Round trip in Utah from Denver
 

Hello, i need your opinion and possible recomendations regarding our future trip (end of september/17 october 2007)
We will arrive in Denver (Hotel Timbers ?) and drive to Moab through I 70. Visit National parks around. Drive to Torrey (or surroundings) to visit National parks around. Drive to Bryce, then to Zion. Drive to Page/MV area and Cortez.
From there we plan to drive, making a stop over somewhere midway to Grand Lake (Colorado) for one night and Estes park after having visited RMNP.
What is wrong in this plan, what are your recommendations as far as lodging is concerned (budget 100/120 USD per night)

Thanks vm in advance for your contributions

I'd do the trip in reverse to make sure that snow in Colorado isn't a factor. Other wise...depending on the amount of time you have (you didn't give an end date) the route looks good.

Utahtea

Thanks for your post
our round trip is supposed to last 19 days
and we ll fly back to côte d'azur
i note that there is a snow risk in colorado and will arrange the trip acccordingly
merci

In Moab, check out the Dreamkeeper B&B, Torrey area, check out Austin's Chuckwagon & have dinner at Cafe Diablo, spend a night in Boulder, Utah (in between Torrey & Bryce) at Boulder Mtn Lodge and eat at Hell's Backbone Grill. Stay in the park in Bryce, if you can. For Zion, Springdale has lots of great lodging options or you can stay in the park. I've always skipped Lake Powell and spent limited time at MV, prefer Valley of the Gods which is north of MV, near Mexican Hat, Utah. Gorgeous area. There is a great B&B - Valley of the Gods B&B - we had a great experience there.
If you head to Cortez, be sure to check out Mesa Verde - we stayed in the park at Far View and it was worth it. The ride in to the park is very long.
So are you skipping the Grand Canyon?

We fell in love with Torrey in Late September last year. The leaves turned golden overnight in the mountains by Boulder and the desert landscape in Torrey was alive with shades of red and yellow. We stayed at the Capital Reef Inn in Torrey. A very simple quaint place that has the most amazing petrified wood and rocks in the gardens and Kiva.Take the time to look closely. The food is great at their restaurant. It is not flash lodging (like $70-80 a night)but we adored it and the people were special. Get a 4 wheel drive and head up into the back roads. Western Road (?) 1/4 mile west of the Inn. Can't wait till we get back there next September.

Mesa Verde is amazing with snow on the dwellings. I was there in November one year. When the sun set the snow turned red. Will never forget the experience.

Thanks vm for your contributions.
Sharondi, we went to GC and flew over it from Vegas in 1998. So no need to repeat this experience. This time, our trip to USA is devoted to Coloradoo and Utah, mostly Utah.