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Posted by Ballpark Frank (24.237.94.196) on 11:17:30 05/21/14
In Reply to: Loon Poll on fa trip to National Parks posted by Teewinot
Tee,
Having lived in close proximity to your geography for over 20 years, I would say it is a shorter drive to GYE, and you could monitor long term weather forecasts each year, over time, for ideal weather to visit the area. This only works if you have lots of control over the exact timing of your vacation schedule.
Swinging to the Grand Canyon/Zion/Las Vegas alternative, I will offer some admittedly biased suggestions. While living in Colorado, my ex and I got in the habit of making the occasional road trip to Laughlin or Vegas via Grand Canyon. We would head to Moab via the road from Cisco, off I-70. Occasionally, we would spend a day or two cruising around Arches and/or Canyonlands (optional). Then, we would head down through Blanding and Monticello to Monument Valley, and spend a night in the valley or Kayenta. (One could make the run from the Denver Metro area to Monument Valley in one day.)
From Monument Valley, we would visit the Hopi reservation at Third Mesa to surf the jewelry stores, then head over to Tuba City for a late lunch. From there, we would make a beeline to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, catch the sunset, and continue west. We could be sitting at a blackjack table in Laughlin by midnight!
There were times we deliberately scheduled a night or two on the South Rim, so we could do some hiking in the area.
Most of these trips were in the early spring. We got in the habit of flying to Las Vegas over Thanksgiving Weekend. We both liked betting and watching college and NFL football, so we had five consecutive days of football, stretching from the Thanksgiving NFL games to Monday Night Football, with some killer NCAA rivalry games on Friday and Saturday. There is nothing like watching rivalry games in the sports book of one of the big hotels, surrounded by rabid partisan fans! (Admittedly, it's not for everyone, but we got a giggle out of it.)
We had a variety of routes home from Vegas, depending on how much time we had available. It is easy to route one's self through Zion. The question becomes one of whether to route yourself back to I-15 at Hurricane or take the "scenic route", and check out Bryce Canyon. There are a number of potential routes across southern Utah that eventually put you back on I-70 up near Green River. We have taken almost all of them at one time or another. Fairly inexpensive lodging is available in Green River.
I offer this as food for thought. There are so many options for visiting interesting places, as opposed to staying on the interstate highways. It's just a matter of picking and choosing what activities and areas are of most interest to you.
Here's wishing you a great trip with excellent weather, regardless of which destination you select.
Ballpark
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