Day 7 of tour, what did you do?
The tour itinerary states Day 7 is 'on your own'. Am wondering what folks chose to do on that day. We found Snow Tubing available but that's only for 1 hour. Have dog sledded in the past, so don't need that again. Knees can't ski anymore (great sadness). Other suggestions???
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We had never been to Jackson so we did some walking around. We did the tubing probably longer than planned! Like being a kid again. Some people had booked snowmobile tours but we were continuing our tour afterwards at Brooks Lake Lodge and did snowmobiling there.
We had a fantastic dog sled trek with a stop for a swim in a CCC built thermal pool. Another option is snowmobiling.
How did you book the snowmobile trip? We'd love to do a day trip.
I loved that trip. Yellowstone in winter is spectacular.
You can book snowmobiling online- just Google it- or through the hotel. We booked our dogsled trek online through one of the many providers in the Jackson Hole area several months early. Our friends did the same for a snowmobiling trek. Unless you go early or stay late, the only time on-tour is the last day which is free day.
Before my Tauck tour began and I had arrived at our first destination, I had signed up to help mush a 14 dogsled team (just the driver and me and the dogs) all day long in the Absaroka Mts. Then after the Tauck tour ended, I had also made advance reservations with a snowmobile group in Jackson Hole, to join 8 other folks, each with our own individual snowmobile, to snowmobile 100 miles throughout Yellowstone all day long (half of the time in a blizzard! LOL. :-) ). An amazing experience with few people in Yellowstone and quiet which allowed us to stop and see even more animals than just the Bison. BTW, when I took the Tauck tour several year ago, there was one "free" day in the middle of the tour in Yellowstone, but when I checked in advance all of the snowmobiles there had already been promised/given out to others for that day, which is why I then made reservations for after the Tauck tour to stay a bit later in Jackson Hole to be sure and be able to snowmobile in Yellowstone; an excellent "bucket list" experience for me (my first time on a snowmobile, etc., and for 100 miles to boot. LOL. :-) ).
tomh - What a great, adventuresome experience!
kfnknfzk. It truly was awesome and the extent of me "pushing the envelope," so to speak. LOL. :-) What an amazing country we live in and I probably would never have done it, i.e. going to Yellowstone in the wintertime or helping to mush that dogsled team, had it not been for Tauck putting me in the area there following my tour with them. :-) kinfnfzk, one more amazing tour/trip (I have been on 42 of them todate with Tauck), was Tauck's short tour of the polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, also a few years ago. It is getting rarer and rarer to actually see polar bears in the wild, either in Canada or up in Alaska and even though the Tauck tour was o/a 3 days, it was still a pretty amazing experience to actually see them from a tundra vehicle then and I can highly recommend this Tauck tour, too. :-)
tomh - We took Tauck's Churchill tour shortly after it was first offered and, yes, it was glorious to see those majestic creatures up close. I haven't done the Yellowstone tour but have traveled there independently. Thanks for sharing your experiences and happy new year to you.
P.S. - I have to take just a few more trips to catch up with you!
Kfnknfzk. Some of my previous 42 Tauck tours were Tauck's (Special) "Events," which Tauck quit offering since the pandemic. I was on the Chicago, New York City, San Francisco (Yosemite), Washington, DC, Kentucky Derby Week, and others, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was hoping that Tauck would bring back those "Events" in the future (Paris, Vienna, were two other ones) and I have hinted to Tauck that they do so. Time will tell. We will see. :-)
kfnknfzk. One other thing that I forgot to mention was that both Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, partners with Tauck, were in person at and/or spoked at several of those Tauck (Special) Events: Ken was at the ones in NYC and Washington DC, and Dayton was at the one in San Francisco (Yosemite). Quite interesting to see and hear them (as well as speak with them) then. :-) At the NYC (Special) Event, I even had an opportunity to meet and speak with Arthur Tauck, Jr., and his wife at the Lincoln Center gathering afterwards and to meet and speak with Dayton Duncan and Dayton's son who were both at the San Francisco (Special) Event. :-)
We had the pleasure of Arthur Tauck jr. on our Singapore trip, a fun guy. He told me I helped him put his kids through college. He is no longer married.
British. My short discussion with Arthur Tauck, jr. when I met and spoke with him in NYC was to say that I thought some of the "chefs" he had on some of my riverboat cruises in Europe were not that good (at least the cuisine served on those cruises was only so-so.) Arthur did say that Tauck and the other cruise lines over there were all in competition to get the best chef's, etc. So, it is what it is. LOL. :-)
We had a fantastic dogsled trek!
Our driver and my wife giving "Maverick" some special attention:
This was Maverick's first time out with a full team. He was a sweetheart. (He was talented also- while still in harness and pulling with his teammates he could continue running on his front legs alone, raise both rear legs totally off the snow, while doing his 'business'
)
My wife rode in comfort and warmth while I rode standing on one runner and our driver on the other. Our friends were in a second sled which was tied to ours.
Mid-trek we stopped for hot lunch (cheese and crackers, chilli and cornbread and brownies and cookies?) and a swim!!
Though the air temps were in the teens, the geothermally heated pool was pleasant.
It was a bit of a shock to go from and to the heated (?) changing room in our swim suits, however.
tomh - Although I never was on a Special Events tour, I agree that it would be great to have them offered again.
kfnknfzk. Tauck put a lot of effort into each one which ran o/a a week or so and consisted of many folks who were divided into o/a 6 groups or so who then would tour different places but not at the same time. I am guessing that Tauck's effort to organize and operate them proved to be too much for Tauck to keep offering it. I really appreciated all the effort and the Tauck folks put into each one, both here in the U.S.and in Europe, for the (Special) Events.
It was years ago, but I booked a wildlife safari through the concierge at Wort Hotel if I remember correctly. Only about 4 hours. Took us around the outskirts of Jackson and around the backside of the Elk Refuge. It was very nice. Saw a lot of wildlife. May I also recommend if you are looking for a place for lunch - The Merry Piglets. Cute decor and good Mexican food.