"Trafalgar national parks tour" United States of America by balhannah

United States of America Travel Guide: 282,172 reviews and 645,610 photos

Photo stop at the Grand Tetons - United States of America

14 DAYS STARTING FROM LAS VEGAS

This tour was one that we wanted to do for a long time. It took in a lot of the main National Parks of the U.S.A.

So now, take a seat in the Virtual Tour Coach, and we will begin our journey, starting from the city of Las Vegas in Nevada.

As Las Vegas is very different to anything we have in Australia, we decided to stay a few extra days and take a look around. We had a great time!

Day 1......................
Las Vegas

Day2..........
We departed Las Vegas and made it to St. George for our morning tea stop.
Back in the Coach and onto the Spectacular ZION Park. It was a hot 44 degrees. Even though very hot, we thoroughly enjoyed this Park, where we were taken around in a shuttle bus.
Weeping Rock was very nice on such a hot day! The canyon walls rise up from the valley floor, awe inspiring.
Heading up a mountain, we passed through a narrow tunnel which was built in the 1920's. Vehicles are only allowed through one direction at a time. This is because vehicles are bigger these days.
Our final stop was BRYCE CANYON. Colourful sandstone spires, beautiful from where ever we looked. This was our favorite National Park. Wished we had more time here, as we would have liked to done the horse ride, and more exploring.

Day 3..............
Salt Lake City for tonights stop. Would have rather had more time at Bryce Canyon than being taken through the Mormon buildings, after all, it was called a "National Parks Tour!'

Day 4...............
Our 1st stop today was at Idaho Falls for lunch. Lot of Potatoes are grown around here.
We stopped at the top of the Teton pass for photos where there was a beautiful view of the valley.
Staying at JACKSON HOLE tonight.

Day 5.................
Jackson Hole is like a wild west town, it still has boardwalk verandahs. I guess it is geared for tourist's these days, but we liked it , as it is different to Australia.
The Chapel of Transfiguration is just outside of town. It has beautiful views of the Teton Mountain Ranges from the altar window. What a nice place to be married, and we were told, a lot of people choose here to be married.
We passed by Jenny lake and Colter Bay on our way to Yellowstone park for the next 2nights.

Day 6.................
YELLOWSTONE, and plenty of time for a wander around, got to see Old Faithful go off twice.
This was the 1st time we had seen Buffalo in the wild. We were lucky enough that they decided to walk infront of the Coach, so we had a really close-up view. They have colossal heads on them, certainly wouldn't want to get in the way of one.
A must visit, is Artist point where the Yellowtone canyon and waterfalls are, a most beautiful spot.

Colter Bay

Day 7................
Left Yellowstone and came down the Absaroka Range which was very steep. At the bottom of the range, was Buffalo Bills Lodge. After the Lodge, we passed through the Shoshone mountains, these reminded me of Bryce Canyon, only interesting formations in a chocolate colour.
Coming into CODY, was the Buffalo Bill Dam, an engineering feat in its day. Cody which is located in a fertile valley, has a big museum on Buffalo Bill. We saw lots of coal trains at Billings where we stayed at The Sheraton Hotel.

Day 8.......................
We stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield national monument, the site of the infamous "Custers last stand"
Near the town of Deadwood, is Kevin Costner's "Tatanka". This tells you the story of the Bison and the Lacota Indians. A Lacota Indian told the interesting story to us. We stayed at RAPID CITY for 2nights.

Day 9................
A day in this area. Our 1st stop, was the very interesting Crazyhorse Monument that is being built. It is enormous, and I would say a "must see." Photos do not do this justice, it is so much bigger than Mt. Rushmore, which we went and saw after Crazyhorse.

Day 10...................
And we move onto DENVER where we had some time exploring the city. Denver is a very busy city with imposing buildings.

Day 11.......................
A beautiful drive through the mountains to Vail, a lovely village in a scenic setting. Glenwood Canyon was fantastic, so pretty, and the dual carriageway we were driving on was amazing.

We follow the Colorado river into Utah, and visit the ARCHES PARK, another extriodnary park, would have liked more time here too. Our stay tonight was at MOAB.

Day 12...........
Our next park is MESA VERDE which is situated on top of a plateau. Another must see,very interesting finding out about the past, and seeing the dwellings situated under the cliffs, you wonder what happened to them.
Leaving Mesa Verde we travelled to Kayenta where we stayed the night. t\
This is the town nearest MONUMENT VALLEY.

Day 13...........................
Monument Valley.....And when we visited here the next morning, we could remember western films of years ago that were shot here. The sand is so red, its Navajo indian land, and different to the other parks. Carrying on, we passed through the painted desert, lovely colours in the hills. Our last National Park on this tour was of course, the GRAND CANYON and it certainly lived up to expections. Staying at the Grand Canyon for 2nights.

Day 14.....................
Its huge, magnificent, what more can I say, everybody else has said it for me. The end of a great National Parks tour. We finished in Las Vegas.

This was a good tour of the National parks as we saw a lot over a large amount of distance.

As is often said, The Tour Director can either "make or break" your holiday, in this case, he did a very poor job, so much so, that everybody was writing a letter of complaint to Trafalgar travel..

The luck of the draw! The other Coach that travelled with us, had an excellent Tour Director!

Last visit to United States of America: Jun 2006
Intro Updated Jan 7, 2013
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Reviews (50)

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Stop 27 - MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK Things to Do (40)

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Hotels (8)
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Warnings and Dangers (2)
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Travelogues (3)

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Comments (31)

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christine.j Nov 3, 2012 at 8:33 AM

I was checking if I could find any tips about Cameron Trading post and what do I see? Tips by balhannah! I knew immediately I'd get great tips, solid information and would look at brilliant pictures. Thank you !
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wilocrek Jun 21, 2012 at 9:48 AM

I enjoyed reading your pages on Zions National Park and happy to see your have visited my hometown of Salt Lake City! I hope to visit Australia one day...its on my list!
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GentleSpirit Dec 29, 2011 at 7:01 PM

The shots of Bryce Canyon..WOW. This sounds like it was an outstanding adventure. I've seen some of the places you visited. I wish you could have seen Yosemite National Park in California, one of the most magnificent scenic places on earth.
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Krumel Sep 12, 2011 at 11:13 AM

Thanks for stopping by my Iceland page. Sounds like a nice tour you did in America. I did the hike up to Inspiration Point above Jenny Lake and it was fantastic.
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Nemorino Dec 21, 2010 at 1:28 PM

Beautiful photos from your National Parks tour! I've just looked at your first twenty tips so far; will be back some other time for more.
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Maryimelda Dec 19, 2010 at 10:29 PM

I don't recall you ever mentioning this trip before. What a great time you must have had. I particularly like Bryce Canyon and Deadwood. Will finish reading it all later. Well done, Dee!
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Kuznetsov_Sergey Dec 16, 2010 at 10:51 AM

Excellent overview of the USA and your trip there! 1000 different costumes, and 8000miles of sequins in Jubilee theatre must have been fantastic! Dream to visit the USA someday...
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hunterV Jul 7, 2010 at 3:21 AM

It's great you had a nice stay there! Wonderful experience! ><><><
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MD2nd Jun 25, 2010 at 12:11 PM

That shot/card of Colorado river on the outskirts of Moab looks amazing! Thank you for visiting my Ferch page.
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MD2nd Jun 25, 2010 at 12:06 PM

I bet that's a great feeling.. like being (back) in the wild west or in one of those western movies!!!