CaribbeanChick

We are done booking everything.. the hotels from LAS to SLC were the last ones I had to book and finally got those done!!!! So I am VERY relieved! Now only mapping things out... and make sure my GPS has updated maps... Thank you all for your input! I really appreciated it and it was VERY VERY VERY helpful in planning this trip!!

Any suggestions on dining and things to do will be appreciated! I think have dinner at Vegas, San Francisco, and Rapid City covered...

Dates: April 24- May 9th.
Day 1: Fly ATL-Sacramento- Straight flight arrive at 11am.. Drive to Napa (1hr) and explore and stay in Napa one night. Maybe hit one vineyard, since I can't drink, I hope they have some AWESOME sparkling wine.. was thinking about a Hot Air Balloon ride.. but not sure...
Day 2: Drive to San Francisco, visit Muir Woods on the way, tour San Fran (Cable Cars, Bridge, Seals), spend the night in San Francisco.
Day 3: Drive from San Francisco to Yosemite (The Homestead Cottages)
Day 4: Yosemite NP (The Homestead Cottages), want to see Mariposa Grove and Glacier Pt. if we can, hope the roads are open. Anything else? Not sure I will be able to hike to El Capitan, short hikes I will be able to do...maybe check out a waterfall...
Day 5: Drive Yosemite-Las Vegas- (Bellagio). Longest stretch of driving (8+ hrs) will take our time on this... hubby was maybe wanting to stop at the lowest spot in the US..seems to be a park on the way to LAS...
Day 6: as Vegas (Bellagio). Lunch at Mon Ami Gabi, Watch "O", dinner at Canneloni's at Venetian. Relax some.. went to Vegas 2 years ago.. don't plan on walking TOO much..
Day 7: Drive Las Vegas to Sedona (Sedona Real Inn & Suites) stop at Hoover Dam for a little bit to see the progress on the bridge. Check out Sedona spend the night in Sedona. Maybe do the Meteor Crater.
Day 8: Explore Sedona some more. Drive Sedona to Grand Canyon. Check out Grand Canyon. Spend the night in GC, well at the Holiday Inn Express..
Day 9: Go to GC Early for sun rise....Drive from GC to Bryce National Park. Spend the night in Bryce. Ruby's Inn.
Day 10: Explore Bryce some. Then Drive from Bryce to MOAB Area. Spend the night in MOAB. Best Westen Greenwill Inn...
Day 11: MOAB- Arches- Canyonlands Best Western Greenwill Inn.
Day 12: MOAB- Dead Pt. Horse then head to Salt Lake City. Spend the night in SLC.
Day 13: Spend a day here...Salt Lake City.. DH wants to see the Salt Lake..not sure we needed all day, but if anything we can rest some.
Day 14: Fly SLC to Rapid City. Drop off our rental and pick up new rental. Straight flight.
Day 15: Spend a day in Rapid City- check out Mt. Rushmore mainly.
Day 16: Fly Rapid City back to Atlanta with a stop in MN.

It's a lot of driving, but we broke it up... the longest stretch is Yosemite to Vegas at 8hours without stopping.. I will have to stop every 2 hours to stretch and pee.. Dr. told me I was perfect for travel.. just drink lots and stretch... I will buy some pillows when we get in with a crate of water.. so I can get comfy in the car.. we got a full size rental, to hopefully be more comfy... I need to buy some comfy sneakers since I don't have any! Learned from Vegas!!

Any tips are appreciated! Places to eat!

I also bought the America the Beautiful NP pass... came in the mail last week...

emalloy

for Day 5, that lowest place in the US is in Death Valley NP and if you got up early you could spend some time there. It's about 2 1/2 hours from Vegas. Do get a national park pass at the first NP you go to, it will let you into all the parks for free for a year. There is a parking fee of $10 at Mt. Rushmore but parking is free in all the others that we've been to.

emalloy

Duh, I just read that you got the pass.

CaribbeanChick

Thanks! Yes we did.. just in case.. I think it will be good to have.. I will write down Death Valley NP.. we probably will leave early, since it's the longest stretch and I need to get out and walk every 2...

hazel1

You won't be able to do a hot air ballloon ride in Napa if you're getting there at noon - all of the ones I've ever heard of start very early in the morning.

tom_mn

You have some very long days in there. LV to Sedona and then Bryce to Moab. Are you taking highway 12 Bryce to Capitol Reef to I-70 to Moab? That could be 8 hours, but it is just a gorgeous drive.

I strongly suggest that you drop something. Your pace is crazy from Sedona to Moab, changing hotels every night and then 4-8 hours driving each day. You could drop Bryce, add a night at GC and go straight up to Moab, or steal a night from SLC and add it between Bryce and Moab, say at Torrey, UT.