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Park Bagging (Cont.)

Day 4 >> Cody-Yellowstone National Park
A proposal to tour Cody's world-class Buffalo Bill Historical Center is strenuously vetoed in favor of Tecumseh's Miniature Village, a Western-history diorama. Around midmorning Marypat and I distract the kids from the train sets and tiny carved bison and drive north on the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway to the prettiest entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Clarks Fork Canyon—a deep and narrow gorge along the Clarks Fork River—and the Matterhorn-quality silhouettes of Pilot and Index peaks silence the car. We lunch at picnic tables just off the road at the Cary Inn at Crandall, and then head down the Lamar Valley, one of North America's best wildlife-viewing corridors. The kids start an animal checklist. At the Trout Lake trailhead we make a two-mile loop to the lake, where spawning cutthroat trout jam the inlet and an otter fishes, before driving to Slough Creek Campground, our Yellowstone family favorite thanks to its uncrowded feel.

Day 5 >> Yellowstone National Park
Following a camp breakfast we make stops at the huge petrified-tree exhibit past Tower Junction and then at Mammoth Terraces, where deposits of white travertine underscore colorful, bubbling pools—it's one boardwalk worth taking. Our route snakes toward the Artist Paint Pots Trail, a flat walk to some spectacular thermals. At the Firehole Canyon loop road we stop long enough for a swim in a warmish, waterfall-fed pool in the chasm formed by the Firehole River. Next, by popular demand, we join the hordes at Old Faithful for one eruption, followed by ice-cream cones at the snack bar in the Old Faithful Inn. After a lap around the Yellowstone Lake Overlook Trail, we hit the Grant Village campground, one of the few camps where reservations are both recommended and accepted.

Day 6 >> Yellowstone National Park-Grand Teton National Park
With promises of a swimming pool, we persuade the kids to join us for the five-mile round-trip on the Riddle Lake Trail. Walking the Continental Divide has a certain cachet, and the trail is only moderately strenuous. Then it's on to the Grand Tetons. We splurge with a stay at the massively elegant Jackson Lake Lodge, with the Tetons in the picture window and the pool, which the children refuse to leave. Nearby are horseback rides, fishing at Colter Bay, and raft trips on the upper Snake River, but none of it has a chance against a pool.

Day 7 >> Grand Teton National Park-Jackson Hole
We roust the kids for the 8 a.m. boat ride across Jenny Lake to Cascade Canyon (the only departure with a ranger-led tour to Inspiration Point). Then, moving on, we browse Moose Visitor Center before lunch at Dornan's Pizza Pasta Company—going against the name with big, juicy burgers and fries, which we eat outside with the Tetons in our faces. For the trip finale, we cruise to Jackson for an afternoon raft trip through the heart-thumping Class III rapids of the Snake River Canyon, and then head to Jedediah's Original House of Sourdough for the signature bread and kid-pleasing dinner fare.

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