Opinions for First National Park Visit

Our favorites in order:
Glacier
Tetons
Yellowstone - also visit Cody Wyoming and the Buffalo Bill Museum. They also have a rodeo in Cody.
We've been twice from Florida and once you select the parks, we can help with the route and campgrounds.

Where ever you go, I would suggest trying to stay in the park.The kids will enjoy the ranger programs and visitor centers.And don't forget there are a lot of lesser known National Parks and state parks that are neat.

MVH1 wrote:
We live in FL and I am looking for some opinions on which National Park(s) to visit for our first Western trip. We want to go out West and will have about 3 weeks and we have 3 young children. Planning for 2016, thanks.

I know we all don't have the same time availability but, if I only had 3 weeks, I would concentrate on one or two general areas, I'd do 3 days in Cody, then on to Yellowstone for 7 days ( which is not too long) by any stretch, then down to Grand Tetons for 3 days, then up to Glacier for 5 days. Now, having said that, none of this takes into consideration the large amounts of driving time, to & from Fla, you may want to save Glacier for another trip.

Fresno Tundra Driver wrote:
Glad to see nobody mentioned Yosemite. Stay away, it's awful!! Bryce, Zion and Grand Canyon are all close together. Sounds fun!

You're too late with that one, I already couldn't get a reservation IN Yosemite, back in March. Wound up down by Bass Lake.

If your planning to go this year, reservations may be your problem, but if its future, I would suggest Grand Canyon and Painted Desert which I only include because its nearby.
Also it depends what kind of trip you want to take, if its to take a look and move to the next park, you could probably see a few heading North up thru Utah and on to Yellowstone, but with kids, I'd explore the Grand Canyon and enjoy it, maybe taking a float trip down the river and a donkey trip.
If your kids are to young for that, I think I'd head for Yellowstone.

Yellowstone is tops for wildlife but Glacier NP in northwestern Montana is our favorite of all national parks but it is a long ways for Floridians. We have visited few if any really disappointing national parks. All the major ones in Utah are great. Grand Teton is very high on the list and it is "small" enough to see most of it in a few days. Also adjoins Yellowstone so those 2 would be my 1st priority.

How old are your kids? The interests of kids 5-10 years old are different that teens.

When are planning on going? Some parks (e.g. Arches) are pretty hot mid summer, but Yellowstone can be pretty snowy in May.

Answering these questions will guide us to make more informed recommendations.

Three weeks isn't very long for a trip out west. It's about 2000 miles one way and kids can get pretty antsy after 10 hours of driving a day, esp. if it's day after day. Some of the recommendations above mean you will mostly be driving every day to get from park to park. If this trip is about your kids, they'd much prefer to be outside rather than stuck in the back of your vehicle.

With that amount of time, I'd pick just a few and not try to see "all" of them. Likewise, I wouldn't even try for Yosemite or any of the California parks as that's a lot more driving.

I'd look at the southern Utah parks as one possible destination. Yellowstone and Grand Teton would be another. There's a lot to do in both areas so I'd pick one or the other and give you kids a chance to get outside and soak up the experience. Plan some stops on the way out and back to break up the trip.

If you do the southern Utah loop, check out Carlsbad Caverns and the Ozarks and Ouachita's on your trip out and back. If your kids are say older than 5 or six, consider a ride on the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. This will immerse them in an experience unlike anything they've encountered before. Amazing mountains, a steam engine, and a real wild west town with wooden sidewalks.

If you instead opt for the Yellowstone/Grand Teton visit, hit up the Black Hills on the way out or back. Lots to see and do besides Mt. Rushmore. Take them up to Sylvan Lake and rent a boat.

If you are coming all the way from Florida, you might go west to Texas and then over to Arizona, up to the Grand Canyon, then up to Zion, Bryze, Arches and then up to Wyoming through Jackson and into Grand Teton to various places, including Jenny Lake and Jackson Lake where you could take a cruise on the lake into the shadow of Mt. Moran. Then it's a short trip up to Yellowstone for a few days to see some of the features, including the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Old Faithful, Yellowstone Lake, Mammoth and Norris Junction,etc. Then, to top it off, you might take an additional route north to Glacier. However, if you only have three weeks, you might not be able to do justice to all these parks, but it will be a trip you and your family will not forget. Also, on the way back home, drop by Devil's Tower in eastern Wyoming, the first national monument in the United States.

We did Yosemite and Yellowstone this past year on separate trips Both Amazing, but 4yr old was really bored on the long drives back and forth inside Yellowstone. She still talks about the mud pots and Old Faithful though!

Last summer we did GC,Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef...and many more. I would suggest this loop for a few reasons, one being they are all so close together that your "limited" time frame will fit them more comfortably than the parks further north. We split those two loops into multiple years for that reason.

Here's a link detailing that trip.

Ragusa's Trip Report 2015