Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, Cheyenne

texasjayco wrote:
Planning a trip to these three areas next year late Aug or early Sept. Looking to get ideas of things to do other than the obvious.

Tentative plan is to leave central Texas and go to Rushmore, then to Yellowstone, then back to Texas through Cheyenne.

We've never been to either of these areas, so in your opinion, how much time is needed for each area?

We have about 2 weeks, but we live outside of Austin, Tx so just getting to Rushmore is going to be three easy days or two hard days.
Probably do the three day plan.

While at Rushmore, we want to also see Crazy Horse. Your other suggestions? Is one full day enough for this area?

I imagine Yellowstone area probably should be a trip in itself, and will be some day. But is three days enough to at east get a good feel of the park?

My wife wants to visit Cheyenne, Wy. Nothing in particular to do, just always wanted to visit this town. What's on your "must see/do" list for Cheyenne? One full day enough there?

We have a 40ft 5th wheel and a Ford dually TV

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

Mark

We just came back from a similar trip, and I'll echo a lot of the comments above. Definitely do the Mt. Rushmore evening ceremony, especially if you're a veteran (in which case you'll be able to participate in retiring the colors). And definitely plan on spending at least a day in the Black Hills and Custer State Park. I have a little blog that describes our experiences in both locations here: http://skiprd.com/?p=855, including a map of the suggested route through the Black Hills. So there's at least a couple days there.

We actually prefer Grand Tetons over Yellowstone, but it's a lot like preferring filet mignon over rack of lamb--both indescribably wonderful, just different animals. Grand Tetons: http://skiprd.com/?p=961. Yellowstone: http://skiprd.com/?p=952. We spent three days in Yellowstone, which was enough for us, but we'd been there several times before. I'd say that's the minimum time for a first-timer. We spent 5 days in Grand Tetons, which was a little shy of adequate time for our agenda.

And I cannot recommend Cody Wyoming highly enough. I know it sounds weird, but imagine FIVE (that's right, five) world-class, Smithsonian-quality museums in one place. And the Cody Cattle Company has a great dinner show, plus there's a fun rodeo, and seeing Old Trail Town is good for another hour or two. All described here: http://skiprd.com/?p=1062.

We didn't do Cheyenne, except to drive through it during a howling (like 40 mph) cross-wind, driving as fast as we could to outrun a national news-worthy storm with grapefruit-sized hail just off to the left! So someone else will have to fill in the details for that stop.

Have fun. It's a great area of the country and I can hardly wait to go back!

Skip

On edit: Sorry, one more thought. For Yellowstone, be careful of staying at Fishing Bridge. As you can see from the reviews (see here: http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/wyoming/yellowstone-national-park/fishing-bridge-campground-nps-campground), there are two areas of that campground and one (unfortunately the one we stayed in) is without a doubt the worst National Park campground I've ever stayed at. Some people say that staying at Fishing Bridge, despite its shortcomings, is worth it because Yellowstone is so big. I'm not so sure. Just do your homework first.