hi all, im from australia and will be spending 3 weeks driving california next may.i,m pretty sorted la to flagstaff but then wish to go to monument valley,grande canyon and las vegas what would be the best way to do this. not in huge hurry. also as an aside whole trip,precis version is la flagstaff las vegas san francisco la. i love americana roots and blues music.any venues suggested

From Flagstaff - head north on 89 - and then take 160 west over to Kayenta - the gateway to Monument Valley - about 4 hours. http://tinyurl.com/cwqoyr3

From there back to the Grand Canyon is about two and a half hours, and from the GC to Vegas is about 5 hours.

Either on the way or on the way back from Kayenta - about two minutes to the west is the road up to the Navajo National Monument - (10 miles) - and they have a nice visitor's center and you can also take a short walk to look across the canyon at the ancient Cliff Dwellings, a real bonus for a small amount of time.

And here is the webpage for the Navajo National Monument:

http://www.nps.gov/nava/index.htm

How much time do you have for the Arizona/Las Vegas part of your trip? I'm assuming the three weeks is just for the California part of your vacation.

3-5 days approx

You could spend one night at Monument Valley and one night at the Grand Canyon - I'm assuming that you want to go to the South Rim. If you're not hiking into the canyon, one night is fine. I liked staying near the rim so I could easily walk over for sunrise and sunset. You'll have quite a bit of driving though - it's about five hours from the South Rim to Las Vegas and I thought most of it was boring.

If you have a little more time you can add some stops. Just north of Flagstaff is Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments. If you don't mind driving a bit more, you can drive east, stopping at Walnut Canyon National Monument and then go north and visit Canyon de Chelly on your way to Monument Valley.

Sorry, don't know anything about music venues.

Thanks heaps Tomsd and Shanti.Ya can't beat local knowledge.I'll post results on my return

Totally agree about staying on the Rim if you can - Bright Angel Lodge being one option - and do try to get the Canyon/Rim view room. http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/bri...lodge-408.html

And the drive from GC to Vegas is nothing special. Just enjoy the morning - and then hit the road.

One other option less than hour east of Flagstaff is the huge crater formed by a metorite. Great visitor's center/film and museum. http://www.meteorcrater.com/