Liz Lange's American West

Indagare member Liz Lange, the fashion designer from New York, NY, sent us this postcard from the American West.

This August, my sister and I decided to plan a trip for our families—my kids are nine and seven, hers are seven and five—to the American West. We are both seasoned travelers but realized that we have not seen many of the great sights in the United States, so we wanted to build a trip around some places out West. We’re even considering making this an annual tradition. We knew we wanted the trip to include Yellowstone National Park but were stumped where to go from there. We worked with an Indagare recommended local specialist to pull together a week-long itinerary. Here’s what we loved and what we wish we had know before going.

Day 1

We started the journey in Jackson Hole. If you can, I would recommend flying into Jackson on a Wednesday, since that’s the week day when they have a rodeo. Spend one night at the Four Seasons Jackson Hole, poke around, have dinner and see the rodeo. It’s a nice way to ease into your week.

Day 2

We rented an SUV at the airport—this is a road-trip kind-of-vacation—and the second day, we left bright and early to drive the 1 ½ hours to Yellowstone National Park. At Yellowstone, we were met by a private guide from tour company Yellowstone Alpen Guides, the best in the area. Our guide was wonderful: she had a car and gave us lots of options if we wanted to walk, hike or drive. We spent the day meandering through the park and ended up at Old Faithful. Some advice: you don’t need to spend more than one night in Yellowstone. The accommodations are not great (we stayed at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, which is the best of them) and, trust me, in 1 ½ days, you’ll have more than enough bison, natural splendor and hot springs.

Day 3

After another half-day of touring Yellowstone, we took off towards Ennis, Montana, (about a 45 minute drive from Bozeman), and stopped by Virginia City, an old, preserved mining town and a great spot for lunch with the kids who loved the ghost-town ambience. We spent the night in a place called Moonlight on the Madison, which was hands-down the best discovery of the trip. It has four cabins; basically, you’re semi-camping, but in cabins that have real beds and battery-operated lights. The cabins are right by the Madison river, so the views are spectacular. It feels totally private: there are three or four hosts who take care of guests, preparing delicious meals and a big campfire at night, where the kids made s’mores. The manager, who is your host, personally takes you fly fishing and you just walk right into the river, which is right there. And his wife makes the delicious evening meals. There’s even a kids-only cabin with lots of games. Let’s just say that our kids didn’t miss TV even once. I can’t recommend Moonlight on the Madison enough.

Days 4-7