10 day trip
 

Flying into Tuscon Arizona looking to see west areas . Will rent car drive back to Illinois any ideas?

Please define "west areas" for us.

Check my blog of things to see and do around Tucson and Southern Arizona.

http://mikepintucson.blogspot.com/

Some must-see places:

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Saguaro National Park (both east and west units)
San Xavier del Bac mission
Kartchner Caverns
Mt. Lemmon
Sabino Canyon


lots more to keep you busy right in the area.

Does the 10 days include driving back to Illinois? What month are you planning for? If you are going to have a drop off fee, it might be cheaper to ride the Texas Eagle back to Springfield in coach.
My friend Mac T. is going to be up at the Mt. Lemmon fire lookout again this year starting in May.

No the 10 day trip doesnt include drive back. Our time is very flexible also. We will be going down sometime in the fall. As far as defining out west, looking for suggestions very open to ideas at this point. No kids will be involved also if that helps Ty

Still wondering, by "west" do you mean west of Tucson, or around Tucson, or some western states and, if so, which ones? To get useful information you have to give us some parameters, something to work with. "The West" covers a lot of ground. You must have some idea of what you may want to include, what interests you. Put another way, why Tucson instead of Boise or San Diego?

The west is a big area! If you are interested in the National Parks I'd keep it to Arizona, Utah and Colorado. You could slowly work your way towards Illinois and see some great sites. Parks might include Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands and Rocky Mountain National Parks.

Utahtea

Maybe this will help. Drive from Peoria ,Ill, down to Tucson. Would love to see Zion National Park along the way. My brother in law lives in Tucson so will be spending 3 days there. Then cut across see Los Angeles for a day? (cover tourist area) Leave and drive up to Napa Valley,Calif. Cover the winery area. Head back home through some Colorado cities, including Boulder. Up for suggestions on good routes to cover. Looks like will be 2 and half weeks? to 3?

Here is the sort of loop plan I would do. Drive from Peoria to I-40 with stops along the way at places like Acoma Pueblo in NM and Petrified Forest/Painted Desert in AZ then over and up to Grand Canyon south rim before heading down to Tucson.

Then over to LA check out the winery area closer to LA then head for Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands and on through Colorado on I-70 with a loop through Rocky Mt. NP on Trail ridge road and back to Peoria.

If you are pressed for time then just head to Tucson then LA. On the way home, hit the North Rim of the GC after Zion and either before or after Bryce.