Hello from beautiful Idaho!
Yes, this is Idaho!
We are on the last day of our fabulous summer adventure through three new (to us!) states and three National Parks. I thought I'd summarize our itinerary here and then have posts for each park. (I hope; we know how my plans usually go for post-vacation posting, particularly here where we fly back today, all 3 kids have school orientation events tomorrow, everyone has to renew their passports on Friday, I have one million work calls scheduled for those two days, and school begins ON MONDAY which feels sad and impossible and I usually love the first day of school, but with big kids, I like the summer even more.)
Anyway! Vacation! It's been wonderful. I started planning this trip about 9 months ago when we decided we wanted a domestic adventure trip for the summer. We're taking a big international trip for Christmas break this year, and we did Mexico/the beach for Spring Break, so we wanted our summer vacation to be low-key and continental-US based, to take us back to our hiking/National Park vacationing roots, and most of all to NOT be hot.
We didn't quite luck out on the temperature thing, since it's hit at least 90 every day we've been here, but the mornings and evenings are cool and it's certainly better than the 105 degree high that Dallas has today. Plus, the warmer temps have also meant the kids have been able to swim in every park and that has been a blast.
We keep a National Park map in our game room and put pushpins in the parks we've explored. You can tell from the map that we've lived in the DFW area for all of our exploring years and have always driven to our destinations. You can draw a circle out from our home base and see that the Grand Canyon to the west and Great Smoky Mountains to the east is as far as we were willing to drive (and that was FAR!).
Now that our vacation budget has increased a bit, we got to take our first flight to get to a new portion of the map. Glacier has long been on my list, and when I found out there were direct flights from Dallas to Kalispell, MT, and a good friend and partner of mine at the firm just finished her family's beautiful vacation home in Swan Valley, ID, I settled on the Glacier/Yellowstone/Grand Teton trio we've completed and it's been fantastic.
Our high-level itinerary:
Day 1: Fly to Kalispell, MT (Glacier Park International Airport)
- Pick up minivan (drop off in Idaho at end); 30 min drive to Glacier NP
- Stop at Apgar Visitor's Center, explore Lake McDonald
- Stay:
VRBO cabin
Day 2: Glacier: Many Glacier entrance; Swiftcurrent/Lake Josephine boat tickets; hike to Grinnell Glacier
Day 3: Glacier: Going-to-the Sun Road drive, starting from St. Mary's entrance (East side)
Day 4: Drive from Glacier to Gardiner, MT (North entrance to Yellowstone)
- 7 hour drive
- Stay:
VRBO cabin
Day 5: Yellowstone: Private Yellowstone Wild wildlife tour
Day 6: Yellowstone: Drive through Yellowstone, stop at geothermal features and geysers, continue through Grand Tetons on way to Swan Valley, ID
- 5 hour drive
- Stay: Friend's home (
now listed on Airbnb and HIGHLY recommended!)
Day 7: Idaho: Swan Valley play day/Fall Creek Falls, dinner in Jackson Hole
Day 8: Grand Tetons: Phelps Lake hike
Day 9: Fly to Dallas from Idaho Falls Airport
- 1 hour drive to airport
Fun tips and packing notes, in absolutely no order:
This looks like SUCH a great trip and I can't wait to read your writeups of each park. My family did Yellowstone last summer for almost a week and we just LOVED it. The wildlife was our favorite--seeing two grizzlies was the absolute highlight but also mama/baby elk, a herd of buffalo moms and babies, pronghorn, beavers, etc. There is really nothing like going on a hike, turning a corner, and seeing a buffalo standing in the middle of or by the side of the trail, which happened several times. The animals combined with the magical geothermal features and abundant waterfalls just makes that place so special and so unique a national park. I can't wait to see your review of the Grinnell Glacier hike. I have been wanting to go to Glacier but was waiting till my kids were a tad older because my 10-year-old is not a super strong hiker and I think the best Glacier hikes will make more sense for us in a couple years. Also, re: the weather, we did our Yellowstone trip the first week of June and had absolutely perfect hiking weather--however, the thought of plunging in water would not have been appealing then! So I guess it's a tradeoff, and given your family's love of water, it seems like it actually worked out for it to be hotter for you guys :)
ReplyDeleteYay! I love that you had such a great experience too! I do think the water was worth the high temps (my kids would definitely say so), but I'm sad I never got to wear my sweatshirt :). And we LOVED the Grinnell Glacier hike. Highly highly recommend, but my kids definitely complained a little along the way.
DeleteJust wanted to know that I live for your vacation posts and have planned our Fall Break trip this year based on your Moab/Arches itinerary from several years ago. Our boys are 8 and 5 and I appreciate every detail that you include - from lodging to packing. I also appreciate your grateful and sappy mom heart. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYes!! This delights me! Truly, it warms my grateful and sappy mom heart <3.
DeleteI'm in western MT and chuckled at your tips re no cell coverage and no A/C - so very true, and something I don't really think about on a daily basis! Glad you were able to be here during a relatively low fire season so you didn't have closures and poor air quality.
ReplyDeleteWe definitely lucked out on the fire-front: gorgeous clear skies every day we were there. And yes! So few people mentioned the cell coverage I feel bound to- it wasn't a problem if you downloaded your maps and GuideAlong, and honestly it was deeply freeing to get zero phone notifications all day, but it would have been tough to be surprised by it!
DeleteFall Creek Falls! You're in my backyard!!! Love that you loved my neck of the woods!!
ReplyDeleteWE LOVE FALL CREEK FALLS. Also Idaho. And Montana and Wyoming. But the falls were a TREASURE and one of our favorite days.
DeleteWe spent three days at the fish creek campground on lake McDonald. Such a gorgeous and dreamy spot! We swam everyday and my young sons loved playing the water for hours!! Glad you got to experience that slice of heaven.
ReplyDeleteWe loved Lake McDonald! Such a treasure.
DeleteAll the photos are so beautiful, which is why I feel silly asking this specific question - but do you know the brand for those fabulous white pants in the photo of you getting ready for work?
ReplyDeleteHa! They are PAIGE. I got them from the Saks 5th Ave Outlet at the beginning of the summer. I love them!! They fit like jeans, but are a thicker, softer material that hang well, don't get wrinkled, and aren't see-through. Basically the holy grail of white pants.
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