually go ahead and make a reservation using whatever discount I have as soon as I have rough dates, then check back occasionally for lower rates. Sometimes they go up and sometimes they go down.

There's a board I used when we went to Yellowstone several years ago -- www.yellowstone-natl-park.com -- that was so helpful with lots of info about the roads, different lodging, etc.

KandKsmom

For anyone who is reading this thread and is contemplating a trip to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, let me first say....get on the fast track if you want lodging in park. Then let me add...a trip to this locale is going to need almost as much planning as WDW and I never thought I would say that! Seriously, I had no idea. I've been reading and phoning for several hours today trying to get a bit of a handle on what we can/could/can't do.

Talked to a very nice lady at Yellowstone. She said all of the rooms were booked in park for the June dates that I had originally planned. She also said that most people just "get a night here or there and then piece it together" as they call later for cancellations. I am a bit nervous about piecing it together really, but she does have 2 nights at Old Faithful Snow Lodge and then 2 at Western Cabins in the Canyon area.
Haven't reserved yet, but probably need to ASAP if this is what we are to do.

About the flights. Another OMG moment was the distance to drive from the SLC airport (where I think we could get the best flights out of DC) to Jackson . 6 hours. Then I didn't realize the Yellowstone park was so big to drive around! Whew, it has been a day of enlightenment!

OK, if this western trip is more than we can afford, (I am not ruling it out yet, but if you tack in the car rental, airfare, gas, river rafting, horseback ride, etc. I need to think about plan B and compare) we are back to the Northeast....Maine, Bar Harbor, ACadia, maybe Cape Cod, etc. Does anyone have any "don't miss this" kind of suggestions for that area of the country? You all have been great. I can't thank you enough!

china_cat

Here's a link to my trip report to Bar Harbor from '05, maybe it will help a little.

http://tinyurl.com/352b6b