# Are any other Tuggers going to Yellowstone next week?



## Karen G (Jun 5, 2009)

We'll be at Island Park Village, Idaho, next week June 12-19.  Any other Tuggers going to be there?  I'll have the TUG banner with me and if there are any other Tuggers it would be fun to get a group picture.


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## DianneL (Jun 8, 2009)

*Just returned*

We just returned from Island Park Village Resort and Yellowstone yesterday.  We had a great time, however, the weather wasn't the best.  We had one day that it rained all day and other days were mixed, i.e. sunny, cloudy and some rain.  We did get to do and see everything we planned in both Yellowstone and Tetons.  Our trip was great.


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## Karen G (Jun 8, 2009)

Dianne, I'm glad you had a good trip. I'm kind of concerned about the weather, too--not looking forward to cold and rain.


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## hsintang (Jun 8, 2009)

DianneL said:


> We just returned from Island Park Village Resort and Yellowstone yesterday.  We had a great time, however, the weather wasn't the best.  We had one day that it rained all day and other days were mixed, i.e. sunny, cloudy and some rain.  We did get to do and see everything we planned in both Yellowstone and Tetons.  Our trip was great.



We are leaving for Jackson Hole on June 27 for 6 nights (TS) and planned to stay in Yellowstone park for additional 3 nights (YL, MS, OF one night each).

I am currently planning our daily schedule.  I have a to-do list (i.e. rafting, horseback riding, cookout dinner...etc) and still struggle to put everything together.  We will be traveling with a 13 and a 8 yr old.

Can you share some "not to miss"  highlights?

Thanks,

Yvette


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## DianneL (Jun 8, 2009)

*Yellowstone*

While we were there (May 30 - June 6) the Roosevelt Lodge was still closed.  I don't know when they plan to open it, but soon I guess.  And one day while we were there the road over Dunraven Pass was closed due to weather.  I assume it was snow, as we drove it the day before and the temperature at the highest point is about 20 degrees colder than in lower elevations.  All in all, this was a great trip for us, one of our best vacations.  Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Park are so beautiful.  We loved it.


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## swift (Jun 8, 2009)

If you get to West Yellowstone the Grizzly Discovery Center is a not to be missed sight. The kids will really like it.


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## GetawaysRus (Jun 8, 2009)

We're at IPV this week and will just miss you.

It snowed on Saturday night and early Sunday AM.  That was a big treat for my wife (a lifelong Southern Californian).  I'd guess we got about 1 inch or just a bit less.  Roads were open, however, and we were able to get to Yellowstone easily.  The snow was gone by mid-afternoon.

The weather forecast for this week reads like a broken record.  It was cool and overcast this morning (Monday), but it looks like it is clearing now (10:30 AM).  When I last checked the weather, it said that there's a chance of rain all this week.


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## Karen G (Jun 8, 2009)

How are the roads around IPV when it snows?  We'll be in a Toyota Tacoma truck, but it doesn't have 4-wheel drive.


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## hsintang (Jun 8, 2009)

swift said:


> If you get to West Yellowstone the Grizzly Discovery Center is a not to be missed sight. The kids will really like it.



Cool, that is on our to-do list.
But we are staying in Jackson Hole for the week, if we plan a day on west of Yellowstone, what else is good on the way or around there?  


Yvette


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## GetawaysRus (Jun 10, 2009)

Karen G said:


> How are the roads around IPV when it snows?  We'll be in a Toyota Tacoma truck, but it doesn't have 4-wheel drive.




IPV does NOT have wireless service available in the rooms (only in or near the office or clubhouse).  So I'm picking up your question a few days later.

We have a rental car.  It's a Pontiac Vibe, which Alamo considers a mid-size car (that must be a joke).  When it snowed a few days ago, the snow stuck to the ground but not the roads.  We had no trouble driving within the resort or on Route 20 up to Yellowstone Park.  You should be fine in a Toyota truck.

The limitation that we ran into is that certain roads within Yellowstone were closed due to snow on certain days.  This meant closed for everyone, chains or not.  We weren't able to go to Canyon Village on our first trip into the park (got there the following day, however).  And we could not get to Tower-Roosevelt on the first or second day due to road closure.  You will be informed (or can ask) about any road closures when you enter the park.  Yesterday we went to Grand Teton Park, so I don't know if the road to Tower-Roosevelt is open yet.

If you cannot access the weather on your laptop, channel 17 on the in-room TVs does have Idaho Falls local news and weather early in the morning.  So I'm flipping on the TV when I get up so that we can plot our daily activies.  You could probably also ask in the front office.

There is construction on the road between Madison junction and Norris.  This is on the route to Canyon.   We were stuck there for about 15-20 minutes.  Expect that you may be delayed there.  There really isn't anything you can do about it unless you go the long way around to Canyon Village (and it is a long ride to go the other way around).

The Island Park sheriff was out with his radar gun on the day we drove up here.  And we also spotted the local sheriff in the town of West Yellowstone.  We're good boys and girls, and they didn't get us.  But mind the speed limit when you go through reduced speed zones.


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## Idahodude (Jun 10, 2009)

I was supposed to be in Island Park at the end of that week, but I can't join the work retreat as my wife will be having a baby next week  .  The weather in this area has been unusually cool and rainy the last little while.  I suspect the beginning of your trip will be that way, but it should warm up by the end of the week.  I wouldn't worry too much about snow on the roads.  As long as you stick to roads that are open, they keep them fairly clear and not too tough to drive on, even in the winter.  Have a great time and enjoy spring (not really summer yet there) in Island Park!!


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## Jwerking (Jun 14, 2009)

Karen G said:


> Dianne, I'm glad you had a good trip. I'm kind of concerned about the weather, too--not looking forward to cold and rain.



LOL, we were in Yellowstone about 10 yrs ago with our kids in mid-july and they had a heat wave.  The day we visited Yellowstone from our timeshare in Big Sky - it hit 90 deg and made visiting the boiling mud pots, etc. very uncomfortable.  However, we returned later that week and stayed at the old Faithful Lodge one night bet. our time share at Jackson Hole and it was great.  So nice to be in the park when all the day tourist are gone and it is nice and quiet.  We are talking about returning, so maybe early Sept would be a better time. 

Joyce


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## Jim Bryan (Jun 14, 2009)

When at Yellowstone, try to make time for a side trip to Cody, Wyoming. The Buffalo Bill Cody Museum is worth it. For an overnight stay check out the Green Gables Inn (Great Grandson of Buffalo Bill................Kit Cody) Or the  Cody Legacy Inn and Suites. (Daughter of Kit Cody) Plenty to do there for a week.


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## Karen G (Jun 19, 2009)

Jim Bryan said:


> When at Yellowstone, try to make time for a side trip to Cody, Wyoming. The Buffalo Bill Cody Museum is worth it.


We did that & I agree that it's worth the trip.  It was very interesting and we liked it a lot.  The drive over there through the east side of Yellowstone was beautiful, too.


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## hsintang (Jun 20, 2009)

Karen G said:


> We did that & I agree that it's worth the trip.  It was very interesting and we liked it a lot.  The drive over there through the east side of Yellowstone was beautiful, too.



Karen,
Are you back yet?  How's the weather in YS or Grand Teton?  I am ready to pack for next week's trip (06/27- 07/06).  Hope you can share some photos.

Thanks,

Yvette


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## Karen G (Jun 20, 2009)

Yes, we're back home.  It was cool and rainy the whole week with sunbreaks just about every afternoon. The highs were in the 50's & 60's with lows in the 30's.  No snow, thank goodness, but we did see some piles of snow in various areas of the park even when the temperature was in the 50's. I think it rained every evening back at the timeshare at Island Park Village, and sometimes it was raining in the morning as we left.

The rain didn't ever interfere with our activities, though.  Just flip up the hood on your jacket and you're good to go.

It was fairly stormy coming back south to Las Vegas and we dodged several heavy rainstorms coming through Idaho and Utah.

We had a great time, though, and thoroughly enjoyed our trip.


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## Karen G (Jun 20, 2009)

hsintang said:


> Hope you can share some photos.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Yvette


 Here's a link to some of the photos from our trip.  Jackson Hole was a cute little town. We had lunch there on our way up through Grand Teton National Park into Yellowstone.

Have a great trip. There is something unique and beautiful around every turn.


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## ricoba (Jun 20, 2009)

Karen, I haven't seen a Shutterfly page like that before, it's quite nice, thanks for sharing.


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## hsintang (Jun 20, 2009)

Karen G said:


> Here's a link to some of the photos from our trip.



Karen, Looks like a prefect weather to me.  Thanks for sharing.  I can't wait...


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## mpizza (Jun 21, 2009)

Thanks for the pictures - we're heading out to Grand Teton and Yellowstone at the end of July.

Maria


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## honeybunney (Jun 28, 2009)

*Yellowstone 06/18/2009 - 06/25/2009*

We just got from Yellowstone.  Spent a week at Worldmark Yellowstone at the west entrance.  Nice location with the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center across the street.  Outside of west entrance has bunch of places to eat and souvenior shops.  Right now if you enter from the west entrance toward Madison, you will see a sign telling you not to stop starting here because it's an eagle management site.  Well, thanks for letting us know that.  So as soon you see the sign start looking for a nest on the right high up on a tree that barely has any leaves.  We saw a bald eagle sitting in the nest.  Pretty cool!  The park is so HUGE.  It took us about five days to see most of the attractions.  We did the three mile trail walk to the Morning Glory at Old Faithful.  Morning Glory was a little disappointing.  The brochure was correct in that the MG is not as blue because of the trash that people threw into the hole.  Then on the walk back we saw various geysers and hot springs.  I would recommend that walk if you have the time.  If you are out there to see the animals, you should either go around 7:30am or 5:00pm.  We decided to try the 5:00pm at Lamar Valley that's past the Tower-Roosevelt located Northeast.  We saw a coyote, bisons, elks, but no bears or moose.  We decided to turn back at Peeble Creek, otherwise, we would start heading out of the park.  As we head back around 7:00pm, we saw a wolf run up the hill very quickly and a ram grazing up close.  Finally saw a grizzly bear south of Tower-Roosevelt.  Rangers were there to make sure we don't get too close to the bear.  Just drive along and when you see cars stopping then you'll know there's some sort of animal out there.

The last two days were so nice.  No rain, but lots of mosquitoes.

Oh yeah, at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, there were two times, but I forgot the later one, where my 8 & 6 year old kids signed up and paid $2.00 (besides the entrance fee) by 10:15am to participate in the Keeper Kids.  Participating kids got to pick a button of one of their animals on hand. The kids are given a talk about the difference between black bear and grizzly bear.  Then they are led to the bears' habitat where each kid are provided with a pail of bear food.  They are to hide the food in three different places for the bears to find.  Afterward, the bears were released from their den in search of the food.  It was a pretty cool experience for the kids.


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## Karen G (Jun 28, 2009)

honeybunney said:


> Spent a week at Worldmark Yellowstone at the west entrance.


Thanks for that report. Glad to hear you had a great time.  Please submit a review on the TUG review page if you haven't already done so.


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