The Southwest Loop With Kids: Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon in Ten Days

The great American road trip for a family is a loop out of Las Vegas through the red rock parks of Utah and Arizona, and ten days does it without a single long driving day. It is the trip that makes American kids fall in love with their own country.

Fly into Las Vegas, one night, then drive. Zion is two and a half hours, with the shuttle up the canyon, the Riverside Walk that a four year old can do, the Emerald Pools, and the Narrows for kids over ten who will wade a river between walls a thousand feet high. Two nights in Springdale at the park gate.

Bryce Canyon is two hours on. A bowl of orange stone spires called hoodoos, and the Navajo Loop trail drops down among them and climbs back up in two hours. The stars at Bryce are the best in the lower forty eight and the rangers do a night program. One or two nights.

The big one and the way back

The Grand Canyon north rim is closer and quieter, the south rim has the lodges and the view everyone knows. Two nights at the south rim, a walk along the rim trail, a mile down the Bright Angel trail and back up, and sunset at Hopi Point. Book the lodges inside the park a year out or stay in Tusayan at the gate.

Monument Valley on the way back east, a Navajo guided jeep tour among the buttes from every western. Page for Antelope Canyon, the slot canyon with the light beams, and Horseshoe Bend. Then the drive back to Las Vegas through the desert.

Every park has a junior ranger program. A free booklet at the visitor center, an hour of activities, an oath with a ranger and a badge. By the fourth park the kids have a row of them on their hats and they are the reason nobody complains about the next hike.

Planning United States with kids? Start with the full United States family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.