Vegas to LA in 5 days

Hi! We land in Vegas 29th September (after spending 2 weeks on the east coast) and have to fly out of LA on 4th October. We are a Kiwi family of four, children 11 and 8.
It was our thought to spend two days in Vegas, then hire a car.
We definitely want to see the Grand Canyon, (which part would you recommend?),
Stay out there or go back to LV?
Then would like do do something else on our way back to LA. Yosemite interests me greatly as it looks a beautiful part of your country, but it sounds like we would be pushing it to get there and back in 2-3 days.
Could you suggest anywhere else to visit, Death Valley perhaps? Places to stay would be handy too.
We have not booked any accomodation or anything as yet so are as flexible as we can be at this stage.
Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You really don't have time for everything you've laid out. If you land in Las Vegas on the 29th and spend the 30th and 1st there, then you only have 2 days left to cover the 800 miles needed to get to the Canyon, 'see it', and get to LA so that you're there for your departure on the 4th. But, you do have at least a couple of choices are:

Spend less time in Las Vegas, If you spend just the 29th (when you arrive) and the 30th in Las Vegas, then you could drive to the Grand Canyon (if you can get accommodations in the park) or to Flagstaff on the 1st, crossing the Hoover Dam on the way. Spend that evening seeing either the Canyon at sunset or some of the attractions around Flag, such as Walnut Canyon National Monument, the Museum of Northern Arizona, or Lowell Observatory. Then, on the 2nd, spend the better part of the day touring the Canyon, take a hike or mule ride down into it, drive the length of the South Rim Drive (east of Grand Canyon Village) to view it from various vantage points, hike at least parts of the Rim Trail (west of the village). In the evening, start back towards LA, 500 miles away, and stop for the night either back at Flag, or in Williams. That will set you up for the 3rd, so that you can make a detour or two (old US-66 from Williams to Oatman comes to mind) and still get to LA before the end of the day.

Fly to the Canyon. It is possible to take a pane or helicopter ride from Las Vegas out to and over the Canyon. There are several outfits in Las Vegas that provide this service. While this would save you a day or more of driving, the downside is that such air tours cost $200-250 per person. But, if you go this route, then you can take your two days from Las Vegas to Los Angeles visit Death Valley on the way.

AZBuck