Texas to Yellowstone - Road trip to celebrate retirement!

Jamie,

Love the web site!

We will retire this may after 40 years of coaching football. We have never had a non-summer vacation. We are planning on a three week trip to Yellowstone. we live in Fort Worth and could use some advice on sites on the way.

Thanks,

Pat

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Dear Pat --

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement, and thank you for writing to me about your next May road trip to Yellowstone. I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you; over Thanksgiving I seem to have lost track of a few things -- like answering my emails. Apologies!

For a three-week trip, you'll probably want at least a week in Yellowstone itself -- to enjoy all the geysers, the "Grand Canyon", and take a trip to neighboring Cody Wyoming, home of the fantastic Buffalo Bill wild west museum. (Which is _almost_ as good as your Amon Carter museum...). The Grand Tetons are also amazing -- though in may you run the risk of having to cope with lots of snow on trails and roads.

If you give yourself a week to get there and a week to get back, between Ft Worth and Wyoming there are a lot of fascinating possibilities. If I were doing the drive, I would probably head north and approach the Rockies via the North Platte River, along the old Oregon Trail, enjoying historic sites like Register Cliff and Chimney Rock and Fort Laramie (and maybe the Black Hills / Mt Rushmore area?)

Devil's Tower and the "Little Bighorn" battlefield are also (sort of ) on the way, if the weather looks cooperative. If the snows have cleared by May, the most scenic approach drive is via US-212 over Beartooth Pass (URL: http://www.beartoothhighway.com/ )

On the way back to Fort Worth, I'd be tempted to cross the Rockies and come back via Utah's national parks (Arches and Canyonlands et al), looping south through Monument Valley and the Four Corners region (I love Mesa Verde and the other ancient cliff palaces, like Canyon de Chelley in Arizona).

To finish the trip, you could visit Carlsbad Caverns and the Guadalupe Mountains (the highest peaks in Texas!). A clockwise tour would work, too.

You may well have been to some or all of these places, but I hope these suggestions help you have a great trip. I'm glad you've enjoyed the website, and if you get a chance I'd like to recommend the book version of Road Trip USA, which is more up-to-date, has lots of nice photos and extra info, in 900+ full color pages.

(It's 35% off at Amazon, too! ) :-)

Happy Trails,


Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA