Las Vegas - July 2008

[beforethirty]

Hello all

I haven't posted on this site since September 06 when I was asking for advice on a roadtrip from Vegas to San Fran for our honeymoon. We had a fantastic time and although Vegas and San Fran were excellent, the roadtrip (which was a bit of an afterthought) turned out to be the real highlight of the trip.

As we had the post-xmas and new year blues today, and are having to go back to work tomorrow morning, we decided to be a bit impulsive and plan another roadtrip. We loved this area of the US, and really enjoyed Vegas, so we've decided to use that as a base. We've booked flights out to Vegas on the 1st July and return two weeks later on the 15th July. We'll rent a car (with air conditioning...) for the entire two weeks. We'd like to spend maybe three days at the start and three days at the end of the trip staying in Vegas (and will probably day trip to places like Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam etc.

I won't ask what the weather is like (hot, I imagine...) but I was wondering what you seasoned roadtrippers would do with the 7 or so days as a roadtrip? The 'must dos' are the Grand Canyon, Death Valley (fell in love with that place last time) and possibly Yosomite again.

But as for other areas, every national park just looks spectacular: Joshua, Mojave, Anza-Borrego, Zion, Glen Canyon... the list seems endless. I believe I posted a quick thank you last September after our last holiday but it's worth telling you guys again that the advice we got from here really made our trip, so any more nuggests of information would be very gratefully received.

So sorry for all the questions, but:

What type of round trip would you guys take to start in Vegas and end in Vegas around seven days later?
Any must sees on the way?
Any great hotels? (the Amargosa Hotel in Shoshone looks a rather wonderful place)
Any bits that actually are not worth going to?
Should we just spend 14 days eating buffets in Vegas?! (think I know the answer to that one).

Thanks in advance!
John