Cowboy Country with Salt Lake City

Tour begins: The Grand America Hotel. A transfer is included from Salt Lake City International Airport to The Grand America Hotel. Welcome to Salt Lake and the start of your journey that will take you through magnificent Yellowstone National Park. Salt Lake City is Utah's political and cultural center, silhouetted by the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake; it was founded by Brigham Young and his followers in the 1840s, and became the center for Mormon cultural influences. Your day in Salt Lake City is free to explore as you please.

Travel today from Salt Lake City to Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park. Nature plays a central role along the route, as you travel through wide open spaces that bring into perspective the "spirit of the West" – which is the draw that this remote region has had through the years. We invite you to join us this evening for a welcome reception and dinner.

Marvel at the mountain majesty of Grand Teton National Park before setting off on a rafting adventure* down the Snake River. Along the way, your guide will help you spot the beavers, eagles, elks and other animals that live in the park. After lunch, travel to the historic (and trendy) Western town of Jackson to explore as you wish. Late afternoon, visit the park's Mormon Row Historic District, whose preservation is being supported by a grant from Tauck. A homesteaders’ settlement dating back to 1890 located in an undeveloped area of the park, Mormon Row is home to a number of weathered historic structures – including the iconic T.A. Moulton barn, an unofficial symbol of the park – with the dramatic Teton Range as a backdrop. You'll feel like you’ve traveled back in time at the site, which attracts photographers from around the world... so have your camera ready! Spend the evening as you please at the Inn.

You may want to check out the American Indian artwork and artifacts on display at Grand Teton National Park's Colter Bay Visitor Center before traveling on this morning to Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872 as America's (and the world's) first national park – where your historic "home away from home" for the next two nights, the Old Faithful Inn, is just steps away from the famous Old Faithful Geyser, shooting up to 184 feet in the air approximately every 90 minutes! This afternoon, a locally guided walk explores Geyser Basin – keep an eye out for Yellowstone's diverse wildlife as you explore some of the features of the park, whose geologic wonders include two-thirds of all the geysers in the world. The remainder of the afternoon is free to explore as you please. Have dinner at this iconic inside-the-park hotel at your leisure tonight.

Wake up to a world of amazing natural wonders in Yellowstone National Park and spend the day sightseeing in the park with local experts from The Yellowstone Forever Institute, who share information about the park and its abundant wildlife as you explore; Yellowstone protects threatened or endangered species including the gray wolf, whooping crane, lynx, grizzly bear and bald eagle. See some of the 10,000 hot springs within the park, as well as bubbling pools of mud and volcanic calderas; and, a short distance from your lodge, make sure you reserve some family time to watch mighty Old Faithful shoot its plume of steam high into the air just about every hour and a half – a highlight of any Wyoming family vacation! After a day that is truly a celebration of the West’s natural beauty, enjoy dinner at leisure back at the lodge.

Say goodbye to Yellowstone and continue your Wyoming vacation to the historic town of Cody, Wyoming, founded in part by the famous "Buffalo Bill" Cody, from whom the town got its name. Glimpse the history and culture of the heyday of the American West at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, whose five acclaimed, connected museums each tell a different side of the story – focusing on the Plains Indians, Western art, historic firearms, the region's natural history, and the life and career of "Buffalo Bill" Cody himself. Have a western-style dinner and then thrill to bucking broncos, steer wrestlers, calf ropers and barrel riders and more at the nationally famous Cody Nite Rodeo – a fixture since 1938 here in Cody, often called the "rodeo capital of the world."

Journey through Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains today, past deep canyons, vast grasslands, and blankets of wildflowers en route to one of the highlights of your Wyoming vacation – a double dose of Western ranch life that your family will love!  First, feel the spirit of Cowboy Country during an authentic ranch experience – including a cookhouse lunch and an opportunity for a horseback ride*, or a horse whisperer or a roping demonstration – at the T-A Guest Ranch in Buffalo, Wyoming. A real working cattle ranch, the T-A Ranch was the site of a famous siege and shootout during the infamous "Johnson County War" in 1892; you can still see the old gunshot holes in the ranch's original horse barn! Later, continue on to an overnight and dinner at your leisure at yet another real Wyoming ranch – the Ranch at Ucross – topping the night off with an old-fashioned campfire complete with stories and s'mores!

Depart the Ranch at Ucross and Wyoming and head for the Black Hills of South Dakota. Look up in wonder at the Crazy Horse Memorial, where you'll view the work in progress as artisans carve the likeness of the famous Lakota warrior out of the mountain. Begun in 1948 after an Oglala Lakota elder commissioned sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to create the memorial on the face of Thunderhead Mountain to show “that we have heroes too,” the independently funded project is now carried on by members of the late sculptor's family; when completed, it will be the largest rock sculpture in the world. At the project's visitor's center – which includes the former Ziolkowski family home – you'll explore exhibits that speak to the diverse histories and cultures of America’s native peoples, and learn more about this unique family project. Then it's on to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, where you’ll be welcomed by the colossal granite heads of four US presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln. The sculptures were the work of Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, a 14-year project begun in 1927.  From here, you’ll head to the K Bar S Lodge for an overnight stay and this evening’s farewell reception and dinner to celebrate a week of authentic western magic in Cowboy Country.

Tour ends: Rapid City. Fly home anytime; a transfer is included from K Bar S Lodge to Rapid City Regional Airport. Allow a minimum of two hours for flight check-in.