Advice? ABD Arizona/Utah (Grand Canyon) or Wyoming/Jackson Hole?

[cybervalen]

Hi everyone! I am planning our first ever trip with ABD with my 10 yr old son for mid-June! I am trying to decide whether we should go on the Arizona/Utah (Grand Canyon) trip or the Wyoming/Jackson Hole trip. I initially planned on the Arizona/Utah trip, but then noticed the itinerary seemed to include about 3 hours of driving for 5 days of the 8 day trip. Yikes. Seemed like a lot of driving. The Wyoming trip seems to less long time on the bus and also seemed fun. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'd love to hear about your experiences.
- Valentina

 

[lpm23]

Hi everyone! I am planning our first ever trip with ABD with my 10 yr old son for mid-June! I am trying to decide whether we should go on the Arizona/Utah (Grand Canyon) trip or the Wyoming/Jackson Hole trip. I initially planned on the Arizona/Utah trip, but then noticed the itinerary seemed to include about 3 hours of driving for 5 days of the 8 day trip. Yikes. Seemed like a lot of driving. The Wyoming trip seems to less long time on the bus and also seemed fun. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'd love to hear about your experiences.
- Valentina

We have done both and they were great. If you call they will actually give you day by day driving time. I would probably choose Wyoming as the weather will be great. We did Arizona in April and probably but too hot for us if we had done it in the summer. Brooks lake lodge is amazing and really makes the trip! I will say we have done 8 ABDs and the only one I thought the driving put a damper on the trip was Costa Rica. The rest I have found pretty easy.

 

[sayhello]

We have done both and they were great. If you call they will actually give you day by day driving time. I would probably choose Wyoming as the weather will be great. We did Arizona in April and probably but too hot for us if we had done it in the summer. Brooks lake lodge is amazing and really makes the trip! I will say we have done 8 ABDs and the only one I thought the driving put a damper on the trip was Costa Rica. The rest I have found pretty easy.

The bus time on the Iceland trip is pretty bad. But that's because everything is just so spread out there. They've changed it around a bit, but when I took it the first year, our Adventure Guides said it had the most bus time of any ABD. I don't remember the exact time, but it was like 23 hours or something. ETA: Yikes! I checked my trip report, and it was 28 hours!!

Sayhello

 

[jimmymc]

I haven't done the ABD trips but I have visited both areas on my own. Arizona and Utah are just that spread out, and if the idea of driving that far is stressful then being on the bus makes it a lot easier.

Wyoming and Jackson hole are closer together, but traffic can be really bad around the big Yellowstone sites. Plus parking can be non-existent. The bus will drop you off and allow you to just look at the scenery out the window.

For June, I would recommend Wyoming for the weather and scenery. The rivers are still flowing strong at that time of year and it boosts the waterfalls.

 

[SC20]

Hi everyone! I am planning our first ever trip with ABD with my 10 yr old son for mid-June! I am trying to decide whether we should go on the Arizona/Utah (Grand Canyon) trip or the Wyoming/Jackson Hole trip. I initially planned on the Arizona/Utah trip, but then noticed the itinerary seemed to include about 3 hours of driving for 5 days of the 8 day trip. Yikes. Seemed like a lot of driving. The Wyoming trip seems to less long time on the bus and also seemed fun. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'd love to hear about your experiences.
- Valentina

We just did AZ/UT last month and it didn't feel like there was a lot of driving. Each drive had stops to break it up and the guides were fantastic about giving us information and playing games to pass the time. We watched one movie broken up over two days that passed some of the time (going in and out of Monument Valley). By the end of the trip, all the kids were sitting together and they kept themselves occupied. It was our first ABD trip and we now have two more booked over the next 12 months!

 

[starwarsdad]

Hi everyone! I am planning our first ever trip with ABD with my 10 yr old son for mid-June! I am trying to decide whether we should go on the Arizona/Utah (Grand Canyon) trip or the Wyoming/Jackson Hole trip. I initially planned on the Arizona/Utah trip, but then noticed the itinerary seemed to include about 3 hours of driving for 5 days of the 8 day trip. Yikes. Seemed like a lot of driving. The Wyoming trip seems to less long time on the bus and also seemed fun. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'd love to hear about your experiences.
- Valentina

We have done both. Can't go wrong with either. Both have amazing sites and experiences. I felt as if Az/Ut had several distinct national parks to visit. Red Cliffs Lodge (Moab) and Enchantment Resort (Sedona) are amazing places as is Brooks Lake Lodge (Wyoming).

The driving time honestly was inconsequential. The guides drop such a good job of balancing information and entertainment on the bus. For Arizona/Utah, we stopped on the road at several really interesting sites that broke the trip up. My only negative for Wyoming is several of us didn't sleep quite as soundly due to the altitude at Brooks Lake but that was a very minor issue.

My tie breaker would be the June weather. It will be cooler for Wyoming in June. We did Arizona/Utah in March and the weather was nice but I would imagine in June it could be hot.

One of our guides said this pearl of wisdom. "I have found people gravitate to one of three landscapes for awe and relaxation, desert, ocean or mountains." I say if you are desert and slightly mountains, do Arizona/Utah. If you are mountains, do Wyoming. Either way you will have a blast and make lasting memories.