Cowboy Country

Tour begins: 5:45 PM, Snow King Resort. A transfer is included from Jackson Hole Airport to Snow King Resort in Jackson. Meet fellow travelers who will share this Cowboy Country adventure with your family at our welcome reception and dinner. Stay Two Nights: Snow King Resort (D)

Your family's first day Wyoming begins with a visit to Snake River Ranch, one of the last working cattle ranches in Jackson Hole, and an opportunity to learn firsthand about cowboy life and Wyoming ranching. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the working cattle ranch has been run by the same family since the 1920s. Cowboys make their living here using their time-honored skills, and share insights with you about the working parts of this 3,000+ acre ranch as you learn what the life of a real American cowboy is all about.

You'll have an opportunity to go horseback riding on a trail ride and take a wagon ride, perhaps meeting the other residents of the area – moose, elk, coyote, fox, owls, hawks and bald eagles. Return to the resort, where the remainder of the day is free to explore Jackson or Snow King Mountain with its many activities. (B)

Depart Jackson – you're certain to 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 (children must be 6+ for rafting).

Visit Grand Teton National Park's Colter Bay Visitor Center to view the American Indian artwork and artifacts on display before traveling on to Yellowstone National Park. Established in 1872 as America's (and the world's) first national park, your historic "home away from home" for the next two nights is the Old Faithful Inn, just steps away from the famous Old Faithful Geyser – shooting up to 184 feet in the air approximately every 90 minutes.

This afternoon, if you wish you can join us on 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. Stay Two Nights: Old Faithful Inn (B/L/D)

Wake up to a world of amazing natural wonders in Yellowstone National Park and spend the day sightseeing in the park with a local expert who shares 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; enjoy a picnic lunch in the park; 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. (B/L/D)

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." Stay: Holiday Inn® Cody at Buffalo Bill Village (B/D)

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 – a cookhouse lunch, interacting with the farm animals and a lesson in milking a cow – at the T-A Guest Ranch in Buffalo, Wyoming. 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 a different Wyoming ranch – the Ranch at Ucross – topping the night off with an old-fashioned campfire complete with stories and s'mores. Stay: The Ranch at Ucross (B/L/D)

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. Stay: K Bar S Lodge (B/L/D)

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. (B)