Help with itinerary - LV to Grand Canyon/Sedona and return

You%26#39;ve got to love this site and the commitment of the regular subscribers and destination experts.

Now I just need some help clearing my mind.

My wife and I, mid sixties, are on a trip from Vancouver Island to Toronto to visit our younger son and his family, including our new grandson, who we haven%26#39;t yet seen. We are taking this little break before going on to Toronto.

We are flying into Las Vegas on 2nd April and staying one night, renting a car and driving down to the Grand Canyon area and visiting Sedona. We intend to stay in that area for 3 days, FRI, SAT, SUN, 3,4,5, April, returning to LV on 6 April.

We are both reasonably fit, and enjoy sightseeing and walking, as well as relaxing, taking time out, enjoying good food and a glass or two of wine.

We%26#39;ll be driving a good portion of the first day, so we really have only two full days in the area.

Things we%26#39;d like to do: Visit the Hoover Dam, See the Grand Canyon (not just from a car and not from an aircraft), Take a mule ride into the Canyon, See something of the outlying area around Sedona using our own transportaion, Take a Pink Jeep Tour, walk around Sedona. Phew! I%26#39;m already exhausted.

Is this do-able without needing hospitalization?

Should we visit Hoover Dam on the way down or on the way back? Truth is, it%26#39;s not likely we%26#39;ll make a daybreak departure from Vegas on 3rd. Realistically, we%26#39;ll be lucky if we leave before 11.00a.m.

Where to stay on first night? I thought that to get the best from the GC area that we should stay in that vicinity for one night and spend two nights in Sedona, but which way round?

Sorting through and then booking advertised accommodations when you have never seen them and don%26#39;t know the area is just as risky as playing the lottery, so help here would be appreciated.

Wherever we stay, it must be clean, quiet, and have a comfortable bed and truly non smoking rooms. I hate the roar of traffic through the window, or listening to next door%26#39;s TV when you are trying to get to sleep. Good food would be a plus, but one can always escape to a restaurant with a car available.

I know that many respondents say ';Tell us what your budget is';, but I think that%26#39;s the wrong way round. No point in saying my budget is $150 per night if the cheapest motel is $200. It comes down to knowing the area, which I don%26#39;t. Put it like this, if I can only find an undesirable motel with ring-around-tub and mould on the shower curtain for $150, I%26#39;ll go without food for half the day and look for something better. By the same token, I%26#39;m never likely to spend $300 night on a room either. Sorry if this sounds picky, but, when travelling on business, I%26#39;ve spent more time staying in dumps than I care to admit, and now that I%26#39;m retired, I don%26#39;t want to do it anymore. Finally, I think it%26#39;s value for money that really counts. Sometimes you can get 40% more value for 10% more money. Subjective perhaps, but nonetheless true.

So I%26#39;d really be interested to hear from you with your own personal preferences for hotels and if you can spare the time, the main reasons why.

Any other suggestions welcome.

Help with itinerary - LV to Grand Canyon/Sedona and return

Sorry, but you don%26#39;t have enough time to do everything that you put on your list in the short time you have available. You do have time to get a good taste though.

The drive to the GCNP will take about 5 hours. Mkae a reservation at any one of the lodges inside the park where you can get a room. El Tover would be my top choice, but it really doesn%26#39;y matter. There is no traffic, and no TVs so noise is not an issue. www.grandcanyonlodges.com Enjoy sunset along the rim and dinner at the El Tovar. Not gourmet, but the nicest place to eat at the GCNP. See a bit more of the park on day 2 and drive to Sedona. A mule trip in the GC requires a full day at a minimum, and given your time constraints, I%26#39;d say you can enjoy the park more on foot and by car. The drive from either park gate to Sedona will take about 2 hours without stops.

Enjoy Oak Creek Canyon on your way into Sedona. Given your preferences for accomodations, I%26#39;d suggest that you try one of the B%26amp;Bs in Sedona. Follow the links from www.visitsedona.com and pick one that you like. They%26#39;re all going to qualify for your requirements. Sedona is another place that has virtually no noise from traffic or anything else, so you can expect peace and quiet. Do the jeep tour the following morning and spend the rest of the day exploring around Sedona at your leisure. Use the following day to continue your explorations and light hiking. You won%26#39;t get bored or run out of things to see and do. Then return to LV.

You will drive across the Hoover Dam on both legs of the trip from amd to LV. You can stop and take your time as you choose.

Help with itinerary - LV to Grand Canyon/Sedona and return

Yes, I was exhausted half-way through your post too! I sure enjoyed your creative writing :) This is quite a detour from going across Canada, but certainly a worthwhile one!

There is a good Emergency Medical Facility in Sedona, and Flagstaff also has a good hospital. (Hope you don%26#39;t need it!)

I just want to mention that Northern Arizona elevations are in the 4500-7500 feet range. I imagine you are not used to that. Please be aware of how you feel when you are here and especially while hiking. You may get tired very easily. Drink plenty of water and eat snacks throughout the day even if you don%26#39;t feel thirsty or hungry.

My thanks to the Destination Experts who have come up trumps once again! Your advice has been taken into account.

I%26#39;m now seriously checking accommodation, but wish I had done it 4 weeks ago when I first laid out the plan. Many places are now booked and the prices have risen too. This is the cost of being a fully paid up member of the Procrastinator Club.

Oh well......

Still hoping to hear specific recommendations, or any thought you might care to share on accommodation....

If you can%26#39;t find anything inside GCNP, then try in the town of Tusayan, which is just a few miles south of the Park entrance. I%26#39;d just pick any of the chain hotels. No location issues. It%26#39;s pretty much just a one street town. The IMAX theater is there too, in case you want to see that movie.

There are so many choices in Sedona, it is hard to make suggestions. If you want to stay in Uptown Sedona, which is the area that has lots of shops, restaurants, etc. (more touristy, but you can walk around the shops from your hotel and catch a free shuttle to the nearby gallery district), then check out Matterhorn Inn or Best Western Arroyo Roble Hotel. Other choices that get mentioned alot on TA are Sky Ranch Lodge (atop Airport Mesa), Kings Ransom (near gallery district), Southwest Inn (west end of town).

Sedona is a small town, so no matter where you stay, it won%26#39;t be too far from anywhere else in town.

Read some reviews of these and other hotels by clicking on ';Sedona Hotels'; in the upper left-hand column of this forum.

I too enjoyed your humorous post and your ambitious intentions. You are definitely going to be in beautiful areas. If the other suggestions do not work out, you could look at the Hampton Inn because it has good reviews and a vacancy on your dates.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/map/az

www.eccentricamerica.net/oddities.cfm?s=AZ

As long as you are driving, you can find some roadside diversions, as well. These sites are just weird enough to cause me to stop.

Seriously, we drove to Sedona from Denver last October. The Hampton Inn in West Sedona was very nice and very reasonable. We checked several B%26amp;B places (like the creekside) for an upcoming wedding and found that they vary a lot. for a one or two night pass-thru stay i would go for comfortable bed first.

There is no place we found that was not friendly. Scenery is everywhere and gorgeous. Hollywood made lots of movies in Sedona. check IMDB.com and search for locations, it is amazing!

Even the annoying traffic jam over the only bridge over Oak Creek was tolerable. I understand the bridge is still not done, but they have finished the highway approaches on both sides now.

Thanks to you all once again.

Here%26#39;s the scoop. On the advice of RedRox we have added another day in GCNP and have managed to secure a room for two nights at Yavapai Lodge. Mule trek here we come! I%26#39;ve got to read up a little more on this part of the trip, but right now I%26#39;m thinking I might help the mule out by walking some ways down the canyon so that I can ride back up. Is this allowed? It might not be really fair, but I thought it might save a bit of bruising, not being a hardened cowboy and all.

We are still in Sedona for two days and have ended up booking at the Southwest Inn. It was more than I wanted to pay, but in case I need a day in bed to recover from the mule trek, I thought it might be nice to have nice views of the Red Rocks from the bedroom, and they get good reviews.

Alas, since the side trip is of fixed duration, our second visit to Las Vegas has been truncated to two nights. ......well, you can%26#39;t have it all ways.

Won%26#39;t be too long before we set off now.

www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/mule_trips.htm

To the best of my knowledge, you will have to ride the mule all the way. The guides will stop at planned stops and you can stretch your sore legs and walk around, but the train is organized and run in a strict fashion for the safety of all participants. And you need to book ASAP. The mule trips tend to book months in advance.

Good luck and be sure to post a report after your trip.