I got a lot of requests to recap the itinerary from our trip to Jackson Hole, WY. If it’s on your bucket list – you should absolutely go! I LOVED IT!
I was invited to be my friend Sarah‘s plus one at a Toyota Adventures in Yellowstone trip and decided to extend my stay and have my family meet me in Wyoming. We had been trying to plan a National Park focused vacation but neither Chris nor I are planners so this situation was perfect. I arrived a few days before them, got a lay of the land and made an itinerary for when they arrived.
Airport
We flew into the Jackson Hole Airport which is small and easy to get through. We could not get a direct flight from where we live in FL. The airport was only a 15 minute ride from where we stayed. Because we wanted to see National Parks we rented a car at the airport.
Where we stayed:
We stayed at the Cloudveil Hotel right in the heart of the Jackson downtown. Toyota had picked this hotel and I decided it was easier to just extend the stay here. The hotel has great food and very vibey decor. The rooms are a bit dark and our AC was slow to cool the room at night but I would definitely stay there again. There is a small pool and hot tub. Coming from Florida to a place with a short swim season this wasn’t something that was a MUST HAVE for us but the hot tub would be fun in the cooler months.
Weather
We came in mid August which the locals consider “high season”. I guess their summers are busier than their winters. I don’t ski so it wasn’t on my radar how many people fly here to ski. The downtown was lively but we are early eaters so we didn’t need reservations. The temps went from about 48F for a low up to 86F for a high, so bring layers even in the summer. I am sure it’s ADORABLE here around the holidays, I don’t love the cold, so we will see if I come back that time of year.
It rained the last day of our trip and because so much of the tourism is based on outdoor activities the restaurants were PACKED (long waits) on the stormy day.
Hiking at Jenny Lake
About 20-25 minutes from the hotel you can drive to the Jenny Lake hike in Grand Teton National Park. We had an annual National Park pass that costs $80 but you can get a weekly pass for around half of that. I had done the hike with the influencer group I was with earlier in the week so I had felt out what would be appropriate for an 8 year old. Chris and I could hike all day and be fine, but I don’t expect the same stamina from my kids, who are 8 and 10.
Jenny Lake offers a few hikes and you can shorten the walk by taking a boat across the lake (either one way or round trip for around $10 each way/person). Across the lake there are hikes to Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls that are around a mile (I’m estimating, they are kid friendly). We decided to hike around the lake so we could stop at Moose Pond (where we saw moose) and then visit Hidden Falls before taking the boat back across Jenny Lake. This had us out for around 3.5 hours so it was tiring for the kids but they never hit a wall…WOOT WOOT!!
Bring snacks and water in a backpack. You will need to carry your trash out of the park. There is a good, casual pizza/pasta restaurant called Dornan’s on your way out of Grand Teton there if you are hungry.
Yellowstone
Two days after my family arrived we went to Yellowstone. You spend a good amount of time in the car so I wanted to let the kids move their legs a lot after the long travel day to get from FL to WY. We got up at 5 am to drive about 2 hours to Old Faithful, our first stop in Yellowstone. Leaving early gave us a better chance at parking, the park is very crowded this time of year and we wanted to pull off and tour the popular attractions along the loop we chose.
Old Faithful is a geyser that shoots off almost exactly to the hour and we happened to walk up JUST as it started to erupt. That was lucky!! I’m sure you can look up when it’s set to go off and plan around that. This geyser was the start of the one day loop we wanted to tackle inside Yellowstone.
We entered from the south entrance to the park since we were driving up from Jackson Hole. It took about 2 hours to get to Old Faithful from our hotel and is a very easy drive but fill your gas tank and pack food before you go. We did not prep food well so we ate beef jerky and water from one of the few service stations inside the park.
Along the left side of the loop the stops are very close together. After stopping first at Old Faithful we hit Grand Prismatic Spring, Biscuit Basin, Fountain Paint Pot and one other. There are small parking lot pull offs along the main road but the parking fills up early.
On the right side of the loop the main attraction was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. There is a bunch of great look outs and hikes to take along the Grand Canyon for lots of different views.
From the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone we planned to head south and exit the park. We drove along the Yellowstone Lake which is huge. We passed a couple large herds of bison on this leg of the loop and even some crossing the road.
White Water Rafting
I did an excursion with my influencer pals white water rafting along the Snake River. We used this tour company and I would recommend them. Their office is about 5 minutes from the hotel were stayed at and they shuttle you via bus to the river. The bus ride was about 30 minutes on the way there, 40 minutes on the way home. You travel 8 miles down the river in the raft.
The water was 62 degrees so I should have dressed warmer. I was volunteered to sit in the front (the wettest seat) because all of my friends have hair extensions they didn’t want to get wet. I got SOAKED. My friends were all smart and wore water shoes, I wore sneakers which were then water logged most of the trip. Luckily I brought two pairs of sneakers.
The river is not as fast now that most of the snow has melted. If you go in the spring or early summer expect faster rapids and colder water.
Snow King Mountain
We spent a morning and early afternoon at Snow King Mountain with the kids. You can walk or drive from where we stayed and they offer a lot of summer activities on the ski mountain. We bought an all day pass that included the alpine slide, cowboy coaster, gondola rides, an outdoor maze, mini golf, and it was supposed to include a bungee trampoline but they didn’t tell us they weren’t staffing it because it had rained earlier that morning. We paid extra so Cam could do a treetop rope course. It was a longer and more challenging than Cam expected but he made it through.
This park was a nice way to stay active but also close to our home base after a few days of adventuring through the National Parks.
Animals
We saw moose at Moose Pond along the Jenny Lake Hike in Grand Teton National Park. We saw bison in Yellowstone as we were driving toward the south entrance from the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Lastly, I saw otters and bald eagles while white water rafting.
Dining
I dined very close to the hotel with the except of the last spot mentioned:
- Teton Tiger – Asian (Thai and Indian) food. VERY spicy even when ordering mild but otherwise tasty. My pickier child who normally loves fried rice did not like the food here. I’d go back without kids.
- The Bistro (inside our hotel) – we got coffee here most days and ate breakfast a few times. It was good and convenient.
- Cafe Genevieve – we ate breakfast here because a tree had fallen on Persephone (which came highly recommended) and closed it. I liked the breakfast at Cafe Genevieve.
- Moo’s Ice Cream – REALLY good ice cream, coming from someone who always never eats ice cream. Chris was like “trust me, I know you don’t usually do ice cream, but this is worth it”.
- The Bunnery – I went with Cam for brunch but didn’t think it was anything special.
- Orsetto – higher end Italian right across from the hotel. Food was good but not amazing.
- The Merry Piglets Mexican Grill – shared nachos and a marg here for lunch during the influencer portion of the trip. I like Mexican and thought it was really good, but heavy!
- Dornan’s Pizza and Pasta (by Jenny Lake about 20 minutes from the hotel) – casual counter ordering with a full bar. This was a good spot to stop on our way home from Yellowstone and the kids both liked it.
If you are considering a trip, we loved Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. As a real estate investor in a high end beach market @stayon30a, I was shocked at the price/sf of real estate is in this area of WY! It’s still quaint with so much to do and see so I guess like a quaint beach market. There is high demand because of the lifestyle such places offer.
If you have questions feel free to drop them in the comments and I’ll get back. to you!
