Nearest airport would be Jackson Hole, Wyoming — probably the best choice.

I’m not sure you could make either Mount Rushmore or Glacier within a twelve hour driving day and flying to either would probably involve connections in Denver or Salt Lake (or both — or something really ugly and out of your way like Seattle, Minneapolis or even Dallas!!)

Yellowstone and Teton National Parks are great — but then I like mountains and like to hike. You could easily spend a week there. Again, I like September because the crowds are less, and the weather’s usually good, but you’re at high altitude — a major snow storm can happen in September.

Is it really 12 hour driving distance from Yellowstone to Glacier ? Thats too much.

As per the map it is only about 5 hours.

Why would you pick up Jackson Hole ? I was told by the Yellowstone Park authority to either fly to Bozeman or Billings, MT. I am looking at tickets to Jackson Hole and the connections are terrible from Newark.

How nice is Teton NP. What exactly is there to see ?

[url=‘http://www.nps.gov/grte/’]Grand Teton National Park[/url]
Spectacular mountain scenery and plenty of wildlife. If that’s not your thing, don’t bother. It’s not for everyone.
There are different entrances and exits for both parks, I believe, but it seems to me that you are looking at at least a 10 hour drive between Teton and Glacier.

10 hours trip is definetly not practical. Assumption was these trips would be no more than 5-6 hours and 2 of us can easily make it.
I have 10 days to spare for the vacation and not sure what to do after 3-4 days.

How long do you propose for Teton ?

Grand Teton is pretty much adjacent (the Rockfeller highway between the two goes through a huge Elk preserve) to the South Entrance to Yellowstone — the bigger issue is how long it takes to get to the South Entrance from the East Entrance or wherever you’re visiting in Yellowstone. The speed limit in the park is 45 mph and when everybody jumps out of their cars to try to take pictures of a bear, buffalo, moose, elk, wolf, chipmonk you won’t go that fast.

The Tetons are gorgeous, although the best view is from Toghatee pass, which is a ways away. How long depends on how much you enjoy gaping at mountain scenery, hiking, mountain climbing, cowboy stuff, etc. I could easily spend my life there if it weren’t for the tourists. The town of Jackson (referred to as Jackson Hole by outsiders)is worth a visit, although it’s a high end ski resort now, instead of the Wyoming cowtown that marginally turned into a tourist stop for the summer months, that it used to be. Cody is also a fairly interesting town and I think there’s a kind of continous rodeo there. Again, it used to be a cowtown, but now they sell live lobsters in the supermarket. There are a couple of nice museums, including a great Western Art museum in Cody.

As for airports, it depends on what you want to see/do in Yellowstone. From Billings or Bozeman it’s a pretty long drive TO the Yellowstone and you’d be at the North or West Entrance (My preferences, in order, would be South, East, North, West) and it’s a fair (actually more slow than long) way from those entrances to Old Faithful. However, you might find it cheaper to fly to Billings or Bozeman than to Jackson. Be sure to price rental cars at each airport — and also check the fine print about WHERE you can take the rental car and still get the unlimited milage rate before you decide. I found a huge difference in rental car rates between Spokane, Missoula and Boise. It cost $75 more to fly to Boise, but the rental car cost about $150 a week less.

Thanks for the wonderful narrations you are providing. For various reasons, I do not believe in the guide books and knowledge from first hand experienced traveller is worth a thousand books.

Are you from this area ?

Any way, is South the best route to Old Faithful ?
How long should I plan for my visit, considering I cannot fo any hiking, camping etc.

I have a 10 month old, so the obvious question would be if it is infant friendly ?

Unfortunately, I’m a flatlander now, but I used to live in the west and had the opportunity to hike, camp, climb, tour, travel extensively.

With a little luck I’ll be relocated back to the mountains in a couple of years.

A couple of useful maps:
http://www.nps.gov/y…
http://www.nps.gov/y…

The west entrance to Yellowstone is kind of "tourist trap" right up to the gate. The north entrance seems like you’re miles from anywhere — until you get to Gardner and the tourist stuff. East is miles from Cody although there’s so much traffic you certainly don’t feel isolated. South entrance is protected from tourist schlock ‘cuz the Rockefellers bought it all and protected it from development. Old Faithful is actually closest to the West entrance, I think.

I’ve done yellowstone with a 1 1/2 year old. It was fun, but hiking with a kid on your back is a different sport… National parks are family friendly, so no problems finding changing tables, high chairs, getting a crib in your hotel room, etc.

This trip would be an extension to Mt rushmore. I am trying to reconfirm if the distant between yellowstone and Mt rushmore is really 12 hours or more, rather than 5 hours as I orginally determined.

If you just drive, non-stop, across Wyoming, you can probably accomplish Rapid City to the east entrance of Yellowstone in less than 7 hours, then 1/2 to 1 hour to get where you’re staying in the park. Only about 1/3 of it is Interstate and you cross the Big Horns. Whether or not that constitutes a full day depends on your family travel style.

It might be faster, although a longer distance and less scenic, to take Interstate 90 to Billings and drop down from there. I can’t see doing this in 5 hours (particularly if you add the time you’ll spend getting from the park entrance to whereever you’re staying at 45 MPH), but I suppose it’s possible.