I would consider a loop… drive from Vegas to Kingman, then a bit north to pick up old Route 66 and take it East to Sligman. Then via Tuba City to Kayenta and Rt 163 to Monument Vally. Stop at the turn out 13 miles north of the AZ/UT state line and look south. Do this in the morning shortly after sunrise.
Go north… possibly as far as Arches National Park if you have time. Then at Monticello, UT go east and down to Cortez to see Mesa Verde National Park. Cortez isn’t much of a town, but a decent base. Then head South to Ship Rock, NM and back into Arizona.
If you have time go up to Natural Bridges National Monument in UT and then west on Highway 95, 24 and 12 to Bryce Canyon… then back to Vegas.
Depending on what all else you’re going to want to see, you have your choice of flying into Phoenix or Las Vegas; both are roughly the same distance give or take an hour.
The two things I liked the best (aside from the time spent with friends in Phoenix, Sedona and the South Rim) were Zion National Park (wish we’d had more time there, there was a whole section we didn’t get to go near), and the smoothwater rafting trip we took out of Page, AZ.
Valley of Fire State Park, a bit northeast of Las Vegas, was interesting though as we visited in July, we didn’t spend a lot of time walking around. The temp was in the teens (as in, 115). At one point, a breeze started up… and you know, it made us hotter. Like the difference between a regular oven and a convection oven - just cooked us that much faster.
Oh - and per someone’s suggestion in my original thread, we stayed in Kanab, UT for all the Utah / North Rim part of the trip. Yes, we had to drive 90ish minutes to get to each park but it really beat the hell out of having to check into a new place every single night.
Be aware the North Rim of the Grand Canyon closes for the winter sometime in mid-October (depending on exactly when the snow starts falling). If you want to see the North Rim and then move on to other southwestern parks such as Zion, Bryce, and Arches (which I highly recommend), then I’d recommend making the canyon the first stop on your trip so you don’t miss out on it on account of unseasonably early winter weather.
We spent our honeymoon in the area - based in Flagstaff, rented car, drove around. Flagstaff itself was cool - in particular, Lowell Observatory. We went there on an evening session and looked through Percival Lowell’s Alvan Clark telescope*. We also spent some time walking around Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and Wupatki National Monument, both very cool.
*Non-nerds may find this less exciting than this nerd did.
We’re visiting this fall, too. We’re flying into Vegas, renting a car and then doing Hoover Dam, Sedona (for wine & shopping), and 3 nights at the Grand Canyon. I only have a week off, so it limits the things we can do. Reading this thread is making me wish I had more time off!
Let me extend my admittedly biased opinion. I lived in Sedona, AZ for 2 years and consider it the most beautiful place on earth. I have visited the Grand Canyon a couple of times. Yes, it is majestic and vast and worth seeing but the colors are muted and in some way it seems “untouchable”: it always seems like it is “out there”. Sedona, on the other hand (IMHO) is up close, personal, and in your face. The colors are vibrant. You can walk right up to what you want to see, and there are many hiking opportunities that don’t require you to be in Ironman physical shape.
I had to move away from Sedona for work, but I still own a condo there and intend to retire there.