Just another thought. How many dollars do you think I need for the trip. Am planning to take a cash passport. maybe $1000? what do you think?
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
