Our Family Vacation to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole (Driggs)

For Christmas, instead of traditional Christmas gifts, my parents give the family a vacation somewhere that we can drive to. My parents pay for three nights at an Airbnb, in a house we can all fit in, they also give everyone a matching shirt too. This year we picked Jackson Hole as our main destination, we stayed in Driggs, which is about an hour drive to Jackson Hole. Some of us extended the trip so we could visit Yellowstone, and stay in Island Park because it’s only about an hour away. We take turns making a meal at the house, pack lunches for the day, and do a lot of things that don’t cost much besides gas to get there. We do decide as a group where we want to go each year, everyone looks forward to it!

I bring my nice camera and camera stand and snap a group photo, the one time of year we can get all of us in a picture.

Where we stayed in Island Park-

We knew we wanted to be in a house, everyone all together, and there are a lot of options in Island Park. West Yellowstone is the closest entrance for us, Island Park is about 20 minutes from West Yellowstone. We stayed at this Arcadia Refuge rental home. It was really nice! We loved the space, the amount of beds and bathrooms and especially appreciated the extra bikes and watercraft (kayaks and tubes) they had for us to use. The home was close to the water, but not on the water, we loaded items in a truck and drive to the dock to play.

Something exciting to come…

I have loved Yellowstone since I was a kid and it has been a dream to have a cabin somewhere by Yellowstone. Before we came on this trip we planned to look at a few homes that were for sale, we have been looking for home we could turn into an Airbnb… and happy to share, we found a home! We made an offer that was accepted! Love that it is right on the water, close to Lakeside Lodge, has great places to bike, and 30 minutes from Yellowstone National Park. Waiting for inspection and other things before it is official, but hopefully we will have an Airbnb that you can stay at next year! Stay tuned!

What we did in Yellowstone and Island Park-

Yellowstone Park lower loop
- Grand Prismatic Springs (hike to the overlook)
- Old Faithful
- Fishing Bridge
- Upper Falls Overlook
- Artist Point
What we want to do next time in Yellowstone Park- The Upper loop, and start earlier! It was getting late and we had 1 1/2 hour drive back to our cabin for dinner. We called it a day even though we would have liked to have see Mammoth Hot Springs. Next time! We could have come back the next day but no one really wanted to spend that much time in the car again.
Big Springs
Johnny Sack Cabin
Breakfast at Campfire Lodge
Bike ride around Island Park
Lakeside Lodge– for summer water sport rental of paddle boards, kayaks, Sea-doo’s, boats and winter sport rentals
Kayak and Rope Swing by Buttermilk Campground- Reservoir North is the dirt road we took to get there, over mud puddles!
Mesa Falls, Upper and Lower Falls- this is about 30 min from Island Park and on your way to Jackson Hole, highly recommend stopping here! Upper Falls is a lookout point and Lower Falls is a short, flat hike to see the Lower Falls.
Scenic Float on the Yellowstone River

There is so much to do in Yellowstone! You could spend a whole week exploring. Summer is definitely a busier time to go. The lines to get in the park were long, I will say those that planned ahead and prepaid, their lines were longer. We waited about 30 minutes to get in the park. We made a plan before we went to the park so that we weren’t stopping a ton. There were places we hadn’t been and those were the main stops we wanted to make. We headed south and did the lower loop. We were told to download the Guidealong app and buy the Yellowstone tour, plays in the car as you drive and gives a lot of fun facts and information. PS- if you have young kids bring things to do in the car, movie, books, lots of snacks for everyone, etc.

First we stopped at the Grand Prismatic Springs, it’s larger than a football field and also 25 stories deep. Very beautiful to see, the blue and orange colors! We decided to take the Fairy Falls trailhead and hike the half mile to then overlook so that we could see the colors. When you park right at the Springs you are really up close and can’t see the colors as well. The hike was extra fun because there was a bison on the trail that we could get some pictures with…obviously staying 25 feet or more away. Bring water!

Then we headed down the road to Old Faithful. You can check the time the geyser is going to erupt here. We saw a sign in the shop at the lodge that told us the time, which can be off by about 15 minutes. Old Faithful erupted about 10 minutes early for us. We ate at the cafeteria last time we came, and it was good food. This time we packed a lunch and ate in the car as we drove. But, we did get ice cream at the General Store, perfect treat for the hot weather! We also did a little shopping here, I found a Yellowstone pennant banner. Then we headed to Fishing Bridge, my dad really wanted to stop here to see fish he remembered from his youth. We didn’t see any but it was a pretty spot to stretch your legs.

We drove past the mud volcano because we were in a hurry to get to Upper and Lower falls. If you have time, stop! We ended at the perfect spot, first upper falls, beautiful waterfall but then drove a little further to Artist Point. Wow! What a view. Everyone’s favorite! You see the lower falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Reservoir North in Island Park-

Our second day in Island Park was another hot day, my brother looked into finding us a spot to play in the water. We drove about 20 minutes down a dirt road past Buttermilk campground, the road is Reservoir North. This was the kids favorite day. We had the cove all to ourselves, packed sandwiches and snacks again and played all afternoon. Some of the kids caught frogs, crawdads and we also found a rope swing.

At most destinations, especially when we were around water, there were mosquitos. This insect repellent is a must-have I travel with. Same with a diffuser and oils! Here are all my travel favorites.

Johnny Sack Cabin and Big Springs-

We stopped at Big Springs, I was not expecting such a fun place to visit. A quick 20 minute drive and you find a crystal clear, serene little spot, topped off with a darling little water mill. You can hike around the springs to Johnny Sack cabin, it was closed when we went, the cabin looked so charming. There were giant trout under the bridge we fed.

Where we stayed in Jackson Hole (Driggs)-

Our cabin was in Driggs, the Mountain Haven Retreat (it was big for all of us, the only reason I would stay) there was just no air conditioning on the main floor, there was air conditioning upstairs and downstairs, just not the main floor. We brought fans because we didn’t think it had any air conditioning, glad we did (they should have had fans!) We love to play sports as a family and this home had a beautiful yard with lots of green grass. My mom had bought this volleyball net and we played every night. We love playing volleyball because everyone can play and feel included. The net was nice, and easy to set up. The kids did it!

What we did in Teton National Park and Jackson Hole-

Teton National Park
- Mormon Historic Row
- Jenny Lake- ferry ride, hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. Next time I want to hike around Jenny Lake, I heard bear spray is a must!
- Dornan’s Restaurant
Jackson Hole
- Moo’s Gourmet Ice Cream
- Lee’s Tee’s– the girls got Jackson Hole sweatshirts, and Finn got a toy
- Made– cute shop we got hats, posters and other fun finds
- Mursell’s Sweet Shop– very fun candy and soda shop
Driggs and Victor
- Victor Emporium for shake
- Pinky G’s Pizza
- Big Hole BBQ– we just got fries, sweet potato fries, and onion rings to go
- Float the Teton River– we rented Kayaks at Teton River Supply
What we want to do next time in Teton National Park-
- My sister had eaten at Dornan’s (close to Jenny Lake) and loved it, she got the Cobb salad and margarita pizza. Great views of the Tetons and good food.
- I would also like to ride the Aerial Tram, and stop at a few more of the iconic places like Snake River Overlook and Oxbow bend. There is lots of hiking here, which can be tricky with kids.
- Stay at Virginian Lodge
- Teton Village on top of the mountain
- Swim and play at String Lake
Other fun things to do in Driggs- Thursday night Music on Main, Friday farmers market and Friday Rodeo. Hike other side of Tetons.

On the drive from Island Park to Driggs, we stopped at Mesa Falls. It was a short walk, lots of stairs though, down to the falls. And it really was beautiful to see! The drive from our cabin to lunch in Victor (town right next to Driggs) was about 1 1/2 hours. But wow! It was a beautiful drive. You get the best views of the Tetons and lots of rolling green hills. We ate at Pinky G’s Pizzeria. It is small. One table inside but a few tables outside that luckily our whole family could sit and eat. We all loved the pizza and salads. Wasn’t expensive. Then we drove to our cabin in Driggs, ID.

We found a good balance of driving days doing touristy things and also relaxing days around the towns we were in. Everyone was excited to head to Teton National Park, it’s about an hour drive from Driggs.

We really only had 2 things we wanted to do there. So first we headed to Mormon Row Historic District. It’s iconic because of its history but also beauty! A farming community from the 1900s.

Then we headed to Jenny Lake. At the base of the Teton range, it’s a popular stop and loop. You can hike around the lake which is 7 miles. Or hike to Hidden Falls and back, 5 miles roundtrip.

We took the ferry across, it was $60 for a family. Then hiked to Hidden Falls, making it only a 1 mile hike. With kids that was our best option. But I would love to come back and hike around the lake.

After our Jenny Lake hike we drove back to Jackson Hole for some ice cream at Moo’s Gourmet Ice cream. We basically got ice cream after every hike or adventure! A little reward for our hard work and also it was hot and needed to cool down!

Then we walked around and did a little shopping. We stopped at Lee’s Tee’s. Really big store full of clothing, hats and toys. Everyone found something here. And then my sister wanted me to shop at Made. It was darling. More custom things, I found a Jackson Hole pennant banner and poster for our guest room where I like to hang posters from our travels. We found some really cute hats here. Next door is Mursell’s Sweet Shop. Fun drinks and candy! Great little shop to visit.

Floated Teton River-

We floated the Teton River, it’s right in Driggs. It’s a very wide and slow moving river. Also shallow, the majority of the river you could stand and have it come to below your knees. We rented all our kayaks from Peaked Sports. Majority of us rented a two-person kayak. The Teton River is 64 miles long. We floated 3 miles. We got in at Fox Creek and ended at South Bates Bridge, it took us 3 hours. We didn’t paddle a ton until the end when we wanted to be done. There are other quicker routes on the river. My sister Mandi had brought tubes, they were great but you do go a lot slower. It was really cold water but felt good in the heat.

Lots of kids were getting in and out of the water. We wish we would have packed more snacks and water, and a waterproof speaker! But, we saw a bald eagle and that was really cool. We’ve been told lots of people spot moose also. After we (you guessed it) got shakes at Victor Emporium. They say the Huckleberry shake is a must. But none of us really like it, we didn’t realize you could ask for no berries! Our favorites were the Lime Freeze and Muddy River.

What we did for meals to feed 23 people–

We’ve got a pretty good system down for these family vacations. Each family usually has to cook 1-2 meals. And then my mom provides everything for lunches because we usually pack those up to eat while we are gone.

Pizza and salad- we stopped in Rexburg, ID and grabbed pizza from Papa Murphys
Hot Dogs– toppings include grilled onions, peppers and bacon, broccoli salad, chips, fruit
BBQ pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, baked beans and a veggie tray.
Our favorite pasta dinner, with potstickers and side of fruit
Hawaiian Haystacks
Chicken and beef tacos with Texas caviar
Laila’s Crunchy Chicken Salad for lunch
Our favorite sweet cereal treat is a must have snack!

Downtime activities-

We basically had a craft table set out at all times that had stuff to make necklaces, the girls and boys loved the beads. Everything to make charm necklaces, and the kids really loved making the fuse beads and these fuse bead irons my sister-in-law Nanette brought! We also brought games to play, all our favorites here. Nerts, Skyjo, and Cover your assets we played most. For the yard we had a volleyball net , whiffle bat and balls, and a soccer ball. We also brought bikes. Finn is really into mountain biking with Kevin! The kids never ask to watch television or play video games.

Workouts-

Kevin brought us weights and planned us group workouts! Kevin has a masters in athletic training and has his own workout app HERE. One of my favorite things on these trips are big family workouts. By the end, even the littlest of the kids wanted to join in!

More Photos-

This photo was from 6 years ago, the last time we were in Yellowstone. It was taken in Mammoth Hot Springs. Can’t wait for many more visits and memories in Yellowstone and Island Park.

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