Experience Mount Rushmore by Night as a Park Ranger leads a program culminating in the monument’s lighting ceremony. Granite faces emerge dramatically against the starlit Black Hills.

Patriotic narration and music create a reflective mood and a striking contrast to daytime views. Offered at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Experience a guided orientation through Utah’s capital, where mountain backdrops meet broad boulevards and inviting neighborhoods. Around Temple Square, admire manicured gardens and graceful architecture at the heart of the city’s spiritual life.

Hear how Mormon pioneers engineered irrigation, built communities, and shaped the region’s culture. See landmarks like the Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle as stories trace a journey from frontier outpost to modern Salt Lake City.

Walk the hallowed hills of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, site of the 1876 confrontation often called Custer’s Last Stand. Rolling prairie and cottonwoods belie the fierce struggle that unfolded here.

Stops along Battlefield Tour Road illuminate tactics of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors and the fate of the 7th Cavalry. Memorials and markers honor combatants from all sides, inviting reflection on courage, loss, and resilience.

Venture into Badlands National Park to see a labyrinth of eroded buttes and pinnacles rising from a vast mixed-grass prairie. Layered ridges shift from pearl to umber with the moving sun.

Lookouts reveal fossil-rich strata and ancient seabed textures while wildlife—from bighorn sheep to prairie dogs—thrives in this stark beauty. Offered at additional cost and bookable on tour.

• 4 Dinner (D)
• 9 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Zion National Park: Unlock geological history as you walk the paths and trails of Zion National Park, following in the footsteps of Native Americans and the earliest pioneers. The lush vegetation, wild rivers, roaring waterfalls and towering cliffs of this park will have you reaching for your camera over and over again.
• Salt Lake City: Get ready for the key features and local secrets of Utah’s capital on an orientation tour with your Travel Director. Check out its Mormon center and Temple Square as you delve into the past of its Mormon settlers.
• Bryce Canyon National Park: Hello, hoodoos. As you arrive at Bryce Canyon National Park, enjoy seeing the pink, orange and rusty-red limestone spires, known as hoodoos, rise up from the valley floor. Explore the visitor center to learn more about the history and geology of the park before a scenic drive along Bryce Canyon Road with possible stops at Sunrise Point, Sunset Point and Inspiration Point. You’ll love seeing how Bryce Canyon, home to the largest collection of these spires in the world, is in a league of its own.
• Jackson: Spend the afternoon exploring the charming cowboy town of Jackson, WY. Stroll through the antler archways at Jackson Town Square before heading to the famed Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and grab a seat on a horse saddle. Walk through local art galleries and boutique shops to find the perfect souvenir.
• Grand Teton National Park: Head to Grand Teton National Park for sightseeing of its alpine landscapes featuring eight peaks towering 12,000 feet above. At the Craig Thomas Visitor Center, gaze out at the Teton Range rising above. Inside the Center, explore the themes of place, people, preservation, mountaineering and Native Americans as you contemplate the past and future of this park. With your Travel Director enhancing your visit through narrative, drive by Jenny Lake, a glacier-carved lake at the base of the Teton Mountains.
• Yellowstone National Park: Yellowstone National Park. A bucket list destination and a must-see icon. Established as America’s first National Park by President Grant in 1872, Yellowstone is famous for its hot springs, bubbling mud pots, vast canyons and lush forests and a variety of terrain including alpine mountains, prairies, valleys and waterfalls as well as a diversity of nature including the hydrothermal features. Explore the Southern Loop of Yellowstone with your Travel Director who shows you the must-sees and highlights, paired with background information of this huge, ever-changing national park. See the splendor of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, keep an eye out for bison in Hayden Valley, and witness Old Faithful blow off some steam.
• Cody: Visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a museum complex in Cody with five museums under one roof. You’ll explore Plains Indian cultures, view original works by artists like Frederic Remington and Charles Russell, examine historic firearms, and learn about the life and legacy of Buffalo Bill — the scout, showman and town founder.
• Little Big Horn: There’s no better place to learn about the Battle of Little Bighorn than visiting the famous historical site itself. Explore the Visitor Center to get oriented with the history of Custer’s Last Stand. With your Travel Director driving along Battlefield Tour Road where General Custer and his men were roundly defeated by combined forces of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal warriors in 1876, feel echoes of the past come alive on this one-of-a-kind experience. 
• Black Hills: Unlock the history of Crazy Horse Memorial. Learn how construction began in 1948 after Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, commissioned Korczak Ziolkowski, who worked on construction of Mount Rushmore. While the original idea was to carve a face into rock like Mount Rushmore, the monument will ultimately have a full body and horse. There is no completion date yet, but the face of Crazy Horse was completed in 1998 at 87 feet 6 inches (26.7 m) high.
• Mount Rushmore: The grand faces of Mount Rushmore National Memorial await. View the faces of four of America’s most important presidents – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt – dramatically etched into the granite rock. Mount Rushmore tells the story of the birth, growth, development and preservation of the United States. From the history of the first inhabitants to the diversity of America today, visitors will come face to face (literally) with the rich heritage we all share. 

• Deluxe coach travel
• Selected hotel dinners plus a locally hosted meal
• Standard regional accommodation

Explore the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, five museums in one that peel back the myth and reality of the American frontier. Galleries move from Indigenous cultures to wildlife, firearms, and the art of the trail.

Encounter masterworks by Remington and Russell and artifacts illuminating how Plains Indian communities persevered. Stories of William “Buffalo Bill” Cody show how a showman packaged the West for a global stage while the real West evolved beyond the legend.

Dine as honored guests at the Billings Depot, a beaux-arts rail landmark that once linked Montana to the nation. Enjoy a Be My Guest dinner as rail-era ambiance sets an evocative stage.

Meet beef advocate Chaley Harney and Chef Stephen Hindman for a three-course menu spotlighting Montana beef, paired with regional beer and wine. Stories reveal how the railroad transformed ranching and the culture of Big Sky Country.

Take in Grand Teton National Park, where a serrated skyline of glacier-carved peaks vaults abruptly from valley floor to more than 12,000 feet. Pull-outs reveal mirror-like lakes and sage flats framed by the Tetons’ snow-dusted ramparts.

Stop near Jenny Lake and Snake River overlooks to watch for elk, moose, and pronghorn. Exhibits and guide commentary connect Shoshone homelands, fur-trade lore, and conservation milestones that preserved this alpine sanctuary.

Witness Yellowstone’s hydrothermal theater as geyser basins hiss, simmer, and perfume the air with minerals. Boardwalks lead past bubbling mud pots, opalescent hot springs, and steam vents alive with color and sound.

At Old Faithful, feel the hush before its plume surges skyward on a familiar cycle. Learn why Yellowstone protects the world’s largest concentration of geysers and how subterranean heat sculpts this ever-changing landscape.

Visit the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, a gorge stained with ochres and sulfur yellows by geothermal chemistry. Pine-scented breezes carry the rumble of water through dramatic volcanic rock.

From Artists Point, admire the 308-foot Lower Falls carving through rhyolite as mist drifts across canyon walls. This iconic vista has inspired painters and photographers since 19th-century surveys first revealed its awe to the world.

Join a Local Specialist for privileged access to the base of the Crazy Horse Memorial, the world’s largest mountain carving in progress. Stand beneath the monumental granite as powder-scented breezes sweep the Black Hills.

Hear how Lakota elder Henry Standing Bear enlisted sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski in 1948 and how donations continue the work. Gaze up at the completed 87-foot face as stories connect art, sovereignty, and Native student scholarships.

View Mount Rushmore, where the granite visages of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln preside above Ponderosa forests. Fragrant pines frame classic photo angles of this national icon.

Interpretive displays explain how engineers and artisans translated maquettes into mountainside sculpture. Discussions of symbolism and preservation reveal why this granite masterpiece remains central to the American story.

Meet and engage with Stephen Yellowhawk in Rapid City for a powerful evening of dance and song that shares Lakota and Onondaga Iroquois heritage. Drumbeats, storytelling, and regalia bring living traditions into the present.

Discover family histories, language revival, and community projects that your visit helps support. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER experience advances United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities, turning travel into meaningful connection.

Savor barbecue flavors and Western hospitality at Ebenezer’s Barn & Grill, where the Bryce Canyon Wranglers fill the hall with live country music, harmony, and humor.

This evening of toe-tapping tunes and cowboy lore complements a day among hoodoos just up the road. Offered at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Drift quietly on a Snake River Float Trip beneath the Teton Range, scanning gravel bars and cottonwoods for moose, elk, and bald eagles. Mirror-calm channels reflect serrated peaks.

A naturalist guide interprets geology, wildlife behavior, and Native histories as the river meanders through willow-lined bends. Offered at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Discover Zion National Park on a leisurely drive beneath soaring sandstone walls where the Virgin River canyon threads cottonwoods and hanging gardens through desert rock. Marvel at Navajo sandstone cliffs glowing cream, pink, and red as hawks ride thermals overhead.

Pause near the historic Zion Lodge and key viewpoints to absorb birdsong and cool canyon shade. Learn how ancestral peoples and early pioneers traversed these corridors, and why protecting this cathedral of stone safeguards fragile desert ecosystems.

Explore Bryce Canyon National Park, where thousands of flame-colored hoodoos rise in natural amphitheaters along the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Walk easy rim paths and frame photographs as wind, frost, and rain sculpt delicate fins and spires.

From classic lookouts—often including Sunrise and Sunset Points or Inspiration Point—study shifting light that paints the Pink Cliffs in russets and golds. Rangers’ insights reveal how Bryce’s unique elevation and climate shape its otherworldly stone forests.

Trafalgar

Begin your Western adventure as you meet your Travel Director over a convivial Welcome Dinner in the electric glow of the Las Vegas Strip. Share first impressions with fellow travelers and get practical tips for exploring the city’s glittering boulevards, shows, and dining.

Hear how this desert metropolis became an entertainment capital and gateway to canyon country. Your host previews the natural spectacles ahead while setting the tone for a journey balanced between big-city sparkle and wide-open spaces.