Highlights in the West
 

We have an opportunity to fly to Las Vegas, and we want to book a week of timeshare in south Utah, rent a car and drive there. Any suggestions about what to see, where to go once we get settled in. We don't plan to golf or go for R&R. . We want to experience nature. We had a week in Park City in the spring and loved it--the small town, Olympics Museum, rides through the mountains & canyons, Air Force Museum, Salt Lake City. We heard that St. George is a good spot as well, but why?

travel4now,

A timeshare in St. George won't let you enjoy much of the National Parks, if that's what you are thinking. The southern UT parks are too spread out. The nearest to St. George is a hour one way - Zion.

St. George has become a very large, sprawling city. Heavy on the retirees and golfing. Nothing like Park City (where I live).

You would do much better to spend your week in 2 or 3 parks and stay either in the park lodges or just right outside. Thankfully, the parks don't have timeshares!

That said, if you are stuck on the timeshare thing, there is much to do in St. George, even some beautiful nature areas nearby like Snow Canyon.

If it were me, I would spend the time in the parks.

3 days Zion
2 days Bryce
1 day driving Hwy 12 to Boulder
spend the nt at the Boulder Mtn Lodge and dinner at their Hell's Backbone restaurant
1 day Capitol Reef

something like the above.

Very helpful info, thank you. We've been happy with our Gold Crown TS accommodations, but we venture beyond resorts & their activities. I'll show this itinerary to my other half. (We wondered if St. George was big--much in the news in SLC one day.) If not your whole itinerary, we'll likely do your Snow Canyon suggestion and a day trip to Zion.

Pre-ression, Washington County (St. George area) was THE fastest growing county in the United States for 3 years running. There is a huge foreclosure problem there now from all the people who bought vacation condos and retirement/second homes at the bubble prices.

It's still a pretty nice place, but it's a big, spread out city with suburbs galore.

Other local things of interest - there was an incredible dinosaur tracks find on a farm outside town. It's on the web and is a protected site now due to it's significance.

Ask for other suggestions at the visitor's center.

If you are interested, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (Kanab) would be about 1.5 hours drive and is a wonderful place to visit and volunteer.

Have fun

Great! We'll add those two spots to our list. Thanks. We'll check on Capital Reef as well.

travel4now,

Since I live here I don't do the map and mileage thing much, but I think Capitol Reef from St. George would be close to 3 hours one way. Not really a day trip.

Bryce would be about 2.5 - 3 hours one way.

Coming from Australia, we've found Cedar City, an hour or so north of St George, a nice place to spend a few days as a base, and have done it three times. It's close to the lesser known Kanab Canyon (part of Zion), and Cedar Breaks on the wonderful Route #14, with easy access to the just as wonderful #12, and easily possible to do longish day trips to Zion and Bryce. One of the best drives in the USA must be the drive to, in and past Zion, #9, up the #89 and back across the #14 to Cedar City.

Of course,staying in the parks would be preferable, but much more expensive. Not sure about time share in Cedar City though.

Another plus for Cedar City is the Shakespeare Festival each year, an the open-air Shakespearean Theatre .

Thanks Dayle and Carrabella! Couldn't get a timeshare in Cedar City but found one available in St. George. My other half and I have a lot to go on now. Looks exciting. I'll print this and keep it in our file.

Dear travel4now: are you staying at Worldmark?? We stayed there June 08. Very true, long haul to Bryce, North Rim GC, and beyond. I knew this going in, so did over nights at Bryce & GC.

Here is a link to our report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...rip-report.cfm

I hope this helps. We really enjoyed our time in S. Utah, but would not base in St. Geo due to distance to most of the parks. Zion is the only park that is an easy daytrip.

MY

Thanks for that helpful info. We'll take it all into consideration. Well, we tried for Worldmark, but it wasn't available. Even so, we won't absolutely need the best since we won't hang around the resort. RCI helped us find something very suitable. Thanks again.