MarshaD54

I live in Florida and will be traveling out west next summer. Would like to see las vegas, sedona, grand canyon, teton and yellowstone. Car rental very expensive for renting in las vegas and dropping in Billings Montana. Any ideas? Will spend 14 days. Also need tips on what is most important to see. Our 14 yr old son will be going also. We love anything outdoors.

kayd

Would flying in and out of Salt Lake City make sense? Look at a map to see what routes you might take, first south to the canyons, then northeast to Wyoming, and back to SLC.

ElendilPickle

Just so you know, Las Vegas is really hot in the summer, and there isn't much for your son to do there. I would skip Vegas and maybe try kayd's suggestion of flying in and out of Salt Lake City.

We went to Grand Teton and Yellowstone in early June. If you click my screen name, you can find my trip report.

Our 14-year-old son enjoyed the float trip we took with Triangle X in Grand Teton and seeing all the wildlife in both parks, along with Yellowstone's geothermal features.

Lee Ann

spirobulldog

I would definately do The Tetons and Yellowstone. I would then add Glacier National Park or Mount Rushmore. If you want to do the Southwest, I suggest Zion, Bryce, and North Rim of GC as it would be cooler there.

Whatever you do, make lodging arrangements asap.

utahtea

kayd and Pickle, I did the figures and it's the same amount of miles to fly in and out of Salt Lake city and visit Las Vegas, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Tetons and Yellowstone as it would to do his original route and just drive back to Las Vegas. Either way it's going to add about 500 miles to their trip.

MarshaD, you might want to figure out how much it's going to cost to drive those 500 miles in gas and see how much that one way is really costing you.

As far as your plans, I personally think that there are better places to see than Sedona. I'd recommend Zion National Park instead. Lots of great hiking.

Utahtea

Gretchen

And better places than Vegas. Kind of a long way from GC/Arizona to Yellowstone.

bachslunch

Will second the idea that if you're wedded to Las Vegas, you're best off seeing Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Grand Canyon. Salt Lake City is a better base than Vegas for Yellowstone and Grand Teton -- unless you opt for Jackson WY, which is significantly closer. It's a substantial drive between the two clusters of national parks listed above, though if you have a good amount of time, it's potentially do-able to see all of them. If you opt for such a mix, including Arches is a good idea.