Yellowstone or Grand Canyon?

[TheVBs]

Thanks for all the input! We still haven't solidified any plans, but we have an idea of what we're doing now. I hope! My sister and brother in law will be moving to Montana in a couple of months (we're in Michigan). We knew this was in the works, but didn't anticipate it happening until next fall. So! We're hoping to drive out to see them mid-July in combination with a visit to Yellowstone (they're a couple hundred miles from the park). This means a shorter visit to Yellowstone than we'd hoped, but as everyone has pointed out, this isn't a visit once kind of place. Down the road we'll plan a longer stay and do it far enough in advance to book the Old Faithful Inn (that's the most desirable one, right?). On this trip we're hoping to get in some fun stops on the way out or on the way back. Any suggestions would be welcome!

[Altair]

The spring edition of "Yellowstone Today" is now available. Just do a search.

[CPT Trips]

snip

Down the road we'll plan a longer stay and do it far enough in advance to book the Old Faithful Inn (that's the most desirable one, right?). On this trip we're hoping to get in some fun stops on the way out or on the way back. Any suggestions would be welcome!

Yellowstone is huge! My recommentation would be to stay a couple of nights each in park lodging in the Old Faithful area, Mammoth, Canyon and/or Lake Village. It's a lot of schlepping stuff to and from the car, but in the long run, you'll spend less time driving and more time out and about the landscape.

[TheVBs]

Looks like it's Yellowstone, but for 2013! We're going to give planning this a shot. Now, after skimming through the other Yellowstone threads, here's what I'm thinking. Let me know if you see a flaw. On May 1st I'm going to try booking a room at the Old Faithful Inn for 3 nights in mid-June. Hoping to avoid the bigger crowds and the snow. And that's as far as I've gotten! I'm going to get a travel book and see what I can plan from there. After a few days in Yellowstone, which I know is just going to scratch the surface, we'll be driving up to Montana to visit my sister and brother in law.

This was kind of a difficult decision because 2013 would have been a WDW year for us. We usually go every other year and our last trip was Sept./Oct. 2011. We had a blast and really packed a lot in! We thought it would work out to go for Yellowstone next year and WDW in 2014.

[NJGIRL]

I would try to spend maybe at least four days in Yellowstone, if possible.

One thing I just realized, a major flaw in my plan, I should have booked a few days at the Old Faithful Inn and a few days at the hotel In the Lamar Valley (or another area in Yellowstone). The wildlife tour that we want to take is a 3 hour ride from our hotel and the tour is 7 in the morning! We would have to leave the hotel at 4 in the morning in order to take the tour!!!!! This is definitely a challenging vacation to plan!

[NJGIRL]

This was kind of a difficult decision because 2013 would have been a WDW year for us. We usually go every other year and our last trip was Sept./Oct. 2011. We had a blast and really packed a lot in! We thought it would work out to go for Yellowstone next year and WDW in 2014.

This is exactly what happened to us. I waited a year out to call for Yellowstone reservations and it was too late. You MUST call on May 1st as soon as the phone lines open up if you want to make sure you get exactly what you want as far as dates and lodging. Because this messed up our plans we just went to Disney two years in a row!

[Altair]

One thing I just realized, a major flaw in my plan, I should have booked a few days at the Old Faithful Inn and a few days at the hotel In the Lamar Valley (or another area in Yellowstone). The wildlife tour that we want to take is a 3 hour ride from our hotel and the tour is 7 in the morning! We would have to leave the hotel at 4 in the morning in order to take the tour!!!!! This is definitely a challenging vacation to plan!

If you plan on spending time in Lamar Valley check out lodging in Cooke City, MT. There should be rooms available there.
The shortest route form Old Faithful Inn to Larmar is from the Inn to Madison to Norris to Canyon to Tower to Lamar Valley, it's 90 miles.
The Summer issue of "Yellowstone Today" is now available.
We just changed from Utah to Yellowstone. We will be there May 28-31. This is the second earliest we've gone, not counting the winter trip.

[TheVBs]

Just checked their site and booking online is only through May 2013, but it won't actually allow me to check dates for that month. I tried calling and it was busy. We're shooting for sometime in late July, early Aug. and we're flexible. We would prefer June, but aren't able to make that work. I'm going to keep trying to call, but unfortunately I have an appt. today, so I'll be in and out. Wish me luck!

[NJGIRL]

Just checked their site and booking online is only through May 2013, but it won't actually allow me to check dates for that month. I tried calling and it was busy. We're shooting for sometime in late July, early Aug. and we're flexible. We would prefer June, but aren't able to make that work. I'm going to keep trying to call, but unfortunately I have an appt. today, so I'll be in and out. Wish me luck!

Did you get anything?

[TheVBs]

Yes, I did!! Thanks to all the good advice here. If I hadn't read your advice I would have waited too long. We ended up deciding to book near the end of August. Originally wanted June, but too much going on then unfortunately. Got the Old Faithful Inn, made sure we had a room with a bathroom - and even booked a dinner reservation, over a year out! Crazy huh? They have WDW beat in that regard. So, now if this falls through, at least it won't be because I dragged my feet and wasn't prepared. Can anyone recommend a good Yellowstone travel planner?

[c&d]

Travel Planner: Park Rangers. Seriously they are absolutely phenomenal. Stop off at any ranger place and they will tell you all about the park. We were there in August and asked about the animals and to quote her "Hayden Valley is lousy with buffalo." Yep it was mating season they were all there. They also know where the animals are, she pointed us to the bull elk saying he's been hanging here for about a week, so if you go up this road you should see him and we did. When I was there in September of this year there was no problem spotting bears. The bear population has definitely come back at Yellowstone.

I also had 2 books I purchased, I'll check when I get home and send you the titles.

[NJGIRL]

If you are looking for books to read before hand I have two. Fodor's Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks and Lonely Planet's Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks. Both are full of good information. Start reading now if possible. There is alot to plan because the parks are so big.

[Altair]

"Yellowstone Treasures" by Janet Chapple

Do a search for Yellowstone Association Trip Planners, too. They also have lots of good books and maps.

You can checkout three of our Yellowstone trips on my homepage.

[TheVBs]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm going to see if I can get these through our local library. When I booked the room, she told me that they have a deluxe planning kit available on their website for, I think, $78. Has anyone bought this? Was it worth it?

[MNNHFLTX]

"Yellowstone Treasures" by Janet Chapple

Ditto the suggestion on this book. It has very detailed information on every part of Yellowstone, with 37 page-by-page maps of each section of the park roads. You can see waterways, falls, geographic highlights, hiking trails, pullouts, restrooms, picnic areas, visitor centers, elevation and distances between certain points, to name a few features. It also has pictures and graphics of animals and plants that you might see, as well as the history of the park. It's just an amazing book.

[c&d]

Sorry it took so long, couldn't remember where i put the books. Here are the books we used:

Best east day hikes, Yellowstone, by Bill Schneider

A Ranger's guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes, by Anderson and Anderson. We bought this i the park and used it a lot.

A word of advice, although you may plan to do certain things we found that sometimes we never quite got to them. You'd be driving along and there were wolves spotted so you would pull over and watch for about 45 mins. Same with bears.

My favorite quote in Yellowstone during an animal jam, "This isn't Disneyworld, stay back from the animals.

[TheVBs]

Got the previously suggested ones from the library. Made sure I got the one by Janet Chapple.

C&D, I'll add those to our library hold list too, thank you!

I'm going to look through all of them, then I'll ask for my favorites for xmas.

Love the quote about Disney World and the animals! We're trying to look at this from the same planning perspective as a WDW trip. There will be lots we want to do, but we won't get to it all and we have to be prepared to be flexible.