Hi- This august- 3-11, I am taking my mother on a vacation to arizona and las vegas. We would like to go see the grand canyon, sedona, and we are trying to fill in the midle of the trip! i would love to see bryce and zion too. we are flying into phoenix and out of las vegas, but we can probably change our flight destination (to las vegas) if someone would be kind enough to give some advice- we are very open to suggestions. we will be staying in hotels- are we too late?

If you fly into Phx you could visit in this order SEdona. South or North Rim, Bryce and Zion, ending in LV. If you fly into LV you would have a lot less driving to do if you dropped Sedona- LV, Zion, Bryce, North Rim, LV. If you don't mind driving the extra miles Sedona can be included out of LV.

Sounds like a fun trip. I would seriously consider not planning too much as if you are hopping from place to place you spend too much time in a car, and not as much time out enjoying the sights. It sounds like you are planning too much for that short of time. One trip our family did was Las Vegas, to Sedona, Grand Canyon and Phoenix. We had a week. It worked out well. It is not too late to book hotels-you have plenty of time. Be aware if you change your air itinerary you pay up to $90 penalty fee per change. If you want some help with hotels, feel free to contact me. www.gosmartravel.com

Plenty of hotel availability in Vegas in August, just plan to spend Sunday through Thursday there for best choice and lowest prices. Friday and Saturday the rates will triple.

A friendly reminder that most of the places you want to visit will be 100 or more degrees at this time of year. Just so you are prepared for it! Beautiful places, did it last year.

thanks for the advice- still a little confused, but hopefully it will all come together!

OK, no one has chimed in for Zion, so I will.

Go there. It is beautiful. If you are lucky, you might snag one of the hotel rooms in the park itself, especially if you book ASAP and not for a weekend. If not, you have many B&B/hotel options just outside the park.

Whereas at Grand Canyon, you are standing at the top looking down into the canyon, in Zion, you are at the bottom of the canyon looking up at the incredible rock/canyon formations.

You and your mom can hop on and off the National Park Service bus (free) and stop at any of the sites. Some are very short (couple of hundred yards) and others are more challenging (Angel's Landing.) There's even one where you walk IN the river -- you don't have to go far if you don't want. There are enough short walks that if your mother is not physically strong, she will still enjoy it. Or, just stay on the bus and ride the loop -- the bus drivers are great and give a wealth of interesting tidbits to the passengers. You can see a lot just from the bus if your mom is physically limited.

After GC and Zion, I was less captivated by Bryce, but probably only bc it was the last place we visited and we didn't have the opportunity to do any hikes among the hoodoos. So, IMHO, if you didn't get to Bryce, I wouldn't worry -- plenty to see and do in GC, Sedona, and Zion.