Right after finishing up my first semester of grad school, my mom and I were itching to leave Massachusetts and go on our first vacation together in almost two years!

With COVID still very active throughout the US, we decided to choose a place where we’d be out in the open and around more trees than people. We really enjoyed our Utah road trip, so we decided to do another out West. Both of us fell in love with Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks through photos, so we thought this would be the perfect trip.

I’ll be doing detailed posts of both national parks in the near future, but first I wanted to give you an overview of our trip! Throughout the 6 days, we drove in and out of 4 states: Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.

Our path:

Day 1:

Flew from Boston to Salt Lake on a late night flight and crashed at a hotel near the SLC airport.

Day 2:

Left Salt Lake City and headed to Jackson, Wyoming, making a stop in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho along the way.
Total Drive Time: 4 hours

Day 3

Woke up in Jackson, Wyoming and used it as a home base to explore Grand Teton for the day.

Day 4:

Woke up in Jackson and headed to West Yellowstone, Montana on the western edge of Yellowstone since the John D. Rockefeller parkway connecting Grand Teton and Yellowstone was closed.
Stayed the night in West Yellowstone after exploring the park for the day.
Total Drive Time: 2 hours

Day 5:

Woke up in West Yellowstone, Montana.
Explored another portion of the park for the day and stayed within the park at Mammoth Springs, on the border of Wyoming and Montana.
Total Drive Time: 1.5 hours