4sharie

I’m not sure if I’m driving myself insane, or actually loving the thrill of the hunt!! Planning our 17 day vacation has been daunting, to say the least, and it’s consuming me, and my time!

Yellowstone lodging (Old Faithful, specifically) was, of course, all booked but I’ve called (only 3 times actually) and stalked the website. First got an opening at a Lake Lodge cabin, but decided pretty quickly to cancel that. Then got a handicapped room at the Old Faithful Lodge, frontier cabin a couple weeks ago. And JUST NOW found the Old Faithful Inn geyser-side room available on the website. It’s $237 and the decision was pretty easy to say no, but I was thrilled that I had succeeded in getting it IF we had wanted it! haha

I’m hopeful that our handicapped Frontier cabin at OF Lodge will be a bit bigger than the standard ones, and quite a bargain at $113. I’ve actually been wanting a Western Cabin at the OF Snow Lodge, but I think the handicapped Frontier Cabin at the Lodge is the better value. (any opinions on this??)

AND last week I scored a canyon-side room at the Thunderbird Lodge at the Grand Canyon. So excited about that.

I’m still whittling away at the mini-van price. It started at $818 with NO movement for a month, and as of tonight I have it down to $585 (outrageous taxes/fees included). ($169/wk). I'm hoping to get it down to $150/wk.

THE THRILL OF THE HUNT!!! Anyone else enjoy it?

kansasmom

Yes! Planning a trip is wonderful, and I would guess that many of us on this forum enjoy it. I know I do. Sounds like you've done well with the lodging so far. Enjoy!

tomfuller

Which city are you shopping for the minivan? If you wanted to go to GC first, you might consider Las Vegas instead of Salt Lake City. Do you shop Hotwire, Priceline or Kayak for rentals?

4sharie

We're flying into Denver, so shopping for minivans from the airport. I've tried all the sites you mentioned, but keep coming back to Expedia for the most accurate and most user friendly. It will have the lowest prices before any of the other sites, and after I see movement in the price, I'll go to Thrify or Alamo, etc and wait about 5 minutes for their site to reflect Expedia's price and book directly through the rental.

StantonHyde

You will be very happy with the cabin vs. the hotel rooms. More space, better bathrooms etc. I would even try for a cabin at Canyon actually.

VRTravel

Yay that's great! I love when things work out and everything falls into place. I'm putting some last minute things together for my trip this weekend and I just am so excited!

tomfuller

I have heard it reported that Denver has higher rental prices than SLC or LV. If you wanted to visit more NP's than just Yellowstone and Grand Canyon consider SLC. You may save more on the rental than any extra airfare.
The car rental garage is a short walk from baggage claim at SLC.
It takes no longer to drive from SLC to Yellowstone than it does from Denver and SLC is much closer to the Grand Canyon.

4sharie

hi tom, we considered flying into Vegas or SLC but Denver worked out best for our Delta Award Tickets, and it works out well for our giant loop. We'll be ending our trip in Breckenridge, CO and the Rocky Mt NP.

The 2 biggies are Yellowstone and GC, as far as in-park lodging, so that's why I just mentioned those.

Thanks for your input! You guys are great... always thinking of better ways to do things.

spirobulldog

To me, Old Faithful Inn is the must stay places while in Yellowstone. We stayed somewhere different each day. We really like Roosevelt Cabins, Lake Hotel, and Colter Village cabins too. The CV cabin was huge.

We fly into DEN often as it usually is the best option. I have yet to get a decent deal there on car rentals.

Another big negative about DEN is the weather(even in the summer).

Where else are you going? Sounds like a great trip. Hope you buy a National Park Pass.

4sharie

hi spiro, here are our plans (with park pass!):

arrive Denver 10:20 am, pick up minivan...
Cody, WY
West Yellowstone
Old Faithful cabin (or maybe 2 nights in West Yellowstone)
Grand Tetons (Signal Mtn Lodge)
Bryce Canyon (house in Panguitch 2 nights)
Grand Canyon (Thunderbird Lodge and Cameron Trading Post)
quick swing by Four Corners
Arches/Canyonlands
Breckenridge (resort with day trips to RMNP, Pikes Peak/Air Force Academy)
one last swing through RMNP, Estes Park and down to Denver for next morning flight home (boooo!)

4sharie

PS This is Sept 7-24, after crowds have died down (a bit!)

spirobulldog

I wouldn't do day trips to Pikes Peak and RMNP from Breckenridge.

Thats a really ambitious schedule.

4sharie

I know, right? Yes, ambitious, but we are so excited about showing the kids so much. We are seasoned travelers and know what we're capable of while still enjoying the sites immensely.

I guess you wouldn't approve of a day trip to Great Sand Dunes from Breckenridge? We originally planned on it, but not sure the payoff would be worth that trip. (but maybe! Depends on how much our son begs!)

We do tend to overextend ourselves in the initial planning stage, then work our way down to reality. We've already nixed Mt Rushmore, Mesa Verde, and Great Sand Dunes.

spirobulldog

I just don't like to spend that much time in a car. I could easily spend a week to ten days in Yellowstone and Tetons.

I've been to Moab 3 times in the past 5 years. Staying there each visit 4-5 days. I plan on going back again in the next year.

Most people only spend 4 hours at National Parks. That just isn't me. I try to go to 2 or 3 each parks year and almost always spend 3 or 4 days in each. The more time I spend, usually the more I enjoy and like that particular park.

Everyone is different. You'll have a great time.

4sharie

I can relate. The more time you spend somewhere, the more intimate you can get with a place and fall in love. (guess that works for people too!) We've experienced that with Colonial Williamsburg. (a day's drive and cheap resort accommodations, so we go often) The first time or two we thought "eh, it's interesting." But the more we got to know it, the more we LOVE it. The kids beg to go.

Where are you from? Are you close to Moab? I'm from the Cincinnati area and getting out West as a family isn't easy, so when we do go, we try to show the kids a little bit of everything.

spirobulldog

Oklahoma(5 minutes from Fort Smith, Arkansas). Always fly. Driving to Moab would be about a 20 hour drive. Time is more the issue for me than money(of course, we watch what we spend though). I can only be gone for 4 or 5 days at a time, so all my trips are long weekened trips. The past 6 or 7 years almost all of our trips have been to National Parks. 90% of them have been West.

Floridafran

I understand your situation. Before we retired, we had a max of 14 days to get from Florida to wherever we wanted to go - usually out to the West and Southwest - cram in as much as we could and get back home. We made several trips that others considered too much, too far, with too little time in each place. For us, at that time in our lives, it worked. Was it ideal, no, but it gave us a chance to get "a taste" of places and we've been gradually going back to the ones that we enjoyed the most on those first whirlwind trips.

Only you know your family's tolerance for long driving days, frequent changes in lodging, etc. And, if you have reservations that you can cancel without penalty, you have the option of skipping something if the pace gets too hectic.

Have a safe, fun trip. You're going to some of our favorite, beautiful places.

tomfuller

Avis can rent you a minivan (fees included) for $394 a week in Grand Junction Colorado. If you take the California Zephyr out of Denver at 8AM you can see the beautiful Glenwood Canyon and arrive in Grand Junction about 4PM. The one way fare for 2 is $190 (15% discount 62+ or 10% for AAA) Grand Junction is about 8 hours and 480 miles from Jackson WY.

volcanogirl

Bookmarking.

4sharie

FloridaFan, I almost said to spiro (typed it, but then deleted it as my post was getting too wordy!) that in 6ish years when we are empty-nesters, I'm sure our style of vacationing will change. We will thoroughly enjoy digging our heels into a place and finally be able to delve into photography too. Thanks for your input. (I'm a Florida fan too )

tom, that sounds like an interesting way to get around! We are going to try to stop at Glenwood Canyon to hike Hanging Lake on our way from Moab to Breckenridge. Will just have to see how our time goes.