I am planning a short (4-5 day) vacation with our 3 sons in mid-August. We will be starting and ending our trip in Provo.

We are considering going down to southern Utah (Bryce or Zion). Once we are there, should go on down to the North Rim?

Would like suggestions on accomodations?

Any input would be appreciated.

We liked Zion and Bryce, both. You can actually spend about a day or half day in Bryce, just hitting the scenic spots.

Suggest staying at the Best Western Zion Inn. It is very nice hotel. Depending on time of year, outside pool should be open. Nice restaurant next door.

http://www.zionparkinn.com/

The drive through Zion is nice and on the way to North Rim. We stayed at the lodge inside the park. Very primative, but nice. I would check out the national park site for info, reservations, fees, etc for these parks that you mentioned.

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

You can book most of these online without a problem. Nice area of the country to visit. We just did these last fall and it was beautiful trip.

Hope this helps.
- Granny Joan

Whoops, forgot to mention that you can buy a national park pass for year and it will pay for itself if you use it in these three parks. Thus, any national park you visit throughout the year, will be virtually covered as far as fees.

- Granny Joan

Lodge inside Northrim of Grand Canyon info can be founded at this site:

http://www.grandcanyonnorthrim.com/

- Granny Joan

I spent 2 days in Bryce and 1 in Zion.

I would never suggest just stopping at the viewpoints in Bryce.

It's amazing to take a few hours and hike the Navajo Loop down (not a loop anymore since the rock slide) and Queens Garden back up. I only do "easy" and there's a big difference between looking down and being among the rock formations.

Actually, other than Bryce, Inspiration and Sunset Points, the only other one I would stop at is the Natural Bridge. Use the rest of your time on a short hike.