Kailey Stockburger's Adventures in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks | A Guest Money Diary

Hot springs, big bears and a whole lotta souvenirs

Kailey Stockburger is a friend I met through another friend (Hannah, whose money diary you can read here), but she’s also an incredible photographer, so when she offered to write me a money diary – complete with photos – from the week she and her husband spend exploring Yellowstone and Grand Teton, I was over the moon!

Due to the number of photographs, this post will be too long for email, so you’ll need to click through to the site, or read on the Substack App – but it’s well worth it because the views she captured are so stunning! You can follow her work on Instagram here.

The week of my life that I’ve decided to document in this, admittedly vulnerable, financial format was the trip my husband and I took to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks to celebrate our five-year wedding anniversary in September/October.

My husband Matt and I are semi-frugal travelers. We try to avoid spending top dollar on things like flights, car rentals, restaurants, and fancy lodging and instead put our money toward keepsakes. We are collectors at heart and I think that will be incredibly, if not embarrassingly, obvious throughout this diary. This is not advice on how to travel on a budget or inexpensively, as you will see.

For a bit of context, our trip consisted of a round trip flight from Chicago O’Hare to Jackson Hole airport. We live in northeast Indiana so we had a bit of a drive to start our trip, but that was more cost effective than flying from our local airport. The trip was eight days, seven nights and we drove 903 miles in total during that time (that excludes the miles driven between O’Hare and home). Here is what we spent on travel expenses that were outside of daily purchases for our trip and paid for prior to our departure:

• Round trip airfare for two adults from O’Hare to Jackson Hole: $905.15

• Round trip baggage fees for two bags: $140

• Car rental for eight days: $413.12

Saturday, September 28^th

Saturday Matt and I left for our anniversary trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We woke up around 6am and started our drive to Chicago.

On the way, we stopped at a gas station to fill the tank ($20.98) and for airport/flight snacks ($6.14), as they’re much more expensive at the airport. We arrived at a hotel in Chicago where we paid to park our car for the week and took a shuttle to the airport. ($117)

When we arrived at O’Hare, we had the easiest time getting through security — even when I had to ask them to hand check my film rolls. We made our way to our gate (to make sure it exists) and then went to find lunch. We had lunch at a little cafeteria. I got McDonald’s ($10.65) and Matt got a personal deep dish pizza ($12.28). Both were awful and incredibly overpriced.

After lunch we sat at the gate until it was time to board. We landed a bit early and deboarded the plane. I’d never been let out on to the tarmac before, but that’s what happened here, and we were immediately greeted with incredible sights of the Teton mountain range. After gathering our luggage at baggage claim we purchased two rental bear sprays (super important, especially this time of year) ($59.36) and made our way to pick up our car rental.

Once we picked up the car, we had a few stops to make. We stopped at Target and got a cooler and some food for the week ($88.29), but they didn’t have everything we needed so we also stopped at Albertsons to get groceries ($90.25). We picked up some snacks, yogurt, granola, fruit, sandwich fixings, soda and water.

To save money when we travel, especially if we’ve rented a car, we often purchase a cooler and ice and buy groceries, so we don’t need to eat out for every meal. We also knew it would be difficult to find food for part of our trip due to the parks closing for the season and many facilities already being shut down. We packed our cooler and then drove over to Subway to have dinner ($23.39). After eating we headed out on our long drive to Yellowstone.

On our drive, we saw such incredible sights. We pulled off at a stop that overlooked the Tetons and a lake. It was right at sunset so it was just perfect. Then we drove a bit further and noticed a bunch of people pulled off the road and out of their cars. Out of curiosity we got out too. Then we saw what everyone was watching — a bull moose in a ravine! I can’t believe I got to see a moose within the first few hours of being there — and a bull at that!

When we arrived in Yellowstone we checked in to our cabin at Lake Lodge Cabins for the night ($326.16), brought our bags in, and unpacked a bit. I collapsed in bed and was out like a light immediately.

Daily total: $754.50