LA - Vegas - Grand Canyon - Joshua Tree

[Ab11]

Hi
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I would like to take my father (he's 70, I'm 35) on a road trip in the SouthWest and would appreciate any feedback on the route I'm planning. Neither of us are local so this region is all new to us:

Day 1: Los Angeles to Las Vegas (270 miles, 4 hours).
Spend the night in Vegas, gamble, see a show.

Day 2: Las Vegas to Flagstaff via Hoover Dam (250 mi, 5 hours)
Drive to Hoover continue on to Flagstaff.
Day trip to Sedona. (30 mi, 1 hr). Drive back to Flagstaff.
Spend night in Flagstaff

Day 3: Flagstaff to Grand Canyon (80 mi, 1.5 hours)
Drive to GC South Rim and explore viewpoints in GCNP.
Drive back to Flagstaff and spend night.

Day 4: Flagstaff to Joshua Tree (360 mi, 6 hours)
Drive from Flagstaff to Joshua Tree Nat. Park
Spend night in Joshua Tree

Day 5: Joshua Tree to Palm Springs (65mi, 1 hour) to LA (110mi, 2 hours)
Drive from Joshua Tree, stop for lunch in Palm Springs
Drive through to LA

Does this sound like a feasible plan ?
Am I missing any major points of interest on the route ?
Would it be better to spend the final night in Joshua Tree or in Palm Springs ?
Any suggestion for nice but not expensive places to stay in specifiied locations ?

Again, thanks for the help !
Ab11

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think you've got a pretty solid plan. Really the only change I can think of would be to spend your night after Grand Canyon in Williams instead of Flagstaff to shave down a little time on your way back towards California.

[Southwest Dave]

Day 2 is doable, but driving from Vegas to Flagstaff via a stop at the Hoover Dam won't leave you with a "day trip" to Sedona and it will turn into a long day with a brief visit there. I would have thought you would be better off staying night 1 near the Grand canyon and the second night in Sedona after visiting the canyon and continue South the next day towards Phoenix and take I 10 towards Joshua tree.

[Ab11]

Thank you both for the suggestions. I will look into changing the first night's stay from Flagstaff to somewhere closer to the GC and shifting the second night's stay to Sedona. BTW, really helpful threads on this site.