day 1 arrive
day 2 Tetons
day 3 Tetons (or start Yellowstone exploring early to allow for a bad weather day mid-week)
day 4 Old Faithful and surrounding
day 5 Yellowstone Canyon and surrounding
day 6 Mammoth area and Fire Hole canyon hot springs
day 7 Lamar Valley
day 8 Bear Tooth Highway on the way to Billings Logan Airport
Tetons are 2 hr 24 min from West Yellowstone, and West Yellowstone is
To Jackson Airport (JAC) 2 hr 39 min
To Billings Logan Airport, 3 hr 50 min
To Bozeman MT (BZN), 1 hr 47 min from various airports, so we started to consider breaking the week up into 3 parts with different rental houses for different areas of exploration instead of just having one place near the parks, and one place near the Bear Tooth Highway.
Option 1, (called "staying 3 places") fly into Jackson (JAC), stay in chalet in Jackson Hole 1st 3 nights, house in West Yellowstone 2nd 3 nights, last night in Cooke City, leave via Billings Logan Airport
Options 2, (called "2 hotels") fly into Jackson (JAC), stay in Grant Village 1st 6 nights, last night in Cooke City, leave via Billings Logan Airport
compare:
driving times: staying 3 places: 14 hr 33 min, 2 hotels: 18 hr 39 min
lodging costs: staying 3 places: Idaho: 253
West Yellowstone 556 Old Faith Snow Lodge: $990
Lupine Inn (Red Lodge) 125 Lupine Inn (Red Lodge) 125
Total for 3 places $934 Total for 2 places $1115
times spent unloading and loading cars: checking in/out and loading unloading cars
staying 3 places: sat, tues, fri = 4 + 4 + 4hr 2 hotels: 4+ 4hrs (sat, fri)
(IMO we easily spend 2 hours unloading, figuring out who gets which room, finding toothbrushes, etc)
cost saved by having a kitchen: staying in 3 places: -$220
($20/breakfast X 5 breakfasts, $30/dinner X 4 dinners)
intangible benefits: 3 places: living room in which kids play together while adults drink and plan
2 hotels: one less time packing and unpacking could reduce stress
Option 1
day 1: 17 min driving, 2 hours unpacking = 2 h 17
day 2: 1 hr 8 min driving
day 3: 1 hr 8 min driving,
day 4: 2 hr packing, 3 hr 21 min driving, 2 hr unpacking = 7 hr 21 min not sight seeing
day 5: 2 hr 36 min driving
day 6: 3 hr 10 min driving
day 7: 2 hour packing, 2 hr 53 min driving, 2 hr unpacking = 6 hr 53 min not sight seeing
day 8: 2 hour packing, 2 hr 23 min driving to airport via Bear Tooth Highway, late flight
Option 2
day 1: 1 hr 31 min min driving, 2 hours unpacking = 3 hr 31 min
day 2: 2 hr 48 min driving
day 3: 2 hr 48 min driving,
day 4: 1 hr 6 min driving,
day 5: 2 hr 10 min driving
day 6: 3 hr 42 min driving
day 7: 2 hour packing, 2 hr 53 min driving, 2 hr unpacking = 6 hr 53 min not sight seeing
day 8: 2 hour packing, 2 hr 23 min driving to airport via Bear Tooth Highway, late flight
