Winging Yellowstone: Sometimes Over-planning Ruins the Fun.
Listen, I'm the eldest daughter, granddaughter and I'm a virgo to boot. I am THE over-planner. But I'm also going to hold your hand when I say this... over-planning something like Yellowstone completely ruins the fun.
This park has 142 miles of road, hundreds of different roadside pull-offs, attractions and scenic areas. You could spend 6 months here and not see everything. Truly. So with all that potential in mind, there's NO way you're getting even a tenth of that crammed into a week. If it's your first time visiting the park, here are my best tips:
Book everything at least 6 months out. At least. Most lodging starts selling out 12 months out. It's that serious.
Divide the park into quadrants. It's a handy figure 8 shape that makes it relatively easy to navigate.
Take each day you plan on being in the park and pick ONE focus for the day. Then look at things around that place and add them to your itinerary. Do the focus of the day first, this would be the most important, then putt around and see what time you have left and what you'd like to see.
Bring in your own snacks, unless you have unlimited funds. It's like buying things at the movies or airport- stuff is expensive. We did pbj's almost every day. No complaints from us because we'd rather see the park and have the option of traveling than worrying about a huge food budget. It's just not practical for everyone to spend hundreds or even thousands on food for a week.
Pack all weather clothing. Use backpacking layers that way they fit in a suitcase nicely. We started our week in shorts and tanks and ended in 3 layers, hats and gloves because it snowed. You really just never know.
I'm sure at this point in the age of the internet there are thousands of Yellowstone resources out there on what to do or what not to do. I'm here to give y'all some handy tips but I'm also here to just help you genuinely enjoy your visit without overthinking everything. Sometimes researching things makes you feel like you need to do more than what's necessary to have a great time!
We managed to see just about every major attraction in just 5 days. That also included a day spent driving down to Jackson Hole, which I highly recommend! You're already so close to Grand Teton National Park- make a long but breath-taking day of it and go check another park off your list. You won't regret it!
I'm planning on typing out a second Yellowstone blog detailing where we went day by day to give y'all an idea about a potential itinerary... or lack there of. Remember, it's ideal to plan vacations, but there's a line between being prepared and being a crazy person. We went, we saw what we could and we had a frickin blast. Until next time y'all...
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