Travel News

The Great American Travel Experiment: Can You Recreate the Past with a Family Road Trip?

Locations in this article:  Buffalo, NY Philadelphia, PA

The program run by the Yellowstone Association is designed to give families an overview of Yellowstone’s best. It should be said here that Yellowstone is huge. We live in Yosemite National Park, which, large as it seems to us, would fit into a corner of Yellowstone. It is no small thing that the camp price includes a tour bus and a driver so everyone is free to watch wildlife and gasp at the beauty. Our driver/guide was Julie, a person blessed with the singular ability to combine the knowledge of a biology teacher (which she is during the school year) with boundless energy and enthusiasm.

During our time at Yellowstone, we took in all of the area’s famous sites―geysers, mud pots, sulfurous hot springs, the magnificent waterfalls of the Yellowstone River, and, of course, wildlife―lots of wildlife. Thanks to Julie and her eagle eye, we saw grizzlies, black bear, whooping cranes, elk, pronghorn, mountain goats, and mobs of buffalo.

Yellowstone in bloom. Photo credit by Jon Jay.

Perhaps most spectacular of all were the wildflowers. Yosemite is a very forested park, especially the part where we live. Looking out at Yellowstone’s vast open hills and valleys covered in flowers of every shape and hue made me want to throw out my arms and break into a chorus of “The hills are alive….” But thanks to Yellowstone for Families, my daughter was with her new friends―and there was no way I was going to embarrass her in front of them.

The price tag for our little family of three was $1800 for the five days―lodging, breakfast, lunch, transportation and guide included―pricey but we felt it was well worth the money.