Tour Details - Wild West Cowboys and Buffalos 2012

Welcome to Salt Lake City! Take your complimentary transfer to the tour hotel. This afternoon, meet your Tour Director who can answer any questions you may have about the exciting days ahead. Meet your fellow adventurers at 6 p.m. for a Kick off Party with your Tour Director at the hotel.

Put on your cowboy hats, pull up your boots and get ready to create memories that will last a lifetime. Heading northyou'll enter Wyoming for your first encounter with the mighty Rocky Mountains. Follow trails blazed by rugged mountain men centuries ago, cross the famous Oregon Trail and follow the historic Snake River to the authentic Old West town of Jackson. Passing through the town’s famous landmark arch of tangled elk antlers, walk back into history as you explore the Town Square with its western boardwalks, craft boutiques and ice cream shops – all surrounded by the majestic Rockies. Come nightfall enjoy a western-style Chuckwagon Highlight Dinner and Show.(Full Breakfast / Highlight Dinner)

Rise early if you’d like to rollick down the Snake River on an optional fun and educational wilderness float trip. Later, discover the dramatic Grand Teton National Park and beautiful Jenny Lake, and journey on into the world’s first national park, spectacular Yellowstone. This is truly a wonderland of over 10,000 geysers, fumaroles, hot springs, mud pots and steam vents, highlighted with a visit to Old Faithful, which has been spouting steam water every hour for thousands of years. At the Visitor Centre, learn amazing facts about Yellowstone – kids can even earn their Junior Ranger Badge. Today, join your interpretive guide for an other-worldly stroll around the boardwalks of the West Thumb Geyser Basin visiting such colourful spots as Abyss Pool, Thumb Paint Pots and the storied Fishing Cone.(Full Breakfast / Dinner)

Discover Yellowstone’s most amazing natural wonders, including the thundering Yellowstone Falls, a multitude of hot gushing geysers and countless brilliantly coloured simmering thermal springs, bubbling mud pools and hissing steam vents. Your senses will be assaulted by the roar of steam, the thunder of a waterfall, the bellowing of bison, the smell of sulfur pools and awe-inspiring views at every turn - sights and sounds that make for an experience you’ll be talking about for years.(Full Breakfast)

Travel down, down, down into the Shoshone Canyon and the rugged Absaroka Mountains until you reach the rustic Wild West town of Cody, named after Buffalo Bill Cody. Explore the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre and the world’s largest collection of western artifacts. This afternoon, enjoy stunning scenery as you cross the Big Horn Mountains and Bighorn National Forest. Get ready for a taste of the true Wild West and cowboy lifestyle as you arrive at the Ranch at Ucross in Clearmont, an old-west guest ranch in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains. When the dinner bell calls all hands to chow, put on your finest cowboy duds and kick up your heels at a typical Ranch-style Highlight Dinner. End the evening under the stars 'round a roaring fire with gooey s'mores.(Full Breakfast / Lunch / Highlight Dinner)

After a hearty breakfast, enjoy activities galore on the ranch – all included! Learn about life on a working ranch as you rub elbows with true wranglers. Saddle up for a horseback ride around the ranch lands. See how far you can cast that fishing line to catch Brown or Rainbow Trout in Piney Creek. Challenge your travelling mates to a game of tennis or horseshoes… with bragging rights for the rest of the trip at stake! Or simply relax poolside and take in the serenity of this wonderful resort. Early afternoon, re-board the motorcoach and head east through the national grassland to the famous Black Hills of South Dakota. At Thunderhead Mountain, gaze in awe at the Crazy Horse Memorial. A work in progress being carved into the mountainside, the “world’s largest sculpture” honours the famous war chief of the Lakota people. Reach the quaint “City of Gold” Keystone, once a gold mining boomtown. This evening watch the moving ceremonial lighting of America’s favourite presidents sculpted at Mount Rushmore.(Full Breakfast)

The first stop this morning is Bear Country USA, a wildlife park featuring the world’s largest private collection of American Black Bear. Enjoy a leisurely drive through this spectacular and unique wildlife park and then walk through the Wildlife Centre, where young and smaller animals frolic in their outdoor exhibits. Next, visit Mount Rushmore National Park. You may have seen pictures of Mount Rushmore, but they pale in comparison to seeing this majestic site in person. It took 400 artisans 14 years to carve the 60-foot sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt out of the mountain. Then it’s… All Aboard! Ride on board the 1880 Train, an authentic steam engine train, from Hill City back to Keystone. Hear the bellow of the engine and the whine of the whistle as you wind your way through some of the most beautiful scenery in the Black Hills. There is still time to relax or take a plunge in the hotel swimming pool. This evening, join your fellow adventurers at a Farewell Dinner. Toast to your Wild West adventures of the past week and share delightful memories that you’ll cherish for a lifetime.(Full Breakfast / Farewell Dinner)

Follow the trail to old Fort Laramie, the best-known milepost on the Oregon Trail. At the fort’s living history exhibits, learn about the harsh world of the pioneer family as they fought distance, unforgiving terrain and weather to reach Oregon… and the native tribes who gave their lives trying to prevent it. Your Wild West adventure comes to an end at the Mile High city of Denver where stops are made at Denver International Airport or, if you’re extending your stay, at the tour hotel in downtown Denver.(Full Breakfast)