The obvious drawback -- that you won't see Mount Rushmore -- is a self-made problem. The difficulty

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Some time this summer (2012) my husband I want to travel from Ohio to see the Grand Canyon/Mt Rushmore. I'm a bit overwhelmed planning a trip like this. All our vacations have been in the eastern U.S. I'm not sure if we should take a plane (would leave out of Pittsburgh Int'l Airport) and fly in to a place like Las Vegas or Phoenix, and then rent a car. Or should inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania we take a bus trip. Or a train. We are in our 50s. I want an enjoyable trip and not one where we're exhausted by all the driving.
inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania Unless you really like long, long, long drives, I'd make two circle trips, one of which centers on Rapid City, SD to see Mr. Rushmore, and the other of which centers on Las Vegas, NV to see the Grand Canyon. However, Mt. Rushmore is a half-day visit (at most) so you would certainly be paying a high price for that visit.
We could probably take a 7 day trip. Perhaps it would be better to check out Vegas, the Grand Canyon and a few other points of interest in that time and leave Mt. Rushmore for another trip? I am certainly looking to get the biggest bang for my buck and don't want to do all that travelling for a 1/2 day excursion, so I appreciate your input, Placename.
I personally wouldn't even consider combining inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania Mt Rushmore and the Grand Canyon on the same trip -- unless it was for 5 or 6 weeks to also include several other national parks. They just aren't a realistic 'two-fer'.
In that case you've got an unavoidable problem. You'll either do a lot of driving between the two sites you chose OR make three one-way inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania flights, two of which will involve airports that will NOT be cheap.
There's no major airport near Mount Rushmore. The closest airport of any kind would probably be Rapid City, and the nearest major airport looks like Denver. Thus, you'll have to fly into and out of Rapid City (one-way) OR drive from the major airport to Mount Rushmore and back, then onto Las Vegas or Phoenix -- either flying one-way or driving quite a bit.
On the other had, you can easily fly into Las Vegas (or maybe Phoenix), rent an inexpensive car, drive to The Canyon, view other sights, and then fly back from the same airport. Far less money and hassle.
The obvious inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania drawback -- that you won't see Mount Rushmore -- is a self-made problem. The difficulty in getting to the Black Hills is not something I can recommend if you are ONLY seeing Mount Rushmore. It's only worth the trouble if you plan to stay for several days -- something I actually do recommend, but not at the expense of missing The Canyon and other nearby sights.
Here is a link to a trip we did several years ago. We based in St. George at a timeshare and did over nighters to Bryce N. rim. I would not do that again but would do 2 nights Bryce, 2 N. Rim due to the long days of driving.
The GC is a very awesome sight, but unless you are hiking inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania or rafting it can be done in a day(I would spend 1 night there). I love the hikes in Bryce, Zion, and Arches and other stops along hwy 12. I haven't hiked the GC but I have rafted a portion of it.
Don't try to try to over do it. These places are that great and the longer you stay the more you appreciate them. If you are able at all do as many hikes and other activities as you can. I can almost promise you that you will be dying to go to all of these that myself and others have mentioned after you see one of them.
Now the other side of the coin: if flying in to Vegas, I'm thinking we would want to check some of it our for a couple days. Everyone always says to 'see a show' while you're there. Should it be Cirque de Sole? We're not gamblers. What other points of interest are a 'must see'? And what hotel to stay at?
Yellowstone is absolutely awesome. If I were choosing the Grand Canyon ro Yellowstone, I would pick Yellowstone every single time. You can spend 7 days in Yellowstone easily. Much more than a day in the GC you will need to do some serious hiking or rafting(which is good).
You could do Zion and Bryce with the Grand Canyon. We love those two spots. Amazing. I can't begin to tell you enough to get lodging ASAP, some of the historic lodges in the national parks are very popular and they start to fill up 12 months in advance.
We come from elevation 0 and find that a day or two is enough to get used to elevation, drink plenty of water and get enough rest. We need to take it slow if above 6000 ft , not sure that is elevation, age, or result of not enough exercize in general. inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania We have hiked on every trip we've taken.
Near Vegas are some fantastic day trips: Valley of Fire, beautiful, inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania interesting petroglyphs etc.; Hoover Dam, you can do a tour; Red Rock Canyon, check out the rock climbers; Death Valley, 2 and a half hours away, awesome.
You have 7 days. The Grand Canyon really deserves an overnight stay but not 2. It's about a 5 hour drive from Vegas, crossing over Hoover Dam on the way. After the overnight stay, you can do several things: 1) Go to Sedona for 2-3 days 2) Go back to Vegas and make trips from there, or 3) continue east to Page and then make a big loop back to Vegas, hitting Bryce and Zion on the way back.
Whatever you decide, I would not do Death Valley as a day trip from Vegas, first because it is huge and requires 2-3 days as a minimum, but mostly because it'll be incredibly hot in summer and not very enjoyable.
You need to look at a map - and read trip reports and start a rough plan. Cirque du Soleil shows are great. Click on any of our names above and check out our reports. You will find them very helpful in planning.
She hasn't been to Yellowstone or Arches yet. I'll have to ask her why Valley of Fire is so high. It's possible Lower Calf Creek Falls is low because we were there around noon on a hot day that started early with Devil's Garden that's inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania a photographer's dream and ended with Willis Creek that's also no slouch.
As you've gathered from the responses, they are both lovely spots to visit, but given your time frame, I'd split the trips. The GC/Zion/Bryce loop would more than fill a week. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Vegas and while I might give myself a night, I'd prefer to spend more of the trip in the natural settings.
I would definitely recommend inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania the Black Hills/Rushmore area for another trip. Custer State Park is wonderful (great animal viewing!) and Badlands National Park is very impressive. The Black Hills themselves are beautiful (but windy!).
So many lovely areas and it's hard to cut any of them from the trip, but I think you're right when you say that you don't want to spend a lot of time driving from place to place (and packing and unpacking and checking in). Staying somewhere for a few days gives you a chance inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania to relax and really get in the mood of a place, even if you have to miss somewhere else to do it.
I think you are on the right track for a trip in and out of LV to see what has been called the Grand Circle. Zion Bryce, Grand Canyon. You could add Page AZ for a tour of the Antelope Canyon. A week isn't much but it would be enough time. For Zion stay in Springdale, for Bryce stay in the park or at Ruby's. If you don't want to change hotels then Kanab is a reasonable alternative.
I'm not sure who said Mt Rushmore inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania is good for half a day. WHile that is true the rest of the area needs three or four. THere is so much to see and do there. I love Custer State Park, and the caves, and there are the Badlands and not too far away is Devil's Tower in WY.
The Caravan tour that happytrailstoyou posted sounds like it might be the way to go, after reading everyone's inn of the dove harrisburg pennsylvania posts. Have any of you taken one of their tours? It seems to me that booking a tour like that would take a lot of the guess work out of where to go, what to see, how long to visit, where to stay, ect.
Okay, I also might just book DH and I a flight to Vegas and take a couple different day trips to Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. I was looking at the itinerary of the Caravan tour, and I'm not that's what I'm looking for. There seem to be some reasonably priced day trips from Vegas to explore the areas around it.