You could fly into Las Vegas and visit the Grand Canyon North Rim and Bryce. If your flight gets in early enough, you could pick up your car and drive the 2.5 hours to Springdale, Utah (Zion national Park) Friday night. The next morning, take a quick tour or Zion and drive the 2.5 hours to the North Rim. Then head to Bryce for the last 2 nights.

I hope someone can tell you how long the drive back to LV is from Bryce---I've never done that part.

enzian..thank you so much for your reply..I feel I have a lot of research to do...why must it all be so gorgeous

I think 4 days is reasonable for those two parks -- I second the recommendation to consider Zion as well. The incredible thing is that Zion, Bryce, and the G.C. (North Rim) are each amazing, and within easy driving distance from one another, yet each is completely unique.

My wife and I did a trip some years back where we flew into Vegas and stayed overnight. We then went to Zion, then Bryce, then the North Rim on successive days. We had enough time to do some hiking and exploration at each, though you could easily spend 4 days in any of those parks. I'd choose to spend more than one night at Zion or Grand Canyon, as I think there is the most to explore there.

I'm also not familiar with the drive from North Rim back to Vegas, as we headed south from there (to South Rim, then Sedona, then Phoenix).

So, you're flying home on Wednesday? Meaning, you have 4 full days and nights?

Bryce and the Grand Canyon have a lot of instant wow factor, so I'd focus on those two and skip Zion. At most, drive through the park and do the Canyon Overlook hike on the way out the east side.

I'd suspect it may be easier to find lodging at Bryce than at the Grand Canyon over Labor Day weekend. Do the quick hike at Zion on the way, then hike a bit more at Bryce. Spend Sunday hiking in Bryce, then get up on Monday and drive to the Grand Canyon. You have enough time to get to the South Rim which has bigger views than the North Rim. 2 nights at the South Rim and back to Las Vegas on Wednesday for your flight is about right.

You may be able to do a day mule ride at the Grand Canyon, depends on availability. I think they also have them (or maybe horseback rides) at Bryce.

thank you everyone...so flying into Vegas sounds like the way to go even if we are starting at zion and then into Bryce?

Yes, try to get as early a flight into Vegas as possible. It is about three hours up to Zion and an hour and a half from there to Bryce. If you don't have reservations in the parks yet, check the www.nps.gov site and click on the parks. Xanterra handles reservations for Zion, Bryce, and the south rim, another outfit handles the north rim. If they say they are full, take their number and call back as people make reservations far in advance and then cancel close to the time when they can't make the trip. As mentioned above, you can get a view of Zion by driving through it. If you are not booked to stay there you will have to use a park service shuttle from the visitor's center to get down into the valley. Stay flexible and see how your time is going. If you can't fly in early, look for a motel on the north side of Vegas, close to I 15 so you can get an early start towards Zion. We have done this, getting to Zion mid-morning doing a quick hike and then driving to Bryce for the night.

Lodging:

For Zion, if you choose to drive there your first day or evening from Vegas, you could stay in Springdale, the town just at the park entrance, It would save you some time (over driving into the park to Zion Lodge) and there are lots of lodging choices and dinner options. We like Desert Pearl:

http://www.desertpearl.com/

For Grand Canyon North Rim, you book through Forever Resorts:

http://foreverlodging.com/lodging.cfm?PropertyKey=181

They have cabins lined up along the rim, some right on the rim and some back a bit. Either one is fine. If they are booked, try Kaibab Lodge just outside the park.

For Bryce, try to reserve at Bryce Canyon Lodge in the park, through Xanterra:

www.xanterra.com

My choice would be Zion and Bryce as I never tire of them, but I agree that you can drive through Zion, not taking time to hike and still include the Grand Canyon.
I'm a huge Lake Powell fan so would skip GC & take the Rainbow Bridge cruise from Wahweap Marina, staying in Page the first day out of LV. Yes, Las Vegas is the airport for your trip. There's no lake in the world like Powell.
The tour is 5 hrs. round trip, including a quick 20 min. hike to Rainbow (largest natural span in the world) and costs about $136 a person. It's absolutely incredible....never enough time to do it all is there?
If you decide to just drive through Zion, do take the time to park your car and take their shuttle up the Canyon Rd. It's not available to private auto that time of year and should not be missed. It won't take long, is very convenient as someone else does the driving while you do the viewing & is included in the park fee.
I absolutely love the Bryce hike from Sunset Point to Sunrise Pt. It gets you well below the rim, among the hodos on a good trail. The scariest part will be watching parents allow their young children to walk, unattended, along the edge of steep narrow drops. I recommend starting at Sunset to get the steepest part of the path done first & take treking poles or walking sticks for the climb out. They make a difference. Stopping for photos ops (every few feet) & water breaks, plus the walk back to the Sunset parking lot, along the rim is only about 2 1/2- 3 hrs. I'm 59 & not in great shape so you will have no problem and for my money, that's a whole lot better than being on the back of a mule, clodding along, looking at the southbound end of the mule in front of me.
The Bryce lodge is beautiful, even if you don't stay there and the fresh trout dinner is good. There's also a nice, but casual B&B in the town of Tropic, near Bryce. Can't remember the name, but you'd find it online as Tropic is a tiny town.

If you spend the night in Springdale (entrance to Zion) the Switchback Grill is also another good restaurant.

Can't go wrong with any of it. Utah is fabulous.
Good Luck,
Randi