planning a driving trip with family to colorado (starting denver) and finishing at rapid city (son is keen to see mt rushmore) after visiting yellowstone . we have 8-9 nights to cover all. never been to any of the above places before. advice on the same is appreciated.

Aditjain, type yellowstone in the search the forums box above, there are hundreds of threads to read. The only advice other than that is I would see Mount Rushmore first, stop at Devils Tower on your way to Yellowstone and spend as many days in Yellowstone as possible. Do you have hotel reservations yet? What month are you traveling? What are your interests?(geysers, animals, hiking?)Yellowstone is HUGE. Have you looked at a map? Do you have any idea of how many hours you will spend in a car?

got you on your previous post have done this

plan several days in Yellowstone

overnite in Termopolis

perhaps Red Lodge Devils tower on your way up.

Sounds like you might be flying out of Rapid City so doing the route in reverse might not be an option. If it's not, then head first to the Grand Tetons from Denver. You might want to spend the night in Lander, Wyoming and if you get into Lander early enough you can check out Sinks Canyon State Park http://sinkscanyonstatepark.org/

From Lander drive in on the Wind River Canyon National Scenic Byway Hwy 26 to the Grand Tetons. You might want to spend a night in this area before moving up to Yellowstone. Try to get 5 days in Yellowstone before heading east to Mt. Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore can be seen in just a couple of hours. You might want to plan two days on the road getting from Yellowstone to Rapid City. If so, then take a side trip up to Devils Tower, Wyoming. Nice for a picnic lunch and a hike around the base of the tower.

Utahtea

If you aren't going to see the Rockies, why not begin in Salt Lake City. Not much time for all that driving.

or get a flight from Denver to Jackson and add one day to your time in Yellowstone

I'd suggest you high-tail it out of Colorado. There's so much to see and do in Yellowstone that you really want to spend as much time there as possible. It will take a full day of driving just to get to Yellowstone from Denver, and another full day to get from Yellowstone to the Black Hills. That's two of your days gone right there.

In a previous post I mentioned the huge road improvement project occurring along U.S. Hwy 287/26 between Dubois and Moran Jct - one of the more direct routes from Denver to Yellowstone.

http://www.gotogwoteetrail.com/project-phases/

Be mindful of this when planning your route.

Yes, I'm not getting the reason for starting in Denver at all. I suspect it is cost of flight. the flight into Jackson will undoubtedly be expensive.
Mt. Rushmore is sort of the outlier here perhaps.
Start in SLC and go north and then east. AND you get the added benefit of seeing the Grand Tetons.

Thanks everyone for valuable advice....

Aditjain, we followed the route suggested by ziggypop. You can read about it in DW's trip report: http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...10-2509.cfm?22

You won't regret staying in the Old Faithful area a night or two. The Park is so large, it is almost impossible to drive all over it from one base. Pick a couple of places and spread your nights over them.