America's Great National Parks05 Aug 2019
THOMAS
“My wife and I had seen many of our national parks, but had never been to the northwest. We took a trip in September sponsored by Vacations By Rail to Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Canyonlands, and Arches. We met the remainder of our group (46 in all from various parts of the country) in Chicago along with Jennifer, our guide for the tour. The journey from Chicago to East Glacier, Montana, was long (30 hours), but smooth riding. Our hotel for the next 3 nights was the beautiful Lodge, a very imposing log building built by the Great Western RR in the late 1800s. The scenery was fantastic, especially on our Going to the Sun Road on the famous Red Jammers. We saw lots of game, but no bear or wolves. Our 2 night stay in Yellowstone was equally impressive, especially The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Lots of elk and bison along the way. The Grand Tetons were impressive. If we had to pick our favorite park at this point in the tour, we could not. Each was beautiful in its own way. The highlight of our Tetons portion of the trip was the rafting down the Snake River past the Teton Range. We spent 2 nights in Jackson at The Jackson Lodge, the nicest of our hotels in creature comforts. The highlight of Jackson was our evening at The Bar J Ranch for a chuckwagon dinner (those cowpokes sure do eat well) and country entertainment. A must do evening. I, unfortunately, became ill on our trip to Salt Lake City, and had to return home. I give kudos to Vacations By Rail in arranging such a fantastic trip. They employed a wonderful guide, Jennifer, who was so knowledgeable about every place we went. She and our very capable driver, Glenn, arranged rest stops that were not only spaced just right, but in places that were extremely interesting. One was at a bakery in the middle of nowhere that had the best cinnamon rolls. Another was at a picturesque chapel by the Snake River. Another was next to an elk horn bridge and a candy store. Thank you, Vacations By Rail, for a wonderful trip.
Collected by Vacations By Rail
(128 reviews)
