ADVICE NEEDED. WYOMING, ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA. OTHER?

Wife and I are looking into possibly taking a trip out West in September. Fly out, rent a car, drive from one park to the next then fly back. She can only take off work 1 week so that limits things somewhat. Itinerary would probably be.

• One day flying and arrive at 1st destination.
• 1-2 days at 1st destination.
• 1-2 days drive to next destination depending on 2nd destination.
• 1-2 days at 2nd destination.
  
• 1 day travel home.

What we really want to see is the great West scenery, mountains and wild animals.
We have narrowed it down for now to 3 choices.

• Yellowstone National Park and Yosemite National Park
• Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park
  
• Yosemite National Park and Grand Canyon National Park

My questions are. Any suggestion on these from you guys/gals? Have any of you ever done these trips. Hows the drive? Any suggestion on places to stay?
Theses are 500-800 miles apart. Would any of you have a 2nd destination in mind that might meet our criteria that would be a closer drive?
Any other suggestions? Advice?

 

Bump
Any thoughts on the above?

We are also considering just doing Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Park. Fly into Jackson Hole and use it as home base to drive between the two parks.
Thoughts on this?

 

I would hit up Yosemite and the Grand Canyon!!!! I never been to YellowStone before.

 

If you are looking for wildlife, Yellowstone is the place!

 

Yosemite and Grand Canyon are my choices. Been to both and they are great!

 

I’d go with Grand Canyon/Yosemite.

 

I'd do the north rim of the Grand Canyon if I were you. Summer time at the south rim is CROWDED. You'll have to stand in line just to get a look.

 

That’s a good idea. And it would cooler on the north rim. Could fly into Salt Lake. North Rim, Bryce Canyon, Arches National Park

 

I'd do Zion instead of Grand Canyon. Both are awesome but Zion is more diverse. It will be more crowded than the North Rim so consider that.

 

Also, this would be a smart option. There's more than enough to do up there and you won't spend so much vacation time in the car driving way down south.

 

That's two votes for the North Rim (if you are gonna do the Grand Canyon).

 

Just remember some parts of the North Rim requires lifted suspension, quality AT tires, and some armor which makes it more of a enjoyable trip on the truck you built it for. Next summer Zion, Bryce Canyon, and North Rim is on my destination again

 

Again? why not now???

 

I would recommend Yellowstone for sure. Wife and I went there last August and it was amazing. Yellowstone has the western views and tons of wildlife. It’s probably too late, but we stayed in a small cabin in the park and it was ideal. We would get up early and hit the more popular site before the crowds staying outside the park got there and spend the middle of the day hitting less popular sites. We would have an early dinner and go back out to Hayden valley to watch the wildlife and by then everyone staying outside the park had left. It’s about a 2 hour drive to the park from Jackson.
We actually flew into Denver and drove up through Wyoming stopping in the bighorns for a night. We also did a fossil dig in Thermopolis, WY, kinda my big kid dream.

 

All these are great ideas! And God willing and the creek don't rise. We're going to do them all in the next few years.
But for this year we've settles on Yellowstone in September.
Fly into Jackson Hole and then drive up to West Yellowstone. Use West Yellowstone as base camp as it appears to be the closest town and about midway
between all the major attractions in the park. Take about 3 days then drive back down to Jackson Hole.
Spend a couple nights there and take in the Grand Tetons National Park.

 

I've been to most of the National Parks in the West and Yellowstone and Grand Teton are good choices. Utah National Parks are great as well. The only thing I do suggest to anyone visiting more than one park is getting the (America the beautiful $80, free for military or $20 for seniors) annual pass for all the parks otherwise each park cost $35.

 

I wonder if that free for Military includes Veterans?

 

Unfortunately it's only for current.

 

Where in this world do you go to get away just to find yourself stuck in a traffic jam?

Yellowstone and Yosemite National parks!! I can’t speak for Grand Canyon because it has been years since I have been there.

 

I'm afraid of that too. Hopefully 2 weeks after Labor Day the crowds will have thinned some. Much later in the year we might have to start dealing with snow.

Which I wouldn't mind if I had my trusty Taco!