In just over two weeks, we travelled over 3,000 miles and in nine states. Most mornings we left at 8.30am, sometimes at 8.00am. The only exceptions were the days with the optional flights, which had an early start. On the many travelling days, we usually arrived at our hotel between 5.00-6.00pm, occasionally later. Although the travelling days were long, they were broken up by regular "comfort stops" - I don't think we were ever on the coach for more than two hours without a stop. We usually stopped off at a place of interest or at the very least a shop/garage that had tea/coffee facilities and/or a gift shop. The hotels were of a reasonable standard, with some of a good standard. Just over half of them were motels. Breakfast was generally a hot buffet, with a couple of the more out of the way motels serving a simpler continental style breakfast. One thing to bear in mind in this trip is that you travel through sparsely populated areas and some of the hotels/resorts only exist to serve the nearby national park. Some of the hotels had restaurants; the rest had a range of suitable places to eat nearby. Deborah, the tour manager, always made some suggestions as to where we could eat and waited around the lobby/reception area after check in, to ensure that we were all ok and were sorted with somewhere to eat.

The tour itself was outstanding - we fitted a huge amount in for the time available. I had looked at other companies and I don't think any other tour operator offers a comparable tour of the national parks. The first day, from Denver to Rapid City is really just a travelling day, so don't expect much by way of spectacular scenery! It gets more interesting as you head into South Dakota, with nice hilly scenery. The next day took our breath away - the scenery at Badlands NP was outstanding. This was followed by very interesting visits to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse memorial - an action packed day!

The visit to Deadwood was brilliant - especially, as Olive mentioned, the tour of the town in the yellow school bus with a company owned by Kevin Costner. The driver really was hilarious and it was great fun. Most of us had an excellent lunch in Costner's restaurant Diamond Lil's afterwards (which had memorbilia from his films everywhere). The following day saw us head to the site of the Little Bighorn battlefield. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this much as I don't have a great interest in military history or anything, but the guides we had that day were excellent and brought the story to life in dramatic fashion. We then went on to Cody, a lovely little town and I wish we had had a second day there, as I would have liked to explore it further. We had the option of going to a cowboy show that evening, with dinner included, and I really didn't know what to expect. What happened was I had one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life! The show consisted of a group of four country and western musicians - a father, mother, their friend and their eldest son (who is 14). They are all champion musicians in their own right and treated us to a fun-filled evening of music and banter - and I don't even like country music!

Next up was an unforgettable two day visit to Yellowstone NP - I had high expectations and even though the weather was cold and showery, I was in no way disappointed - the colours and sights were incredible. We then travelled through stunning mountain scenery of the Grand Tetons and Bear Lake. I recommend the excursion down the Snake River, it was very relaxing and we saw lots of wildlife, including 25 bald eagles, which our rower Levi said was a record!

Salt Lake City was interesting, learning about the Mormon faith and admiring the beautiful floral displays. The excursion to the Great Salt Lake and Park City was enjoyable and pleasant but not overly exciting! After that the tour cranked up another gear and our breath was taken away again when we reached Arches National Park. The weather was glorious by now and the colours and rock formations were amazing. Mesa Verde was an interesting experience (although the historical introduction was a little overly long) - the rock houses were another unique experience, set in a lush canyon.

The visit to Four Corners was fun as we all posed for photos with a limb in each of the four states. Then came another wondrous highlight - the mighty Monument Valley. I did the four wheel tour and the flight (which was absolutely stunning - expensive but well worth it, as we saw the Valley, Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon from lots of different perspectives). The following day we went to the Grand Canyon - we had plenty of time there and the views were again hard to take in. I had visited the Grand Canyon before on the Golden West tour, but this time we visited different viewing points so I got a completely different perspective. I also did the helicopter flight which again was well worth it and great fun. The Lake Powell cruise was very relaxing with more great scenery as we sped through part of Antelope Canyon (we didn't have the opportunity to visit the famous slot canyon, which was my only regret of the whole tour - but you can't do everything!).

The final couple of days took us to Bryce Canyon (yet another different but stunning landscape; I did the Bryce flight but not the Rainbow Bridge flight and again would recommend it for more stunning scenery) and Zion NP, where we had a ground view and plenty of time to walk around the park and then onto Vegas. Unfortunately the bus broke down while we were having a comfort stop, but our tour manager organised for us to take refuge at Peggy Sue's diner/bar where we had a lot of fun (some of us more than others, ahem!). As a consequence, we arrived later than scheduled into Vegas and had to forego the Vegas by Night tour (I received a lovely letter from JY this morning apologising for the bus breakdown and a refund will be forthcoming). We had a rare lie-in the next morning and then an extended morning tour, followed by free time before we went to the airport. The group was divided between those who loved Vegas and those who didn't - I fell into the former category and for me, it was a great end to an outstanding tour.

This review has ended up being a lot longer than I had planned, but I would like those interested to know that it is a full-on tour, but truly a holiday of a lifetime. Expect it to be colder than elsewhere in Yellowstone and again at Bryce. With such a long and intensive itinerary and a large group (40), there was inevitably the occasional hiccup, but our tour manager Deborah Flower took everything in her stride and kept us entertained with her off-the-wall sense of humour. The group were very friendly and mixed extremely well together. I have never laughed so much on a holiday, or taken so many stunning photos, so thank you Just You for a holiday that will remain in my memory for the rest of my life.

Any queries that others interested in doing this holiday may have and I'll do my best to answer them!

Cheers,

Bob

BB

:thumbup:

Great review it sounds like most of the USA tours full on...but then you see so much...thanks for writing such a comprehensive review pointing all the points out.

Sounds like you had a great time and a good bunch of fellow travellers.

Cindy

Most people changed for dinner on most evenings, but did not "dress up!" On some evenings, we went to a nice restaurant and on others to diner type places or a steakhouse. I budgeted $50 a day (for food, drinks and souvenirs) and that worked out about right. Don't go to the diner beside the hotel in Rapid City, it's not good. Instead go to the one further up the road, it's beside a bar - I think it's called Cheers and you can order in one and eat/drink in the other! The TM recommended we did this, but some of us were tired and decided to go to the diner on site and we regretted it afterwards! On some evenings we were late in arriving at our hotel, so we didn't bother changing for dinner. As the old saying goes, play it by ear!

I'd advise warm clothes for Yellowstone and Bryce. I think we had showers on four days, but no day was completely wet. Given the way the weather is these days, it could be completely dry in October or wetter than we had it! During our tour, we managed to avoid the flooding in Colorado by a day, we skirted around thunderstorms for four days (and had two brief thunderstorms, but nothing like what the surrounding areas had!), we saw a fire near the Grand Canyon (from the air) and narrowly avoided a landslide near Cortez which fractured the road asunder! Someone was looking out for us!

Hi Cindy, thanks for your comments, it was a really great tour and a good bunch of fellow travellers - we really did have a lot of laughs and it was a great adventure!

Cheers,

Bob

Hope this helps you come to a decision....it's a fabulous tour which I'm sure you will enjoy.

Cheers

Mike

What an excellent and comprehensive review. I would like to do this trip one day - was in two minds before, but reading your review has whet my appetite.

Regards

Jaya

I always try to do a bit of research regarding climate before I book, to go at the best time of year to whatever destination. But given the unpredictability of the weather these days it's very hard to get it right! I choose Sept for this tour as I've tried to get away in spring and autumn for the last few years (since I stopped saving and started spending!!) and I thought Sept would be a good time to visit the parks etc and on the whole it was. The weather was a bit mixed, but thankfully the rainy days were showery rather than very wet and it didn't stop me getting good photos!! On the second half of the tour, the weather was perfect, sunny and blue skies.

The thing about this tour is that you are at relatively high altitudes for most of it - between 5,000-10,000ft! So the weather can be very different in the parks compared to the surrounding area. For example, the temperatures and weather in Yellowstone can vary from place to place, depending on the altitude and other factors. Also you might get a little breathless from the altitude and a bit of a headache - most of us had this at times, but it was never bad or stopped us from enjoying wherever we were.

Going on the 2014 dates, I'd reckon the best weather overall and therefore the best scenery would probably be on the June date. In May there could be snow in parts of Yellowstone (and again on the Oct date) and some roads might be closed. There could be snow again in Bryce. But as I said, it really is very hit and miss these days. Olive went in May this year and had better weather than we did in Sept! I was in South America last year when it should have been their spring, sunny and 20C, and the snow had only just left Chile and western Argentina! I also experienced somewhat unseasonable weather in northern Vietnam. So it really is a lottery these days!

Any other questions I'll do my best to answer them!

All the best,

Bob

Cheers,

Bob

Cheers,

Bob

PS I wonder how the folks on the Manchester departure are getting on..?

liz

hi bob thanks for your review on your holiday......im going on same holiday in june so reading your review has answered some of my questions! ive never been on a holiday like this before so im really nervous and excited at the same time i would love to do all the excursions but its weather ive got the money to do them!

liz

Hi Liz, I'm delighted to hear you're going on this tour! I took so many fantastic photos and the memories are keeping me going through a stressful return to work! Most of the excursions were included and of the optionals, the Snake River float, Monument Valley 4x4 and the flights were the best. If they are still offering the Salt Lake excursion to the lake and Park City I wouldn't be too worried about doing that one - it wasn't very exciting and some folks had a very nice morning wandering around the city or having a lie in instead!

As the flights are expensive, you might want to just do one or two of them. We were offered four and I did three of them - they were all great but if I had to narrow it down further I'd definitely recommend the Grand Canyon helicopter flight (30 mins) which was stunning (and I love choppers, much more enjoyable than a little cessna plane!) and also the Monument Valley flight (1 1/2 hours). This latter flight was the most expensive one (I think £275 or something) but it was the best of the three optional plane flights - we flew over Monument Valley itself, the whole Lake Powell/Grand Canyon area and saw so many great sights including Rainbow Bridge, Marble Canyon and more. The Bryce Canyon flight (45 mins) was very good also, but it was more of a flight from the Grand Canyon to Bryce, rather than over and around Bryce Canyon itself if you know what I mean (if not, I'll try and explain it better!). The flight I didn't do was the Rainbow Bridge flight; this was the cheapest and shortest flight (30 mins), which was really just a flight from the Grand Canyon airport to Rainbow Bridge and back. However, those who did this flight really enjoyed it too, but I'd say it was the least spectacular of the ones offered (this I gathered from those who had done all the flights). Hope this helps. If you've never been to Vegas before, do the optional night tour - great fun and you'll see Vegas at its best!

Cheers,

Bob

Bob, that's a great review, sounds like it was well managed and well run. I've fancied this holiday before and now it's firmly in mind for next year. I love all the cowboy stuff from growing up with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, so right up my street.

Many thanks, we heard a lot of the wild west stories especially around Deadwood and the little town of Cody was really great. The Little Big Horn and Crazy Horse stories were very interesting too, more than I thought they would be! If you do this tour, check the gift shops on the first half of the tour (in other words, when you are in the heart of the wild west towns) for a little book called Outlaws and Lawmen - it is very readable and has short profiles of all the main characters. We stopped off at a little railway museum while in Idaho, I can't remember the name but it was fascinating - lots of items from the building of the railways and society of the times and charting the progress of the pioneers as they journeyed west. There was so much included in this tour, too much for one review but it is one tour I would consider doing again at some stage - it was that good. As I said elsewhere, the accomodation varied but I go to see the sights, not to wallow in luxury. I can do that at home (not!).

All the best,

Bob

Hi I've just returned from the National Parks, Mount Rushmore and Little Big Horn tour that left on 9 Sept and what a brilliant holiday it was! It was clear from the itinerary that it would be a long but rewarding tour and I was not disappointed - in fact, it surpassed all my expectations. My appetite had been well and truly whetted by the excellent review given by Olive some months back, so I'll try my best not to duplicate what she said.

In just over two weeks, we travelled over 3,000 miles and in nine states. Most mornings we left at 8.30am, sometimes at 8.00am. The only exceptions were the days with the optional flights, which had an early start. On the many travelling days, we usually arrived at our hotel between 5.00-6.00pm, occasionally later. Although the travelling days were long, they were broken up by regular "comfort stops" - I don't think we were ever on the coach for more than two hours without a stop. We usually stopped off at a place of interest or at the very least a shop/garage that had tea/coffee facilities and/or a gift shop. The hotels were of a reasonable standard, with some of a good standard. Just over half of them were motels. Breakfast was generally a hot buffet, with a couple of the more out of the way motels serving a simpler continental style breakfast. One thing to bear in mind in this trip is that you travel through sparsely populated areas and some of the hotels/resorts only exist to serve the nearby national park. Some of the hotels had restaurants; the rest had a range of suitable places to eat nearby. Deborah, the tour manager, always made some suggestions as to where we could eat and waited around the lobby/reception area after check in, to ensure that we were all ok and were sorted with somewhere to eat.

The tour itself was outstanding - we fitted a huge amount in for the time available. I had looked at other companies and I don't think any other tour operator offers a comparable tour of the national parks. The first day, from Denver to Rapid City is really just a travelling day, so don't expect much by way of spectacular scenery! It gets more interesting as you head into South Dakota, with nice hilly scenery. The next day took our breath away - the scenery at Badlands NP was outstanding. This was followed by very interesting visits to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse memorial - an action packed day!

The visit to Deadwood was brilliant - especially, as Olive mentioned, the tour of the town in the yellow school bus with a company owned by Kevin Costner. The driver really was hilarious and it was great fun. Most of us had an excellent lunch in Costner's restaurant Diamond Lil's afterwards (which had memorbilia from his films everywhere). The following day saw us head to the site of the Little Bighorn battlefield. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this much as I don't have a great interest in military history or anything, but the guides we had that day were excellent and brought the story to life in dramatic fashion. We then went on to Cody, a lovely little town and I wish we had had a second day there, as I would have liked to explore it further. We had the option of going to a cowboy show that evening, with dinner included, and I really didn't know what to expect. What happened was I had one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life! The show consisted of a group of four country and western musicians - a father, mother, their friend and their eldest son (who is 14). They are all champion musicians in their own right and treated us to a fun-filled evening of music and banter - and I don't even like country music!

Next up was an unforgettable two day visit to Yellowstone NP - I had high expectations and even though the weather was cold and showery, I was in no way disappointed - the colours and sights were incredible. We then travelled through stunning mountain scenery of the Grand Tetons and Bear Lake. I recommend the excursion down the Snake River, it was very relaxing and we saw lots of wildlife, including 25 bald eagles, which our rower Levi said was a record!

Salt Lake City was interesting, learning about the Mormon faith and admiring the beautiful floral displays. The excursion to the Great Salt Lake and Park City was enjoyable and pleasant but not overly exciting! After that the tour cranked up another gear and our breath was taken away again when we reached Arches National Park. The weather was glorious by now and the colours and rock formations were amazing. Mesa Verde was an interesting experience (although the historical introduction was a little overly long) - the rock houses were another unique experience, set in a lush canyon.

The visit to Four Corners was fun as we all posed for photos with a limb in each of the four states. Then came another wondrous highlight - the mighty Monument Valley. I did the four wheel tour and the flight (which was absolutely stunning - expensive but well worth it, as we saw the Valley, Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon from lots of different perspectives). The following day we went to the Grand Canyon - we had plenty of time there and the views were again hard to take in. I had visited the Grand Canyon before on the Golden West tour, but this time we visited different viewing points so I got a completely different perspective. I also did the helicopter flight which again was well worth it and great fun. The Lake Powell cruise was very relaxing with more great scenery as we sped through part of Antelope Canyon (we didn't have the opportunity to visit the famous slot canyon, which was my only regret of the whole tour - but you can't do everything!).

The final couple of days took us to Bryce Canyon (yet another different but stunning landscape; I did the Bryce flight but not the Rainbow Bridge flight and again would recommend it for more stunning scenery) and Zion NP, where we had a ground view and plenty of time to walk around the park and then onto Vegas. Unfortunately the bus broke down while we were having a comfort stop, but our tour manager organised for us to take refuge at Peggy Sue's diner/bar where we had a lot of fun (some of us more than others, ahem!). As a consequence, we arrived later than scheduled into Vegas and had to forego the Vegas by Night tour (I received a lovely letter from JY this morning apologising for the bus breakdown and a refund will be forthcoming). We had a rare lie-in the next morning and then an extended morning tour, followed by free time before we went to the airport. The group was divided between those who loved Vegas and those who didn't - I fell into the former category and for me, it was a great end to an outstanding tour.

This review has ended up being a lot longer than I had planned, but I would like those interested to know that it is a full-on tour, but truly a holiday of a lifetime. Expect it to be colder than elsewhere in Yellowstone and again at Bryce. With such a long and intensive itinerary and a large group (40), there was inevitably the occasional hiccup, but our tour manager Deborah Flower took everything in her stride and kept us entertained with her off-the-wall sense of humour. The group were very friendly and mixed extremely well together. I have never laughed so much on a holiday, or taken so many stunning photos, so thank you Just You for a holiday that will remain in my memory for the rest of my life.

Any queries that others interested in doing this holiday may have and I'll do my best to answer them!

Cheers,

Bob

Hi BGray I'm going on this holiday in 3weeks n I'm wondering do you get time to go shopping like clothes shopping? I dont know why to do as I don't want to take loads of clothes and realize that I can get some over there!

If you can help us I'd appercatie it thanks Liz

All the best,

Bob

I've been reading the posts and your reviews with great interest as I'm going on the trip mid September. Hoping for good weather but prepared for anything! Just been watching Ray Mears "How the Wild West was Won" to whet my appetite. Useful tip about clothes washing. I was wondering how many changes of outfits I might need. Presumably there isn't an overnight laundry service at the hotels? What size group were you in? I've only been on 1 Just You holiday before and that was about 25 in Croatia and at 59 I was the baby of the group! What is the walking terrain like? Would I need ridge soled walking trainers? Am very excited and really looking forward to it! Mary

Hi Liz hope this doesn't disappoint you but this is not a shopping holiday! Most of the places you stay in are small and in some cases really only exist to serve the national park. The only real shopping opportunites for clothes would probably be in Salt Lake City, where there is free time, especially if you don't do the Great Salt Lake/Park City tour, you could go around SLC instead. You will of course have plenty of opportunity to do souvenir shopping at various gift shops and many of these have souvenir t-shirts, caps etc but not general clothes. Hope this helps. I washed clothes as I went along - whenever we had a two night stopover, I washed underwear etc which meant I always had something clean to wear!!

All the best,

Bob