Thoughts on Yellowstone

We found that the cheapest plane fares from San Francisco were on Delta Air Lines through Salt Lake City and landing in Idaho Falls. It is a little more than a 2 hour drive to the west entrance of Yellowstone from Idaho Falls, but the extra plane fare we saved was worth it. It is also relatively easy to return to Idaho Falls from the south entrance of the Grand Tetons.

We stayed in cabins at Lake Village inside Yellowstone. The ideal place to stay would be at the Upper Geyser Basin, near Old Faithful, but we could not get reservations there. Staying in the park is a good idea because it is BIG - it takes a while to drive to various sites in Yellowstone, the speed limit is 40 mph (I think) and you always must be careful on curves because you never know when a buffalo will be standing in the middle of the road. There will also be traffic jams where everyone parks to take pictures of a bear, elk, buffalo or eagle. However, if you can't get reservations at Upper Geyser Basin, Canyon, Lake or Fishing Bridge, then staying in West Yellowstone is probably a better idea than staying in Mammoth or Tower, those two sites are relatively far from most of the park highlights. I especially advise against staying in Gardiner or Cooke City - too far!

We went the last week of August, right before Labor Day. Our strategy is: families with children will not want to spend their very last week of summer on the road. Plus, some schools have already started by the last week in August. Yellowstone gets 3 million visitors a year, so if you go during the peak season, June - August, you will encounter crowds. Our strategy of visiting Yellowstone in the last week of August worked out perfectly - we had warm beautiful days, and no trouble with parking or lines. We were able to see all the sites. It was an ideal trip.

I don't know if it is a Yellowstone policy, but all the ice cream shops in the park serve huge amounts of ice cream - even for the "single scoop". Wow! We had ice cream every day. Try the Moose Tracks.

Bring a lot of film. I used up 13 rolls of film in just 5 days, and I am not a gung ho photographer. Unfortunately, I had 400 speed film in the camera (what a mistake!) so the colors of the pools and the Grand Canyon don't appear here as dramatic as they are in real life. Please remember that airports now x-ray bags, even baggage that you check, so carry your film through the airline security check.