Yellowstone plans: Hotels and lodges booked!! - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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So excited, I got all our hotels and lodges for the trip up and back booked, so now it should feel real. But since this is my dream trip I don't know if I'll believe it until I'm standing there watching Old Faithful erupt. Anyhow here is our plans.
We're Leaving July 8th probably leaving between midnight and 3am depending how late my husband works, so he has time to get enough sleep. This is so we can drive the longest stretch while the kids sleep. First drive is 13 hours from Pa to Newton, IA. Nothing special planned for that evening, maybe look for the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge, there is a 5 mile auto tour through bison and elk enclosures.
July 9th 5 1/2 hour drive to Walnut Grove, MN to see Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum then stay over in Worthington, MN.
July 10th, 11th 7 hour drive to Mt. Rushmore, staying at a Lodge, Edelweiss Mountain Lodge in the Hyatt Treehouse. Going to Circle B Ranch for a cowboy dinner and the kids can help catch the "Biscuit Bandit" and we get entertained with some cowboy songs while we dine. Then the next day explore Mt. Rushmore and get a good night's sleep and head out early.
July 12th, 13th, 14th, its a 6 1/2 hour drive to Absaroka Mountain Lodge in Cody, Wy, but will take us a little longer because we plan to detour up around the Devil's Tower on the way there. Then on the 12th go to Cody and watch a free old west shootout they have every evening on the streets! The 13th and 14th will be spent exploring Yellowstone!!!!!!!!
July 15th, time to head homeward going to stop at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis, Wy and taking a slightly more southern route home and will stay in this awesome B&B I found near Crawford, NE called Homestead High Plains B&B. The whole area looks like an old town from the 1800s and we get to stay in it, plus the owner told me when I called the kids can go down to the stream bed behind the inn and look for fossils.
July 16th &17th, spending 2 nights in Omaha, NE so we can spend an entire day at the Henry Doorly Omaha Zoo.
July 18th, drive about 6 hours to Morris, IL. Nothing special planned there, just decided to break up the long drive home.
July 19th drive another 4 or 5 hours to Elyria, Oh, the hotel we found is walking distance from a large cinema and there is a Golden Corral across the highway so it will be dinner and a movie for our final night away from home. Then it's only about 3 1/2 hours from home the next day.
This is all assuming that I don't get out west and refuse to come back home.......lol.
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Crazy Momma to Raven 15, Slade 13, Denissa, Skye and Ridge 11 (yes they are triplets)from Pennsylvania who just can't stay away from Disney.
Sounds like a wonderful trip! You are going to love it. We were at Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons a few years ago. It is beautiful country. We went the end of May and the day we were at Yellowstone, it snowed so hard we could barely see Old Faithful!!
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We went the end of May and the day we were at Yellowstone, it snowed so hard we could barely see Old Faithful!!
Same thing happened to me! We were there on June 6th (2010? or 2009). You could hear Old Faithful going off, but all you could see was complete white. Weird snow, too. It was like the little white beads in bean bag chairs. Neat, though!
We ended up haivng to leave the park because of the weather; we were only there for the day anyway. I hope to make it back again soon so I can actually see some stuff.
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Yellowstone plans: Hotels and lodges booked!!
Crazy Momma to Raven 15, Slade 13, Denissa, Skye and Ridge 11 (yes they are triplets)from Pennsylvania who just can't stay away from Disney.
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JuliB
PassPorter Guide Author
Yellowstone is absolutely beautiful - you'll love it out there.
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