Vegas to CA or Vegas to AZ??? (hotel, hotel, vacation)

[stacylee926]

Now the dilema - I am putting together a trip for my family, DH, DD (24) and DS (17). We will be flying to Vegas and I need to decide on heading west to see Disneyland, San Diego zoo and sights west or go go east to see Sedona and more 'scenic' areas. Whatever we do, we will definitely do the Grand Canyon (although I totally dread this during the summer with all the tourists).

We will have 8 full vacation days and 2 travel days. We are not real outdoorsy, adventurous people - we like little walks, not hikes . We do love to see beautiful scenery, just not hike up those mountains . Our trip will be in late June, right after school ends.

We went to LA with our daughter when she was 7 (17 years ago) but it was a whirlwind 2 day tour. Our son would love to see the west coast AND AZ.
What does everyone suggest? I wonder if I would be bored seeing all the parks in AZ or if my kids would truly appreciate the beautiful scenery vs LA and all the famous sights.
This is tough!!!! I want to make the most of our last vacation as a family before DS goes in the military.

Oh... the whole reason we are going is to meet my DH's half brother that we just found and he lives near Laughlin, NV. However, I think an overnight to see him is all we want for our first visit.

Give me your thoughts..... we are on the East Coast, so this is a big trip for us. We are also the kind of family that thrives on seeing as much as possible, not one to spend days in one town.

[cleosmom]

Myself? I'd go the Disneyland or even Universal Studios and San Diego zoo route. You're planning the one event in AZ that counts, Grand Canyon.

[RickMG]

I'm actually writing this response from the Vegas airport (free wifi ). Anyway, I agree, I would go west to California. I'm writing because while you're in Vegas driving to the Grand Canyon, remember two things. Plan on going during a weekday, not a weekend as we were in 5 miles of mostly stopped traffic at the Hoover Dam due to tourists and people driving home to Arizona. Also, remember it's a 4 1/2 to 5 hour drive to the South rim of the Grand Canyon near Williams, Arizona. The West rim is only 2 - 3 hours but we were told it's only one thin canyon and you are taken to the skywalk which is $70 per person to go on. We were told this while eating breakfast near the dam so we decided to go on to the South rim even though it was already 11:30. About an hour later I'm looking at my gps unit and it said we would arrive at 4:45 so we decided to turn around since we were coming back the same night and wanted to spend more than 15 minutes there. After we crossed the dam going back I put the hotel in the gps and it said we would arrive almost 3 hours later. I knew that was wrong and realized my gps was on Central Standard Time and we would've gotten to the canyon at 2:45, not 4.:45. Boy did we feel stupid and sad we didn't continue on. I would've thought the gps would pick up the time like your cell phones do, but they don't.

This picture was taken yesterday