Jim Shoe wrote:
I absolutely love the Tetons - but I'm not between the ages of 5 and 12. The Tetons are known for their beauty. Yellowstone is known for its moving parts. Lots more things for your kids to see, like geysers, bubbling mud pots, the Yellowstone river and the upper and lower falls. And a lot more wildlife. Save the Tetons for the second trip when your kids can enjoy it. You can't even do Yellowstone in 5 days, but it will whet your appetite for a return trip.
In the Black Hills area, the Badlands is a drive thru, but you can spend some time in Custer State Park driving the wildlife loop, driving the needles highway, and feeding carrots to the herds of wild burros, and check out Mt. Rushmore as well as Crazy Horse.
You'll all want to go back in a few years. So much to see and do.
Hi there! In 2009, we drove some of the same route with a 7 and 8 year old. I'll share some thoughts with that perspective:
My kids liked Yellowstone alot more than the Tetons. They loved Old Faithful, the paint pots, and all of the wildlife we saw in the park. They would have been happy just to drive through the Tetons. Of course it's beautiful, but Yellowstone was more for them because they could see and do more. And different people will tell you how much time they think you need to spend there, but I think you can whet your appetite and give your kids a good experience in just a few days there. We drove more than we hiked because we knew my daughter wouldn't hold up long, but we saw hundreds of bison, a mom and baby moose, and lots of pronghorn.
You can drive through the Badlands in an hour or two. I loved it there and if it was just me, I'd stay overnight to see both the sunset and the sunrise in the park. We saw the sunset and it was beautiful. I took some great portraits of my kids with the prairie background on one of the park stops - they're gorgeous.
