Bryce Canyon
Dead Horse Point
Goosenecks of the San Juan
Monocline of the San Rafael Swell, check a couple of these out, Shiprock, San Rafael Swell, etc. tres cool, Utah rocks.
Rocky Mountain NP
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP
Mesa Verde NP
Great Sand Dunes National Preserve
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
Dinosaur Nt. Mn.
Bandelier Nt. Mn.
Arches NP
Canyonlands NP
Dead Horse Point SP
Goblin Canyon SP
Goosenecks of the San Juan SP
Hovenweep Nt. Mn.
Natural Bridges Nt. Mn.
Canyon de Chelly Nt. Mn.
Chaco Culture Nt. Hist. Pk.
Capitol Reef NP
Petrified Forest NP
NB These will not all work with the same route and some would fall into the “close enough to wait until you live in Las Vegas” category.
When you say kosher, do you mean “two sets of kitchen implements” level kosher? Because that may be a challenge outside of big cities in the middle and west.
If you end up in Nebraska, I recommend the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument. It’s packed with dioramas and exhibits that describe the history of people traveling across the country, dating from the earliest years of westward expansion to (and beyond) the development of the interstate highway system.
In central colorado, Pikes Peak is worth a stop. The road is paved all the way to the top now. If you don’t feel like driving up, there is a cog rail train available. If Pikes Peak is too far off of I-70 for your tastes, consider Mount Evans, just west of Denver. Roughly the same altitude, and also paved to the top. If you’re going to do Mt Evans or Pikes Peak, make sure you’re healthy; both summits are over 14,000 feet, and if you’ve got respiratory issues, you could have problems up there.
If even that’s too far off, you should at least do Loveland Pass. This is the bypass around Eisenhower Tunnel for prohibited vehicles (e.g. fuel trucks), and it offers some nice views.
If you’re willing to trek far away from the interstate, There is a vast array of stunning scenic roads for your entertainment. A few:
US550 between Ouray and Durango, Colorado. This includes the Million Dollar Highway, a spectacular stretch of road that twists up a steep, narrow canyon and hugs mountainsides.
UT95 from Blanding to Hanksville is one big scenic drive. From Hanksville, you can go west on UT24 through Capitol Reef National Park, also amazingly scenic. At Torrey, UT12 south to Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon is another stunner.
All of the roads I’ve mentioned are roads that I travel cross-country on my motorcycle just to reach. They’re that impressive.
A lot of people like Arches National Park. I prefer two other nearby destinations, Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park. CNP has two districts, the “Needles” district (the southern part) and “Island In The Sky” district (the northern part). IITS is right nest to DHPSP, so it’s convenient to hit both of them, and IMHO IITH is better than Needles. If you’re coming down from I-70 to hit any of these destinations, take UT128 (to Moab) instead of US191.
I agree with others who say you should probably concentrate your time on the sights in Colorado, since Utah is well-positioned for weekend getaways once you settle in Las Vegas. If you’ll be passing through Grand Junction, make sure you take a drive through Colorado National Monument.
Also in Colorado, Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park. 11,000-12,000 feet as you cruise through alpine tundras along the ridge. Somewhere on that ridge road there’s a 1/2-mile hike, at the end of which you can climb onto a pile of rocks, making you the highest thing for miles around. Do NOT do this hike if there are storms anywhere on the horizon.
Golden, Colorado: free tour of the Coors brewery, the largest single-site brewing operation in the world. Free Coors beer at the end, if that’s your thing.
Denver: you may be able to tour the US Mint there. If interested, check in advance, as you might need tickets/reservations.
Finally…if you’ve never driven across the country before, pay attention. One of the things that is profoundly interesting to me is how the terrain changes as you move west. This is particularly evident across the plains states, as you move through Illinois, Iowa/Missouri, Nebraska/Kansas, Colorado, and Utah. You may find that you develop an appreciation for just how damn big this country is, and how much natural variety it encompasses.
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is less than three hours off your route, assuming your last leg takes you down I-15 to Vegas.
It’s the Grand freakin’ Canyon. There are many spectacular pictures of the Grand Canyon, but pictures fall short of the reality. Go there.
Antelope Slot near Page, AZ.
Personally I would head a bit further north. Drive across northern Wyoming, spend a couple or three days in the Yellowstone area. As beautiful as I find southern Utah the northern part of Wyoming is better (YMMV, but we loved living there). This would take you through South Dakota where you could have a burger and a beer in Sturgis which always has some appeal. A few miles east of there is Mount Rushmore, Deadwood, the whole Black Hills thing. The Custer battlefield is only 40ish miles north of Sheridan, WY, the Fetterman Battlefield about the same south. The drive through the Big Horn mountains is incredible.
When you finally pry yourself off the saddles in the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson you head on down to Salt Lake City where you can pick up I-15. That will take you right past Zion and Bryce Canyon from which you can head south a bit and take in both sides of the Grand Canyon and while pulling into Nevada you can stop and see Hoover Dam.
In any case take your time and enjoy the drive. There are wonders to see everywhere.
I have driven cross-country on I40 (twice), I70, I90 and most of the west on I10.
I90 was my favorite, because of the Badlands, Black Hills, Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I then went south and took I80 from Salt Lake City to California.
Heck, as long as you’re in Abilene, stop for dinner at the Brookville Hotel. Amazing family style fried chicken dinner.
If you want weird, definitely check out the Garden of Eden in Lucas KS.
The Gateway Arch is impressive - you can see it for quite a distance as you approach St. Louis from the east (weather permitting obviously).
Zion is indeed lovely - I’ve got a souvenir water bottle from there with a panoramic photo from the park (looking at it right now in fact). Bryce Canyon is also quite a sight though the rock formations generally require some hiking to really get to them.
FYI, it’s Zion National Park, not Zion Canyon National Park. I do concur that they’re both relatively accessible from Vegas - we flew into Vegas 3 years ago, and drove to Kanab UT from which we took long-day trips to Zion, Bryce, and Grand Canyon (north rim) - all are 2ish hours away from Kanab. This was on the suggestion of Dopers :).
Colorado: Rocky Mountain National Park / Trail Ridge Road is pretty damn impressive. US 33 goes through it, I think. It’s challenging driving, however. Colorado Springs / Garden of the Gods / Pike’s Peak are worth a visit: we stayed a night in Colorado Springs, did the cog railroad up to Pikes Peak in the morning, then did Garden of the Gods that afternoon.
Oooh: another place near Vegas (i.e. wait until you’re there and go for an afternoon): Valley of Fire State Park. Stunning rock formations. And since we were there in July, it gave us a chance to experience being convection-baked (a breeze blew in, which had the effect of roasting us that much faster… thank Og for good car A/C!!).
More out of the way (but something we did on that same trip): northwestern Wyoming. As in Grand Teton and Yellowstone.
Heh - yeah. Hopefully the traffic flow is improved since 3 years ago: the bridge over the dam is now open. When we drove past 3 years ago, we went over the dam itself and there was security that slowed everything down.
Similar: Glen Canyon dam near Page, AZ. That’s 2+ hours away from Kanab, so may or may not be something you do en route versus once you’re settled. There are half-day smoothwater rafting tours that launch from the base of the dam; we did that on a friend’s recommendation and really loved it.
The Colorado goes through a massively tight bend near there (Horseshoe Curve, I think it’s called); the raft goes through that curve.
There are also places you can swim in Lake Powell near Page; be warned, the one we were sent to doesn’t have anything like paved parking - and we got stuck in the damn sand and some people had to help us push the car to get it going :smack:.
And, you can rent houseboats to spend a few days on the water in Lake Powell.
Niagara Falls? I’m surprised.
In the past year, I’ve talked two people out of going to Niagara Falls.
Definitely make a slight jog north to take in Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland.
I’ve never been there but passed a lot of billboards over the years, so you can tell me what it’s like.
I also still have a motel key from decades ago when we passed through Salina, KS, so if you’re going that way let me know and you can drop it off for me (Salina has the worst Chinese restaurant in the lower Midwest, or at least had, if you’re looking to avoid bad food).
The US Air Force Museum at Wright–Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH.
Yet another option for driving through Colorado (includes some previously mentioned stops)- head south from Grand Junction and stop in Telluride. It’s in a very scenic box canyon and well worth a stop. Then continue south to Cortez on 145 through some spectacular mountain scenery, and make a very short jaunt east to Mesa Verde National Park.
From there head west to Goosenecks State Park in Utah, then south to Monument Valley on the Arizona border. Then on west to the Grand Canyon.
Go to the Canadian side of the falls. It’s much (MUCH) better than the American side, which has a terrible view of all the casinos on the Canadian side. The Canadian side is much cleaner, too – the American side, not too far from the falls, is pretty seedy and run-down.
Otherwise the falls make for great viewing and a great visit. It’s still a Must See in my book.
Mammoth Cave in Kentucky
?Huh? Not if they head straight to Kansas City. Route 66 is associate with I-44 to Springfield, not I-70 to Kansas City.
Echoing Bumbershoot’s suggestion, Mesa Verde is a must see. The ranger-lead tours are fascinating. Heading west from there, you’ve got Flagstaff and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Oops. Be back later.
Additionally, in New Mexico there’s a cavern, and if you take the tour to the bottom, you can see the carcass of a mummified bobcat that fell in from a hole at the top 17 years ago. It has remained unchanged since that day.