How to get the most out of my camera?

I have a Nikon AW100 and I really want to get the most out of my pictures (as I hope anyone would!) I take a wide variety of pictures, whether it be pictures of my brothers or friends while we're doing something or it could be a landscape. Next month my family is taking a vacation out west to Wyoming and Montana to see the Tetons and Yellowstone. This is my first time away from the east coast and I would really love to have some incredible pictures to have as memories. All tips are greatly appreciated!

My main advice is thoroughly read the manual, switch into any manual mode and set things like ISO and shutter speeds yourself. This is why you need to read up in the manual and online about stuff like that so you know when to set it at what. I'm self-taught and most of it was leant by sitting there with my camera and taking a shot of the same thing over and over, changing settings slightly every time, then you know how to change things slightly to get the best photograph possible.

just a tip, but especially with photographing anything moving, even if it's a reasonably still portrait, I would suggest shoving the shutter speed up to at least 100, if not higher if its something like jumping, hope I helped.

One of the issue you will have is that the lens is not super wide. It is 28mm (35mm equiv.) at the widest. That is OK, but not spectacular. The Tetons are majestic, especially at first look from the plains upon approach. As opposed to most mountains which have foothills and rise in the distance, the Tetons seem to jut straight up out of the flat Earth. Don't be afraid to shoot further back than you might otherwise and then crop in. Another option is to shoot the peaks in a series of overlapping shots holding the camera up and down (portrait mode), then using software to stitch the images into a larger panorama. I do this from time to time even with my dSLR, and the results can be quite magnificent.

At Yellowstone, especially at the geysers, try to pre-focus the camera so you are ready to shoot. Also, think about getting a smaller circle polarizing filter and using it over the lens when you shoot. Yes, it is kind of cheesy (I have even done it with polarized sunglasses), but the mineral pools have amazing colors, and the polarizing filter can help with that, and the sky and foliage.

Play with your camera a lot before you go, along with any accessories, so you are familiar with how it all works so you can change settings quickly. Also, shoot way more photos than you think you need. It is easy to delete them after the fact and they cost nothing per image. Review your images on a computer if you can regularly so you can see what is working and what is not. Bring plenty of batteries and an extra memory card.