OUR PICK: "Yellowstone in Winter" tours

All too often, the gifts we buy for the holidays wear out, break and end up discarded, leaving little to remember but the lingering bills — and the shopping frenzy can be a nightmare. As an alternative, consider giving your family the priceless gift of travel in 2012, with memories that can last a lifetime.

Think about enjoying the peaceful heart of winter in the American West where nature comes alive: Yellowstone National Park. You’ll find a world framed by snow-mantled peaks, frozen waterfalls and steaming geothermal features beckoning wildlife: shaggy bison, elk, trumpeter swans, bald eagles, moose and wolves.

You can do just that, with an Austin-Lehman Adventures “Yellowstone in Winter” tour.
Here’s what ALA says you can expect:

If you think Yellowstone is a warm-weather destination only, think again. For the first time, Austin-Lehman Adventures, the active travel company setting adventure vacation standards in The Americas, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, will host three February 2012 five-day/four-night “Yellowstone in Winter” programs.

“We live and play in this special corner of Wyoming and Montana, and Yellowstone National Park is literally our back yard. It’s a natural,” said Dan Austin, founding director. “Devoid of crowds, winter in Yellowstone is an amazing time. The cold temps make even more dramatic the thermal activity (geysers, bubbling mud pots, hot spring pools and steam vents), and wildlife is concentrated in the warmer, snow-free geyser basins for easier viewing.”

Activities include snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, ice skating, dog sledding, ranger talks and sipping hot chocolate fireside. Austin notes that while snowshoeing the Upper Geyser Basin Trail, guests will experience, in an approximately two-square-mile area, the largest concentration of and nearly one-quarter of all the geysers in the world. This is the home of Old Faithful.

So forget the malls this year. Book an adventure of a lifetime.

IF YOU GO

The Austin-Lehman Adventures’ five-day/four-night “Yellowstone in Winter” tours are scheduled for Feb. 5-9, Feb. 12-16 and Feb. 26-March 1. The per-person, double-occupancy rate is $2,198 ($580 single supplement) and includes accommodations and meals at historic Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel (dates to 1883), Old Faithful Snow Lodge and Chico Hot Springs Resort and Spa (dates to 1920s and features pools fed by mineral hot springs, a spa and fine dining); intra-lodge/activity snow coach transfers; sporting equipment and more. Departures are based from Bozeman, Mont.

Get details and book your trip by visiting www.austinlehman.com, or by calling 1-800-575-1540.

JOY HARPER, THE GAZETTE