I want to chime in for Grand Canyon South Rim. The rim walk is so easy and there is a lot to see and do besides looking at a "big hole." I missed out on it for many years-- stopping just to snap a picture on the way to California or wherever. When I finally spent a couple of nights in the park on a recent trip, I realized how spectacular and accessible it really is. You don't have to hike down into to appreciate this wonder.

Again thanks to everyone. I also don't understand the Michelin site - every other site pegged the trip for 1.5 hours. I've used the Michelin site for Europe and never had any problems.
I've decided that we'll do Zion and Bryce only. Maybe we'll get back for the Grand Canyon. I'll check out the lodges in the parks. We stayed in a lodge in Shenandoah and except for a one on one with a mouse (our fault - we left food in the room!), it was a great experience. At the moment, I have all the info I need to plan this part of the trip, but you may see me posting another message if I have more questions.
Thanks WhereAreWe for your suggestions. Three -four hours isn't a really long drive in theory but we are from Israel and you can travel half the country in four hours. So it's a longer drive than we're used to. That's why I want to check out the possibility of breaking up the drive back.

You've almost got to expect mice,bugs, squirrels, etc at a lot of the cabins in the national parks. Usually, the lodges are a tad bit less buggy, but the walls are paper thin, so you can hear your neighbor snoring. We love the park lodges and always stay at them. Bryce and Zion Lodges are both awesome and is where we stayed. You could stay outside the park, and maybe just have a meal at each to get a sense of the place. To me, it just completes a national park experience. I'm even to the point now- if there is no lodge then I consider camping in the park.

I should say that we had a cabin at both Bryce and Zion. We didn't have any issues with any kind of critters at either place.

Well, we're invading the critters' space. Not complaining but I don't want to meet them eyeball to eyeball at 2 a.m. again! (LOL)