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I just took it out of my phone, but close(ish) to Zion is a campground with two names, like Ed and Alice's or something like that.
Absolutely delightful.
The Koa on AZ64 45miles south of the grand canyon is about as close to grand canyon as you can get in a comfortable fashion without camping in the park is nice enough.
There is now a new Koa north of keyenta. It has new and clean individual bath and showers(like a home bathroom) easy drive through and hook Ups, a great view, and nothing much else. It is plopped on a scraped off patch if a huge desert plain. This is part of the reason to stay there. It is, really truly, in the middle of nowhere. A walk into the desert that dinosaurs and the wild west roamed, is. Right. There.
Don't miss monument valley if you find a way to swing through there.
Painted desert can be seen from the i40 at 75mph, just fine, but there is a nice road through it. No reason to stop, but the side road comes out at petrified forest. One stop and a short walk... Otherwise petrified forest is a 55mph drive through park.
Meteor crater? Unless you have a deep seated interest in such things, save the high admission fee and watch the PBS special.
In Winslow AZ, if you need a picture of 'standing on a corner, flat bed ford' the other thing to do is to tour the restored Harvey house hotel, La Posada. Excellent restaurant, excellent hotel restoration, running trains on major transnational railway that you can walk right up to.
Otherwise, some of the neighborhoods you'll pass through in that town will make you cry due to the humanity involved.
Canyon de chelle is one our favorite destinations ever. Look it up.
The north rim of the grand canyon is a long homely drive... Just to get a view of the south rim...that looks like the view from the convenient and modern south south rim. Punchline: don't go to the north rim. I believe the recommendations for the north rim are a 'misery loves company' conspiracy.
El Tovar, a Harvey house hotel, right exactly on the south rim has an upscale(ish) restaurant with a cosmopolitan menu. Great tables with perfect views of the canyon.
Food is good at the canyon, and the food at old faithful in yellowstone is memorably, like you won't believe how good, good.
I'm going to suggest making Mesa Verde a must do destination. Dramatic, more interesting than Zion, and they used to have a kind of secret little restaurant on the second floor of the visitor center that was world class.
Work moab into the plan even if you have to give up Zion to do it.
Five the the most beautiful national parks are there. Arches, canyon lands... Not to be missed. Do a comparative against your Zion goal. Zion is just a half day west of moab, so you can do both.
The' four corners monument' is the most complete waste of time ever.
It's concrete and trinkets and all the ugly you can muster in culture, location, and disingenuousness. Punchline: mlc. (misery loves company)
Dinosaur national park has a great bone pit you won't believe until you see it.
Its been closed 9 out of 10 times we've been through. We're always trying to go back, but construction, weather, open hours, we just can't make it back.
Just some heads up about the area, from a local.
(If you're interested in aviation history, pm me and I'll arrange a quick 15minute off the beaten path trip that you'll remember the rest of your life. It's 8 miles from the south gate of the grand canyon and two miles off the hiway.)
The picture is from Southern Utah. Tap the picture, then tap the pop up, and the picture goes full screen size.
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