Ideas for Stops on a Road Trip from Pacific Northwest to Grand Canyon
 

We will be taking a driving trip from Portland OR to the Grand Canyon in late September. Two adults and three girls (aged 12, 11, 8). We would prefer to limit driving to 6 hours a day or so. We will be traveling primarly in I-84 and then on I-15. Any ideas for stops/activities between these two locations or must do activities at Grand Canyon area?

Considering the path you've chosen, I can't think of much to suggest.

Your route is about 1325 miles. If you were to add a couple hundred miles, you could go to Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Bodie (ghost town), Death Valley, Las Vegas, amd Zion National Park on your way.

Do you know about Mapquest.com's new feature that lets you add stops along the route.

Here's a first go at the route -

Portland to Boise, ID - 430 miles
Boise to Salt Lake City, UT - 340 miles
SLC to Cameron, AZ - 466 miles
Cameron to Grand Canyon - 57 miles

If I were in your shoes, I'd drive as much as possible, have the girls watch DVD's etc. and stop at hotels with pools - ALWAYS the highlight of kids' trips. Spend a little bit of time looking around SLC - and go to a choir rehearsal if you hit it on the right night. Travel onto Cameron or Page or somewhere near the GC, but stop to rest and be rested for the GC the next day.

If you want to stay AT the GC, make reservations ASAP.

How much time do you have for this? Depending on that, you may not have much time to do a lot of side trips along the way. You should first figure out how much time you want to spend at GC and the area, and that will determine how much time you can spend on the drive and stops along the way.

You'll be reasonably close to Craters of the Moon Nat'l Monument in Idaho.

I think it's a given that you'll have to stop at the Great Salt Lake while in SLC. I know when I was a kid the idea of being able to float like a cork was kinda cool, so your kids might be excited to test the waters.

You won't be too far away from Zion and Bryce Canyon NP's on your route. You could probably leave I-15 and go to both on your way to GC. Bryce would be a little out of the way though.

There are a bajillion threads on here about Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon, and Page, AZ (which is probably another stop you'd want to make). Do a search for them and you'll get plenty of activity ideas, plus estimated driving times and mileage between various points of interest.

Thank you all for the words of wisdom, I will look into some alternate routes to get there to make the drive a little more interesting, and will follow your other advice as well.