Planning Yellowstone/Teton Trip (from Iowa)

We did this trip in July with a few differences. First of all you will be driving right past the Rapid City/ Custer State Park/ Black Hills area which I think is a must see. It was arguably my most favorite part of the trip. We stayed at Fishing Bridge for 4 days and that was just enough time to drive the "figure 8" and hit all of the high points.... Zero hiking. Keep in mind from the east entrance to Fishing Bridge is 53 miles.... You most definitely want to stay in the park or you will be driving a ton more than you are already going to. If I had to do it again I'd stay at Fishing Bridge for a few days to explore the lower loop and then move up toward Mammoth Springs/Gardenier for the top loop. It takes forever to drive around the park with a max speed limit of 45mph. Colter Bay is where you want to stay in the Grand Tetons. It's literally a 2min walk to Jackson Lake, and very convenient to everything else. We stayed for two nights there and if I didn't have to go back to work I would have stayed for a couple more.