Palm Springs is a huge college spring break destination( just a heads up).

Appreciate the different perspectives. Telling comment from local StantonHyde.

We'll have a week in late (?) October as well. Would that be better than March for Southern Utah or more or less the same?

We've done cold for Spring Break the last few years in Europe but those were more city breaks. Not sure about spending all the time outside in the cold. I'll have to consult the troops.

Maybe I'll give Tucson another look . . .

Not sure if it's your cup of tea - but if you want a lot of things to do - and some nearby park areas to hike/explore - have you considered Las Vegas?

Also fyi - here is my Southern Utah trip report from a year ago June:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mvgcsedona.cfm

October would be great for southern Utah. We visited Bryce Canyon in late October or early November, and though we needed jackets at night it was nice during the day.

Lee Ann

I think October would be better weather wise than March, especially for Bryce. Every time we've been there in April there has been snow on the trails, although the roads were dry and the spring trips have had quite a bit of wind. This year we were in Utah in late September and it was wonderful.

OP has already been to Bryce and Zion and was looking for suggestions of something similar but different.

October is AWESOME for southern Utah. Just FY that around Oct 15-18 is fall break for ALL of Utah. Talk about crowds. So if you can avoid that time, I would. You could do Arches, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, Cap Reef, Grand Staircase etc etc. You name it, it will be fantastic. (assuming you are going the first 3 weeks--after that you can get plenty of snow and all bets are off. We went to Bryce this year for fall break (October 15ish) and there was snow! But the lower elevations were fine. It is a great time to see slot canyons and the sky is beautiful. Can you tell it's one of my favorite times for Southern Utah ;-)

Thanks again for the input.

I think I'll save Southern Utah for October (and CA for a future summer -- we still have to fit Yellowstone in as well some time).

I'm not familiar with the Tucson sites so I'll continue to look into that. Sounds like a good option.

Does Tucson work with a single base? or two? And where?

A quick check of flights shows that Phoenix will be considerably cheaper (and direct) so I'd probably fly there.

indy, When you check for flights, look at the cost of the rental car and times for the flights. Phoenix often has rental prices that are much higher.

We've also noticed that if you get into an airport early enough to do a little on the day of the flight, that gives you more vacation time. We haven't used Grand Junction, CO for the Arches/Canyonlands/Mesa Verde area parks, but it looks like a good choice in terms of reducing long driving times and loss of a day doing them.

If you're considering Phoenix, why not throw in a couple of baseball spring training games? The "Cactus League" has games throughout March all around the Phoenix area; they're affordable and can be a great way to get back in touch with the national pastime. http://www.cactusleague.com/

Tucson works very well as a base. To reach places farther out such as Rombstone or Kartchner Cave, you use I-10.

New York Times Sunday Travel has this article on Tucson and it's environs: http://nyti.ms/1c8j19h

Phoenix car rentals are expensive like emalloy said. You could look at some off-airport locations and see if they are close to the light rail line. It's definitely going to be a bit of a pain to haul your luggage but it might be worth it. Or not. ;-)

Tucson is a good base for a lot of stuff, but I'd probably pick a 2nd location for the days you want to go to Kartchner, or Chiricahua, etc. Tucson itself is fairly sprawling IMO so you'll do enough driving just to get to the nearby sites without adding in a couple long day trips.

Here is my trip report on Tucson. We stayed in one place and saw: The Sonoran Desert Museum, Old Town Studios, San Xavier del Bac, the Air Museum--lots of planes and great exhibits, Tucson history museum at the university. There was no shortage of things to do!

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

Great -- thanks again. I'll come back after I've done my share!