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America's National Parks
June 14 - 23, 2011
DAY 1 Arrive in Salt Lake City
Welcome to Salt Lake City! At 6 pm, meet your traveling companions for a welcome drink. Your Tour Director will prepare you for your upcoming adventure.
DAY 2 Salt Lake City–Jackson
Morning sightseeing focuses on the city’s many historic monuments, including Temple Square. Continue northward into Wyoming and reach the all-Western town of Jackson. This evening, enjoy the BAR T-5 CHUCK WAGON COOKOUT and Wild West show. (Breakfast, Dinner)
DAY 3 Jackson
Depart for the alpine village of Teton, where you will board an AERIAL TRAM that will carry you to the summit of 10,450-foot Rendezvous Peak. From the top, enjoy a spectacular panorama of the Teton Range and the Jackson Hole Valley. The afternoon and evening are at leisure to stroll along the downtown boardwalks and enjoy a drink in one of the swing-door saloons. (Breakfast)
Note: Jackson Hole Aerial Tram is always subject to favorable weather conditions.
DAY 4 Jackson–Grand Teton National Park–
Yellowstone National Park
Morning is free in Jackson to explore the array of shops and museums in the historic downtown area. Then, head north through GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK and on to YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, established in 1872 as the world’s first national park. Admire famous Old Faithful Geyser that has been erupting consistently for more than 100 years. (Breakfast, Dinner)
Note: The routing and areas visited within Yellowstone are subject to favorable weather and/or road conditions. When conditions are unfavorable, the routing may be adjusted accordingly.
The “War” for the Grand Teton
In the winter of 1927, residents in the cattle town of Jackson, Wyoming began to learn of a mysterious business concern known as the Snake River Land Company that was rapidly buying up property around their picturesque valley, which is overshadowed by the dramatic Teton Mountains. Rumors soon began to spread that a plot was afoot to elbow ranchers out of the area and close off key cattle drives. Finally, in 1930, it was revealed that the company was actually a front for America’s richest man, the oil magnate John D. Rockefeller Jr. Rockefeller had visited the area three years earlier and had been stunned by its alpine beauty; a visionary philanthropist, he decided to purchase the whole valley floor from private owners and donate it to the United States Government for an extension of the Grand Teton National Park, which was then only a tiny enclave covering the remotest mountain zones. But tempers flared against Rockefeller’s secrecy; many suspected that the magnate might use the land for his own private ends.
Yellowstone: Into the Wild Victorian Yonder
Today, Yellowstone is virtually a country unto itself. It has its own weekly newspaper, a vast staff, a $30 million annual budget, army-sized campgrounds and visitor complexes as busy as miniature cities. But even with this infrastructure, much of the landscape has not changed since the Victorian era, when only 300 or so lucky travelers would arrive on horseback each summer, following rough animal trails. The first hotel arrived in 1871, McCartney’s Cabin at Mammoth Hot Springs, a makeshift log structure where guests had to sleep on the floor. Most preferred instead to camp in the forest, catching fish for their dinner in the pristine lakes.
DAY 5 Yellowstone. Mammoth Hot Springs & Yellowstone Lake
A scenic drive with a stop at Fountain Paint Pots. At Mammoth Hot Springs, take a short trail walk through steaming limestone terraces. Rejoin Grand Loop Road and enjoy several photo stops with the best perhaps at Yellowstone River’s Lower Falls, almost twice as high as Niagara. (Breakfast, Dinner)
DAY 6 Yellowstone–Cody
Near the east exit of the park, watch for wildlife. Leave Yellowstone for Cody, named after dashing Buffalo Bill Cody. This afternoon, visit the BUFFALO BILL HISTORICAL CENTER, a fine museum of weapons and Western art. Later, enjoy free time or an optional float trip on the Shoshone River. (Breakfast, Dinner)
DAY 7 Cody–Little Bighorn Battlefield–Sheridan
Enjoy this morning’s scenic drive through the Bighorn Mountains on your way to the LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD. Tour the battlegrounds where Custer was defeated by approximately 7,000 Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors, and visit the museum. Then, head to the cattle town of Sheridan. (Breakfast)
Little Bighorn Revisited
"You might think that not much changes on a 19th century battlefield. But at Little Bighorn in Montana, the scene of the most famous fight in the West, the landscape is always in flux. It was on this lonely expanse that Lt. General George Armstrong Custer and 262 men of the United States Seventh Cavalry were wiped out by a combined force of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne on June 25th, 1876. For generations, the physical focus for visitors to the site has been the poignant monument at Last Stand Hill. (All around, gravestones of Custer’s men lie in the grass; they were buried where they fell by United States soldiers three days after the battle, illustrating just how Custer’s defense disintegrated before the Indian onslaught)."
DAY 8 Sheridan–Deadwood–Rapid City
Journey through the rolling hills of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin and BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST, arriving in South Dakota. On a guided tour of DEADWOOD, once a wild gold-mining town, hear stories of legendary Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Afterward, visit TATANKA to learn about “The Story of the Bison,” and experience the richness of the Lakota people, a Plains Indian buffalo culture. Continue to Rapid City. (Breakfast)
DAY 9 Rapid City. Visit to Mount Rushmore
The day begins with a visit to CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL, built in honor of the fearless Sioux Indian chief. Afterward, explore MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL, which features the monumental likenesses of four U.S. presidents—Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. Maybe stroll along the Presidential Trail for more intimate views or visit the Information Center. Tonight, your Tour Director hosts a special farewell dinner. (Breakfast, Dinner)
Mount Rushmore: The Secret Chamber
The four presidential faces, carved 60-feet high in the granite of Mount Rushmore, comprise one of America’s most revered images. But many visitors cannot help thinking of Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller North by Northwest, where he and Eva Marie Saint clamber across the monolith pursued by Communist spies. The shot was actually filmed in a Hollywood studio, but it convinced millions of people that they too could climb the patriotic monument. This is not the case: Access to Mount Rushmore has been blocked by a high-security fence ever since the artist Gutzon Borglum died in 1941 and work on the giant sculpture ceased. But according to his original plan, Borglum had intended that the public be able to reach his giant faces via a splendid stone staircase. In the late 1930s, he even began work on a splendid vault buried within the rock for tourists to visit – called the Hall of Records, it was planned as a repository for the original Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
DAY 10 Rapid City
Your vacation ends this morning with guests departing on independent schedules. Transfers are provided to the Rapid City Airport. (Breakfast)
Reservations now being taken
Tour price TBA
Approximate price $3197.00 per person
Deposit $600 per person
Pricing to be confirmed once airfare becomes available
For reservations contact Kristol or Mike at 501-771-0987,
800-433-0493 or email:kristol@vacation-valet.com
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