Wild West Itinerary

[Northtim]

Quick feedback on our trip as we returned home this week. IT WAS AMAZING! - We had the best time and stuck pretty close to our original itinerary.

The final trip, plus a few comments was below:

Day 1 - Fly into LAX - Stay in Hollywood (Beverly Laurel Motor Hotel)
Day 2 - Explore Hollywood. We parked at Greek Theatre and walked up to Griffith Observatory first thing, great views of LA and the Hollywood Sign. Then to the walk of fame for a wander, followed by a drive down Sunset. We then went and lay by the pool for a bit and late afternoon drove via Beverley Hills to Santa Monica for an evening on the beach and pier. That was enough LA for us - very enjoyable!
Day 3 - LA to Vegas via Death Valley. Long drive but we were up early and on the road by 6.30am. Approached DV from West Side which was a great drive in(Panamint Springs/Stovepipe Wells) and then went to Furnace Creek and did the Artists Palette Drive and went to Badwater. 110 degrees and spectacular!
Day 4/5 - Venetian Vegas - 50th birthday treat for my wife. We walked through lots of hotels up the strip one day, visited the Pawn Stars shop and Fremont Street another (got that wrong as we shold have done Fremont after dark for the lights), and lots of lazing by the amazing pools at Venetian the rest of the time.
Day 6 - Vegas to Flagstaff via Hoover Dam & Route 66/Williams - Nice roadtrip. Hoover Dam spectacular and Flagstaff is a really nice town to visit. Did a detour to Meteor Crater the following morning which was quite a sight.
Day 7/8 - Grand Canyon (staying in Tusayan) Second time at the canyon but less rushed this time so took the shuttle/hiked to various look out points towards Hermits Rest and appreciated it more. Took in sunset from a viewpoint off Desert View Drive and left the park to the east taking in Desert View Watchtower as we left.
Day 9 - Grand Canyon to Monument Valley - Stay View Hotel - Thanks for the tips about View Hotel. It was amazing! Did the drive around the valley with lots of photo stops.
Day 10 - Monument Valley to Zion NP - Stops at Horsehoe Bend and Page but ran out of time for Antelope Canyon unfortunately.
Day 11 - Explore Zion morning then to Vegas. Zion was amazing, so beautiful and walking through the river at the narrows then stopping to swim meant we spent most of the day in Zion and absolutely loved it. Probably the highlight of the trip.
Day 12 - Vegas - Back to Vegas and stayed at Tuscany Suites which was big rooms, very good value and less manic as just off strip. After the week or touring we spent most of the time relaxing by the pool.
Day 13 - Vegas to Big Bear Lake. Scrapped this at the last minute as read poor reports of the Travelodge we had booked and we decided to stay in Vegas where temps were well into 40's rather than head into mountains where the nighttime temp was down to 5 degrees.
Day 14/15/16 - Newport Beach. Lovely relaxing way to end. Stayed at the Hyatt Regency and spent the days split between there and the lovely beaches
Day 17 - Newport Beach to LA for flight home

Overall it was an amazing holiday. Really couldn't think of anything we should have done differently. Moving around a lot in the first part of the holiday worked really well and we saw such stunning landscapes, then the last few days were mostly spent relaxing and chilling out so we came home feeling relaxed.

Flights with Virgin Man-LAX were fine and on time. Bonus when we picked up our car from Avis was an upgrade from a Ford Edge type to a Buick Enclave which was a bigger 7 seater so lots of room for 4 of us and cases - and it was a lovely smooth luxurious drive (although it did get through some fuel!)

I'll aim to post this as a mini trip report in that forum with some pictures when I have some more time.