If you do go to the North Rim, note that it’s higher than the South Rim with different vegatation and generally several degrees cooler. Also, it’s not easy to get from rim to rim, unless you hike all the way down, across, and back up or drive around the canyon, which takes quite a while from what I remember. Not as many people though.
In any case, the distances are big. You’re from Australia, so we probably have similar concepts of what I’m talking about. 60+ miles between towns with nothing in between.
You could easily spend the entire time in California, or you could head to the Pacific Northwest, Nevada, and Utah and Arizona. Any further east to Colorado and New Mexico will take you a long, hard day (at least) of driving, without being able to see much of anything.
Some basic ideas by state (most of which are national parks and such, because to be honest I’m not a big fan of Southern California):
California: Disneyland, of course, and Sea World in San Diego. There’s Sequioa National Park, which is attached to another national park (King’s something, I believe). All the requisite city things, after all, which I’m not going to go into in this brief discussion by state. Yosemite National Park, too, of course, the Sierra Nevadas, and other stuff. Death Valley, perhaps. If you really want to catch a ball game (see what it’s all about and all), you’ve got the San Fransisco Giants, Anaheim Angels, LA Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Oakland A’s, and I think that’s it, although I’m sure there are minor league teams as well.
Heading north, we have Oregon and Washington.
Oregon: Honestly, I’m not quite sure what there is to do in Oregon. Portland’s a nice place and all, but I’m not sure what there really is to say about it that’s touristy. The real action is further north, to Washington.
Washington: Seattle/Tacoma, of course. Seattle, I guess, is a nice enough place, however, as I’ve said before, I’m not a big fan of touring other cities, especially in the US. You’ve got Mt. Rainer and that system (the Cascades?), and Olympia National Park (a temperate rainforest.) Head to Mt. St. Helens, year after year the volcano and surrounding area looks better and better, but you can still see some of the devastation that eruption caused. I’m sure there’s more, this is just what I remember. Catch a Seattle Mariners game if you’re interested; lots of people actually fly from Japan to watch a Mariners game and see Ichiro play.
Heading east, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Maybe Wyoming too, but that’s a bit of a drive.
Nevada: Vegas and Reno, of course. On the Nevada/Arizona border there is the Hoover Dam, which might be interesting. I’ve seen it, and I must say one hydroelectric dam is much the same as another dam, but it is a pretty early one. There are things to do outside in Nevada, of course, but I’m not quite sure what, other than Great Basin National Park, which I’ve never been to. My only trips in Nevada have basically been to Vegas, and I’ve never been old enough to gamble in any casino, so I’m no help there. It is theoretically possible to see the Nevada Test Site, but I don’t remember how you go about doing it. It’s dang hot in Nevada, but if you’re in Vegas or Reno, you’ll probably be inside doing at least a little gambling anyway.
Utah: In my opinion, Utah isn’t so bad as long as you stay away from Salt Lake City. Of course, if you want to see the Great Salt Lake, you don’t have much of a choice, but I’m not a big fan of Salt Lake. (It must be the heavy Mormon influence that chafes me.) Arches National Park and Zion National Park are the two to go to if you don’t have time to see the others.
Arizona: Arizona has a lot of places. The cities really aren’t all that much to write home about; Phoenix, Tucson, and Flagstaff have expanded too much, in my opinion to maintain their size, but that doesn’t really concern a tourist. Now, it is hot in Arizona. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hot in Nevada too, and parts of Utah, New Mexico, and California, but you might notice it more in Arizona if you spend a lot of time outside. There is the aforementioned Grand Canyon. There’s the Petrified Forest, Lake Mead, Lake Powell, Saguaro National Park (Arizona is the only place you’ll see saguaro cacti, don’t bother looking for any in any other state) , some volcanic craters, the meteor crater, and lots more. Catch an Arizona Diamonbacks game in Phoenix, I believe, if you want.
I’ve probably spent more time in Arizona than in any other state other than New Mexico, and some of the places I’ve seen I would recommend except for your time limit and such. While places like the Hava-Supai Indian Reservation are beautiful, there is often a waiting list, other hoops to jump through, are not easy to get to, and require a fair bit of time. Havasu, for example, required a permit, a hike down into the canyon (though it is possible to take a horse or even a helicopter in and out), some time, an idea of where it was, lots of driving time to get there, and so on.
Anyway, moving on.
Colorado: Denver and Colorado Springs are the two cities to visit. If I were you, I’d stay in Colorado Springs and then drive to Denver for the day. Denver has a pretty good zoo and natural history museum, if you’re into that sort of thing, botanical gardens, shopping, etc. There’s the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, but in my opinion if you’ve seen Arches or Zion, especially, there’s nothing all that special about Garden of the Gods. I wouldn’t bother going to places like Aspen, Vail, etc. unless you really like hiking. They’re not bad places in summer, and cheaper too, but skiing after all is the main attraction. You’ve got part of Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado (the rest is in Utah), Rocky Mountain National Park, Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes National Monument (quite impressive, and in the southern part of Colorado), and, well, that’s about it. I know there’s a cave in the Colorado Springs area, but I’m not quite sure what it’s called. Catch a Colorado Rockies game in Denver, if interested.
Wyoming: Honestly, there’s not much to see in Wyoming other than Yellowstone. Wyoming’s not a bad place, it’s just big and spread out. No real cities to go to, and so on.
New Mexico: Now, I’m a little biased having grown up here, so I know the most off the top of my head of what’s here. You’ve got Albuquerque, most of which isn’t all that touristy unless you get here late enough for the State Fair in September or go to Old Town. There’s the Sandias and Manzanos to the east, which are good for hiking and such, and the Sandia Tram is apparently the longest aerial tram in the world, taking you up the west face of the Sandias to the crest of the ridge. Santa Fe is a city with a lot of history, but it’s also really damn expensive and can be a tourist trap, so if you want to see Santa Fe I would suggest staying in Albuquerque and driving to Santa Fe (it’s less than an hour with the new speed limits.) Several Anasazi and other ruins, such as Chaco Canyon and Bandalier National Monument. There’s El Mapais, in case you can’t get enough of basalt lava flow, and White Sands National Monument (sand dunes made entirely out of gypsum) in the southern part of the state. You’ve got Carlsbad Caverns in the southeast corner, where it can be really, really hot. Last time I was there, it was nearly 120 on the surface that week. Roswell, of course, if you are really curious and want to see the UFO Museum (I can’t recommend it, myself), Taos, and so on.
As you can see, you’re going to have to pick and choose. Do you want to see the big cities; San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Vegas, Denver? Do you want to see America’s national parks? You could see a lot of those and never even make if off the West Coast. A bit of each? Do you want to go hiking and maybe even camping for a couple days, or would you prefer to drive around in a car and just get out occassionally at scenic points? Do you want to see historical sites, or modern?
Also, do you want to see Canada and Mexico? If you go to San Diego, think about crossing in Tijuana. Check what the rules are with company you rent a car with; insurance generally doesn’t apply in Mexico, and the border towns can be unpleasant. Crossing into Mexico should be easy, but getting back into the US, if the Tijuana/San Diego crossing is anything like the El Paso/Juarez crossing, expect to spend a fair bit of time. If you make it all the way to Seattle and Washington, think about going into British Columbia. Vancouver is nice (and is used a lot for shooting American television), and Victoria on Vancouver Island is nice as well, and smaller. You can even get a car ferry to Victoria. It’s been a while since I was in either one, so I don’t really remember what all is there.
One other thing to watch out for: altitude. As soon as you start heading west, you’re going to pick up altitude. Most of the American West is at about a mile or more, so take it easy the first couple days and get acclimated if you’re coming from a low point in Australia.
About airline tickets: Booking in advance online is always cheaper than booking later. However, the cheapest flights are generally restricted in changing, can fly at more inconvienent times, and are sometimes limited to certain days of the week. If you must fly, I would suggest Southwest for a start. They’re cheap, good, on-time, have good one-way fares, and fly into several major cities (you will not, however, be able to fly into Colorado).
That’s about all I can think of for now. America is huge, after all.
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I guess what I really didn’t like was that, as crowded as the cable car was, if you couldn’t see out the window, which most of the time you couldn’t, you might as well be on a regular bus.