It’s time to discuss the last few days of the epic road trip, during which we covered five national parks, a few state parks and several states 🙂 The last few days were spent in Wyoming, exploring the two famous National parks: Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone NP.
Coming from Colorado, our first stop was The Hostel in Teton Village near Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. This was the most basic accommodation of the entire trip, in a hostel, but luckily having a room for ourselves without having strangers in the room with us. Interestingly enough, the other hotels in the Teton Village were much nicer (and much more expensive), which my kids did notice while walking around. However, I explained that not all nights could be as luxurious as Hyatt hotels we stayed in using points; besides, since we used to do camping and stay at log cabins during our previous road trips, we can brave two nights at The Hostel 🙂
Using the Hostel as our base for two nights, we explored Grand Teton NP by spending a whole day there and then driving through the park on the way to Yellowstone NP after we checked out of the Hostel.
I have to say, I was somewhat disappointed in Grand Teton NP. I expected something extraordinary, unique, like most of the national parks we visited. Yet what we saw was a mountain range (a pretty one at that) and a few lakes/rivers. Maybe we needed to spend a few days to explore the park rather than spending only one day hiking there, but being spoiled by the beauty surrounding us in the Pacific Northwest, I guess I wasn’t able to appreciate Grand Teton park to the fullest.
During our full day there, we hiked along Jenny’s lake shore, finally reaching the String lake, which is more inviting to swim and waddle in the water. However, the park was overwhelmed by the tourists, even during a work day, and Jenny’s lake turned out to be a famous destination, so there were many people and cars in the area, and parking was a challenge. The hike was crowded initially, but there were fewer people on the trail the further we went from Jenny’s lake. Unfortunately, the crew (my family) wasn’t predisposed to swimming in Spring Lake, so after spending only a few min at that lake, we turned back and started on our return journey to the car. I wonder if being on the road for more than 10 days already had something to do with that lack of interest?
Once we returned to the Hostel, we spent time cooking dinner and playing our board games. However, this was also the night when we fully realized how thin the walls and the ceilings were in that place. We had neighbors staying above us, who continued doing something very loudly till 1 a.m., making it impossible to fall asleep, only to resume doing so at 5 a.m. in the morning. They probably were packing for some trip early in the morning, but I couldn’t understand why it was taking soooo long!! Learn to pack fast, people!!
After that second night at the Hostel we checked out and started driving north towards Yellowstone NP. On the way we hit the iconic Mormon row so that we could see (and make) the famous shots ourselves.
And then we finally left Grand Teton NP and entered Yellowstone NP! Now this park is my favorite of them all! This was my fourth visit, and every time and I am very excited about the beauty I am about to see. The views are surreal, the geysers are always fascinating, the area of walking on the world’s largest caldera is thrilling! I will never tire of that park and will gladly bring any of my visitors to see its surreal beauty.
This time we had only one day (not even that) in the park, so we entered from South entrance and left through West entrance (for our overnight stay in West Yellowstone), and so we only spent some time near Yellowstone Lake, explored an area near Old Faithful (my favorite hike of the entire park!) and admired the Grand Prismatic pool and its neighbors. We also had been graced by a thunderstorm, which added drama to some of our pictures 🙂
After a night in West Yellowstone (in Days Inn by Wyndham, clean but nothing special), we took off towards Idaho, where we spent a couple of nights in Coeur d’Alene (Red Door Barn through AirBnB) so that we could spend a day in Silverwood Adventures park, which combines both rides and a waterpark. That was a perfect ending to our road trip, relaxing in the park, playing board games in the evening and winding down from all the activities we have taken part in.
All in all, it was a really good road trip! We’ve visited some old favorites, explored many new areas and states, had a nice time as a family and got moving in those two weeks 🙂
What are your favorite places to visit? What should we plan for next?