Chicago to Yellowstone in May 2018
 

Hi we are hoping to fly into Chicago beginning of May, spend 3 days there (any suggestions what we shouldn’t miss ) then hire a vehicle and commence a road trip to Yellowstone. We will take maybe a week to travel there, stopping randomly (suggestions? Re points of interest en-route?) Aiming to get to Yellowstone 2nd week in May. Where should we stay ? Will a week be long enough? Both enjoy walking and the outdoors. Any advice will be greatly appreciated! This will be our 3rd road trip to USA, previously travelled down the West and East coast, enjoying American hospitality. Hoping someone can help us plan this our next adventure, The Blooms, England.

May is extremely early for Yellowstone. Are you prepared for possibly very cold weather including snow? Wildflowers wont be out yet but you will see lots of new babies.

Ck the web site for opening dates of roads and lodges. Keep trying for lodging inside the park. You will have to hope for a cancellation at this point. 4 or 5 days Yellowstone and 2 or 3 for Grand Teton depending on what activities you do.

Web site. Www.nps.gov

There is a lot of rather boring country between Chicago and Denver to drive through. Think about taking the California Zephyr from Chicago to either Denver or maybe Salt Lake City and then renting (hiring) a car to go to Yellowstone and maybe some other great scenery in the Rockies.
I like the fact that you are moving toward your destination while you are sleeping instead of being in a motel in Nebraska.
I'm guessing that you don't have a drop fee to worry about, but where were you planning on leaving the rental car and flying home from?

We visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton in the latter part of May, 2015. The temperatures were variable, some very cool days but not uncomfortable. A light down jacket with a waterproof covering should suffice. We had rain most of the time there. There was no sign of recent snow when we arrived about May 20. It is busy then, but nowhere near as busy as later in the year, so the lack of crowds was a big plus and the roads only got jammed up for animals. Some of the restaurants in the parks were yet to open, but enough were so we were not at a loss for meals. The only road backups were for bison or people parking on the roads for bear sightings. Even then, the better lodges in the park were booked so we stayed in West Yellowstone, about a 2 minute drive to the park entrance at the 3 Bear Lodge, a place I can highly recommend both for quality and price - it was much less expensive than lodging in the park and IMO the location was not in the least inconvenient. It has a very good restaurant as well and breakfasts in the restaurant come with the room. If you are interested in staying there and the main building is full, the attached motel rooms, although not looking like much on the outside are large and well furnished - we stayed in one of those. If you want to also include Grand Teton NP, it is not a long way and The Alpenhouse near the south entrance is a fine choice. Dinner at their Alpenrose restaurant was the best of the trip

Have a great time.

You are new to the board. Tom is our resident "take the train to everything" responder. There is lot of very interesting (of course, depending on your interests) things between Chicago and Yellowstone. It is not boring country unless you are a bore. I don't have the time now to lay out something things but will be back.

You really should plan on staying in the park. It is too time consumer to drive in and out of the park each day. So get on the web site daily until something opens.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/hours.htm

That is the official list of opening dates for various facilities.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkroads.htm

Scroll to the bottom on that page to find projected opening dates for roads.

You said you plan to take about a week to drive to Yellowstone from Chicago. I'm semi-confused by your "Is a week long enough" question. Do you mean the drive to Yellowstone or the amount of time you spend in Yellowstone? Or both?

A week to get there from Chicago is fine. Plenty of options for stops along the way. I-90 will get you most of the way - if you want another big city you can detour to Minneapolis/St. Paul. Or you can head west to Dubuque and drive up along the Mississippi River for awhile. The area in SW Wisconsin and SE Minnesota is beautiful if you get off the bigger highways and visit some of the smaller towns. SPAM museum is right on that route if you like SPAM. :-)

Pipestone National Monument is cool, Jeffers Petroglyphs is cooler and both are along the route. If you are a fan of Little House on the Prairie there are some tourist sites along the way as well.

Sioux Falls is the 'big' city on the eastern side of South Dakota. From there to the Black Hills is not super exciting other than Badlands National Park, which is worthy of a visit for a few hours to an overnight. Black Hills could consume 1-3 days of your time. Devil's Tower is between Black Hills and Yellowstone and worth the detour.

Definitely try to find lodging inside the park, if they are booked up now just keep checking until you find availability. Book something near the park now and cancel once you find something inside the park.

I really do not understand the oft mentioned comment that staying outside the park is too time consuming. From our room in West Yellowstone to the park entrance was at the most 2-3 minutes. My park pass got us waved through without waiting in any line to pay. From the entrance to the main loop, another 5 or so of driving IN the park. There will be little traffic in May.

Stay in the park because you're right there instead of driving an hour or more to get to your destination. It's at least an hour from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful. Why drive that in the morning when you can wake up and be there? And that's one of the closer stops from West Yellowstone, some parts are several hours away.

Plus, every park is more peaceful and quiet in the evening and morning when the crowds have disappeared.

<It's at least an hour from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful. >

No, it is not. I have been there and drove it more than once. To Old Faithful from W Yellowstone is under a half hour, closer to 20 minutes the time of year the OP plans to go. Further, if one stays for example at the lodge near OF, there is then a distance to the upper loop with all that has to offer. Entering the park from W. Yellowstone puts you about park central at Madison Junction where you will find Bison herds and just south of Norris which is where the 2 loops intersect so you can easily take the north loop toward Mammoth Hot Springs or south loop or go across the park to the other side for the canyon, lake and such. W. Yellowstone is convenient to reach all areas of the park.

<Old Faithful from W Yellowstone is under a half hour, closer to 20 minutes the time of year the OP plans to go.>

Uh...no. West entrance to Old Faithful is 30 miles. Unless you're speeding like a bat out of h*ll, no way you're making it from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful in under 30 minutes. Closer to 20 minutes....impossible. That's not even factoring in a couple minutes to drive from the hotel to the west entrance and get into the park. OP needs to plan on 45 minutes minimum and quite possibly an hour if there are people stopped for animals.

<From the entrance to the main loop, another 5 or so of driving IN the park.> This is a 14 mile drive. You are severely underestimating distances and travel time here. I'll direct you to the park maps so you can check distances if you don't believe me. I realize there won't be quite as much traffic in early May, but your travel times are not accurate.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/maps.htm
https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvis...TearOffMap.pdf

Also, no one said to stay at Old Faithful for the entire week. General recommendation is to pick 2 different locations inside the park and explore those areas rather than trying to drive from one location to everywhere in the park.