Wyoming
 

Hello! I'm driving from Edmonton, Alberta to Wyoming at the end of June. I thought I'd check and see if you guys have any suggestions on "must see" places. Any particular things I should do? Places I should eat? I'll be traveling with a 15 year old.

You'll drive right by/through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks. My favorite places on earth. You could spend a week between the 2 and just skim the surface.

Also, if you go through either or both parks, you need a national parks pass of some sort. An adult pass is $80 for nationwide access for a year, I forget what the single entry fee was for both parks -- something like $25 US for a week. Seniors get a lifetime pass for $10, but not sure if that extends to non citizens.

Ditto on point 1. Traffic may and slow and accomodations hard to find at that time of year.

You'll likely also be driving by Glacier National Park (in Montana, just south of the Canadian border, where you can get the same pass before hand and visit another beautiful park.

Indeed another amazing place. The road across it the park opens in june sometime; when we were there a few years ago in early June it was still closed.

Note that each park sells park specific passes (I think the yellowstone and grand teton passes were together) and annual US passes. The senior citizen and disabled visitor discount passes are for US citizens and permanent residents only. If you chose to visit Glacier and Yellowstone, you've almost bought an annual pass worth or one week passes..

If you are passsing through Cody the Buffalo Bill Historical center may be worth a stop..

Depends on your 15 year old of course but it is a great museum IMO!

Thanks guys! I'll definitely look into these places.

When you say finding accommodation is difficult, are pretty much talking impossible? Is that all forms, or might I have a little hope with camping?

Given that we are coming out of a recession (at least so it appears), it is hard to guess without searching. Through the National Park Service website, you can reach the Yellowstone and GTeton sections, and from there the park accommodations website. Bookmark it even if price or availability is not there, and return every several days to check for new openings. I have no idea about camping; in a rational world which is in a downturn, I might expect more people to be camping than in a normal year. If no availability in the parks which works for timing and budget, try places in West Yellowstone or Dornan's (spelling?) or Togwotee Lodge, both near Grand Teton. In Cody, I had a good experience in a B&B in a former church several years ago; while I can also recommend the museum, Cody may be a bit out of your way, depending on your plans.

For hotels in and around Yellowstone and Grand Teton, there are several gateway cities that have hotels in them. There are also hotels inside the parks. Hotels in the parks will be significantly more expensive, less luxurious (mostly) but obviously better located. For my trip last month to Yellowstone, we stayed in Jackson Hole to visit the Tetons, which is just fine. You might try priceline for Kackson hole; we got a 4 star for $100 in Teton village.

For Yellowstone, the main places to stay outside the park are in West Yellowstone and Gardiner, in Montana. When you pull up a Yellowstone park map, you'll see the roads look like a square sitting on a hexagon. Each leg takes 20-30 minutes, and there may be construction and traffic jams. So factor taht into where oyustay and how you plan. We stayed at the Old Faithful inn for 2 nights, and in Gardiner for 3. I don't regret the $240 a night for the OF inn versus the $120 a night for the Best Western Gardiner because it fit my schedule, but thats the price differential. The rooms were similar except no TV nor internet at the OF inn.