Yellowstone National Park - Saint George,UT

Funny that you asked about the yellow bus tour! My daughter is at Yellowstone right now vacationing with my parents and two nephews. They are planning on riding the yellow bus tomorrow and my daughter is so excited. I'll try to remember to tell you what she thinks about it after I talk to her tomorrow.

On a side note...we did YS when I was little and we (me, mom, dad, sister, brother, gmom, gpop...and our dog) had so much fun! We rented a nice RV and stayed in the campgrounds. I have some great memories and I know your kids will love it. The things I remember the most are Old Faitful, the Grand Tetons and just hanging out at the campgrounds and hot springs.

Have fun!

Update: Just spoke with my DD today! I miss her! Anyway she LOVED the bus ride (they did the all day 11 hr tour. She saw lots of wildlife but her fav was a baby bison. She got that high pitched little girl voice "Mommy it was sooo cuuuuttte!" I know she is having fun!

2 days will allow time to see selected highlights, which is probably just fine -- the park is huge. My favorite areas are the Mammoth Hot Springs area in the north end of the park; the Norris Geyser Basin; the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins and the areas around Yellowstone Lake (most likely to see wildlife on the east side of the park and around the Lake). I don't know that you need to plan separate 'hikes' -- you have to 'hike' to go see the geysers and other thermal features. You park in the lots and then walk on paths and wooden walkways to see the features; you'll get plenty of 'hiking' in !!
I haven't been to Hogle Zoo in about 20 years and I know they have done a lot of improvements since I was there. I would just go to their website and pick out your favorites. My favs were the penguins and the monkeys.

I agree with JulieBean -no trip to Yellowstone or the Yellowstone area would be complete for me without hitting Grand Teton. It's breathtakingly beautiful and you WILL see a variety of wildlife! Unfortunately it's been awhile since I've been, but I'm hoping to return within the next year or two with my boys. And yes, Yellowstone is ENORMOUS -Old Faithful is great, but there are so many different areas that are really cool. If it's at all possible to wring more than 2 days out of it -do it!

Like JulieBean said - Yellowstone is HUGE and you could spend a week there and still feel you've only scratched the surface. But with a 2.5YO and your parents in tow, the Old Faithful geyser basin area is good because there's a lot to see along the boardwalks with plenty of benches to stop and sit down at and the walking is fairly level. If you go to your library or an outdoorsy retailer like REI, check their guidebook section as there should be some books of "family friendly hikes" for places like yellowstone.

Yellowstone is HUGE and takes at least a day just to drive from the north to the south entrance--that's without stopping to sightsee. On the south side you can also visit Grand Teton (my personal fave).

Be sure to reserve your camping early--they fill up extremely fast, especially in July. Xanterra manages the campgrounds in the park.

If you're just going to hit the highlights (Old Faithful, the Yellowstone Inn) then you can do it in a day but there's so much to that park that you cannot see from the road--it really pays if you have the time to go down the paths. It is a simply AMAZING park with waterfalls, petrified trees, wildlife (bears, elk, moose, bison), geothermal features, Mission 66 architecture... There has been some washout this year from the rain/snowmelt so be sure to check the website often for road closures/detours.

"Animal Jams" also take up much of your time when trying to drive through the park. That's where someone pulls over to take pics of wildlife near, or just off the road, and then every car that sees the pulled over car stops to take their own pics... it can get CRAZY!

I know you mentioned you've already looked at their site, but for others who are interested:

Yellowstone: http://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm
Grand Teton: http://www.nps.gov/grte/index.htm

J.
National Park Service employee

We were there last August and had a great time. The Yellow Bus tour is great. It's nice because it's a smaller group. Highly recommend it. If you are near the West Yellowstone, there is a very yummy ice cream stand just outside the entrance. Had some of the BEST ice cream. It's on the corner and looks like a small log cabin, next door to Jacklin's Fly Shop. A great treat at the end of a long day. The Chuck Wagon dinner was also a lot of fun. We saw tons of bison, elk, and mule deer while on the Yellow Bus tour and just driving on our own. Others on our trip saw a few bears, but we weren't that lucky. Hope you have a great time. We can't wait to go back.

Yellowstone is HUGE - it encompasses three states!! WOW!!!

http://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm

use this to help you plan your trip....I've camped in a motor home there so I can't give advice on tent camping! SORRY!!!

HAVE A BLAST!!!