75th Birthday : Road Trip to the Grand Canyon

Hi RTUSA ,

Love your website, its a GREAT service !

We are taking a family vacation for my mother's 75th birthday, next July. There will be 19 of us, including 9 children between the ages of 13 and 6. We are going from New York to the Grand Canyon. We plan on flying into Las Vegas and spending a day or two there before heading to the Grand Canyon. We already have a nights reservation on the north rim at the Grand Canyon Lodge. We are thinking about going to Sedona for an extended stay before heading back home via Phoenix or Las Vegas.

The women in the group want to limit the driving as much as possible and we would want to limit the excessive heat conditions for my mom ( I know that's asking a lot). Could you give us any ideas to make this a very memorable trip for the kids?

Thanks again for all your help,

Jimmy

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Dear Jimmy -

Many thanks for your nice note about your trip. Sounds great!

Staying out the mid-summer heat in Arizona makes good sense, so I'd suggest you stay as far away from Phoenix as you can. Fortunately the Grand Canyon, and Sedona as well, is high enough up in the mountains -- the South Rim elevation is something like 7500 feet -- so temperatures are moderate, even in July. And there's not much humidity, so the weather is not oppressive. Nothing like NY's "hazy hot & humid".

Even though it would add some driving miles, I do have one big suggestion: if you (some of you, or all 19 of you...) feel adventurous, you could make a truly memorable trip if you come back to Las Vegas by a much more interesting route via southern Utah: Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Monument Valley and Lake Powell are all pretty much "on the way", and all are spectacular places to see and celebrate being 75 years young. And there is a lot of "Native Americana" to keep younger people interested, since much of the land you pass thru belongs to the Navajo Indians. There's also quite a lot of Route 66 fun -- places where you can "Sleep in a TeePee", like the WigWam Village in Holbrook Arizona, near the Petrified Forest.

If that sounds like too much, Sedona is very nice, too -- and a lot more "civilized" than the wilderness areas.

Thinking of driving times, you could do the 300-mile, Las Vegas-to-Grand Canyon drive in a long day, then take a couple of more leisurely days to drive back around the North Rim of the canyon, getting back to Las Vegas via southern Utah (which I think is one of the prettiest places on the planet!). Not too many miles or hours behind teh wheel, considering all the amazing sights and experiences.

Hope this helps you all have a great trip -- Happy Birthday to yr Mom, and Happy Trails to all of you,



Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA

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