Between Yellowstone and Las Vegas

[5lilfish]

We are splitting this drive over 2 days even though we could do it in 1 day. We aren't exactly sure what time we will roll out of Yellowstone (whether we decide to go off and see one more thing or leave first thing in the morning) and we don't want to pull into Las Vegas at 1am with 5 kids. By splitting the drive, we may have time to stop and see something for an hour or 2. Any ideas on what we could do/see between Yellowstone and Vegas? Our kids will be 14, 13, 11, 4 and 4.

Thanks....
Jess

 

[momofeva]

I am guessing that you are going to leave through West Yellowstone.

If your kids like rocks, the rest stop between Idaho Falls and Blackfoot has a trail through some volcanic rocks.

There is a store just south of Brigham City, called Smith and Edwards that has just about everything you can think of including some Army surplus items. It is a lot like Wall Drug, just smaller and does not have a food counter.

If you are interested in the LDS Church, you can stop in Salt Lake City and see Temple Square.

If you want to see the Great Salt Lake that is west of Salt Lake City.

If you like Olympic History, you can stop in Salt Lake City and go to the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium and visit the Olympic museum. The cauldron is still there and other memorabilia from the 2002 Winter Olympics.

If you like caves, Timpanogos Cave is located south of Salt Lake City in American Fork Canyon. This has stalagmites and stalactites. If you choose this get online and make reservations and purchase tickets the sooner the better.

Further south, south of the I-70 junction, is Cove Fort. This is owned by the LDS Church and has history about the settling of Southern Utah.

You can go to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Get off at Parowan and then back on I-15 in Cedar City. This park has lots of interesting rock formations and colors. Not as spectacular as Zion's or Arches, but similar.

At Cedar City, there is the Shakespearean Festival in the summer. You could take in a play or just visit the campus of Southern Utah University and see the outdoor theater replica of Globe Theater.

After Cedar City, you are about 3 hours from Vegas.

 

[rbbs]

Provo is a nice place to stop....has a really nice waterpark if you have time also...

 

[jdb in AZ]

Park City, UT has shopping at outlet malls. They have alpine sleds -- fun to race each other during the summer. The U.S. freestyle ski jumping team trains in Park City. Have no idea what their schedule is, or whether it will mesh with your schedule, but during the summer they do their aerials then land in a swimming pool.

Farther south there's Bryce Canyon and Zion's Nat'l Park.

 

[skiingfast]

Do you know which way you will exit Yellowstone? Makes a bit of differerence.

 

[5lilfish]

Do you know which way you will exit Yellowstone? Makes a bit of differerence.

We are leaving from the Best Western in West Yellowstone.

Jess

 

[rbbs]

Park City, UT has shopping at outlet malls. They have alpine sleds -- fun to race each other during the summer. The U.S. freestyle ski jumping team trains in Park City. Have no idea what their schedule is, or whether it will mesh with your schedule, but during the summer they do their aerials then land in a swimming pool.

Farther south there's Bryce Canyon and Zion's Nat'l Park.

No way any of those stops work if they only have an hour or two for a stop/break. I have been to Park City and it is a bit of a windy/slow relatively out of the way drive from the I-5 and when I visted Bryce Canyon and Zion even moreso. Great destinations for designated trips but likely won't work in this case.

 

[skiingfast]

We are leaving from the Best Western in West Yellowstone.

Jess

Why I asked is because it will determine your route. (US 20 to I-15) is the fastest route from West Yellowstone) I have driven about this same route to LV many times. You can average 75mph, the common speed limit but in Southern Utah it's 85 for a ways, and through SLC slower but traffic will move.


As you travel south from West Yellowstone, about 5 miles south of Rexberg, ID on the right side of the divided highway US20 is Bear World.

It's primarily a drive though zoo. You can see some odd animals. Some non native animals. And of course lots of bears and some wolfs. It's ok if you haven't seen a bear before. But the ones at bear world are fat and lazy and not nearly in shape compared to bears in the wild. It also has a couple carnival rides too.

Under 5 miles off the freeway in McCammon, ID, on US30 is Lava Hotsprings, ID. It has a big pool with water slides, a couple soak pools, all different businesses. And there are a couple companies renting tubes to go down the river that runs through town. It is really wild rafting and I would get a double tub and hold onto the 4yo. The creek isn't big or terrible deep, but swift has a couple waterfalls and exciting rapids. It's very popular place on summer weekends. I've been there for many family reunions.

I also like the idea of vising Temple Square in SLC.


I would do this drive in one day, as I have many times. You gain an hour so with a 10 hour drive plus an hours for gas, bathroom and lunch if you leave at 8am you could arrive at 6pm really not bad.

But if you must split it, don't drive through SLC at rush hour. It is thick traffic for 100 miles. Almost all of the population of Utah lives along that 100 miles of freeway. No kidding. Go through SLC at night or midday. Not 4pm to 7pm, and not 6 am to 9am.

 

[lovebug33]

We came back to Vegas through Idaho. We were also stopping in Elko, so I don't know if we would have come home that way if we weren't going to Elko. However, we really enjoy Twin Falls, Idaho. There is a cool old time movie theater next to an awesome scrapbook store! If you are going through Utah, Thanksgiving Point, right outside of Provo is a great place to spend a few hours. There is a cool dinosaur museum, a 3-D movie, a farm, and gardens to look at. If you make it a few more days, you could stop in St. George (which is only two hours out of Vegas), and do Tuacahn. They have AWESOME productions and this year is Little Mermaid and Grease!

 

[MateasMom]

We're planning to do Little Mermaid this summer. I saw it on Broadway and we've been anxiously awaiting the tour, which doesn't seem to be happening, so we were pleased as heck to see that they would be doing a production at Tuacahn this summer .

My vote is for Thanksgiving Point. My vote is for the gardens (my kids LOVE the childrens garden, BTW), but you can't go wrong w/the farm or dino museum, either.

Also, stop at Iceberg (there's one just off the freeway in St George) for a thick milkshake. Totally yum. Share, they're huge.