Dallas to Las Vegas, 14 nights April '16

[CoffeeLover]

Hello,
Newbie alert! Sorry if I'm not up to speed on any acronyms or forum etiquette...

I am planning a trip from Dallas/FW to Las Vegas for the first two weeks of April Next year. There will be myself, my husband and our daughter who will be nearly 3. This will be the the first time for us to visit the south west of the US, although not to Las Vegas. I don't particularly like Las Vegas, its just a convenient end point for us. My love is the outdoors and national parks. We are not a very active family, just a few gentle strolls to see some pretty sights is enough for us, especially with a toddler. No suggestions for white water rafting/20 mile hikes please! We don't want each section of driving to be too long, according to google maps the longest stretch will be 5 and half hours, which is probably our maximum.

We will be flying into Dallas on Friday 1st April until Tues 5th April. My husband is a wrestling fan and will be going to Wrestlemania.
We will then be travelling West to Utah to visit the NPs, I'm thinking......
perhaps stopping at Amarillo TX 1 night
Santa Fe NM 2 nights
Durango CO 1 night
with our main stopping point in Utah being Page 3 nights
St George 1 night
then Las Vegas 2/3 nights. Flying out of Las Vegas on Friday 15th/or maybe Saturday 16th.


So....

Which sites in Utah are a "must do"?
How feasible does my plan sound?
Any other advice appreciated!

Thanks

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

We really don't do 'must do' sites as it is an individual choice, one persons 'must do' might be anothers 'avoid at all costs'. As your love is the National parks then each and everyone is magnificent and in Southern Utah that means Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce canyon and Zion. However your stops are not really ideal to visit any of them and instead of 3 nights in Page I would look at keeping on the move and get to close to the attractions you want to see. For example from Durango you could travel to Moab for Arches and/or Canyonlands. You could then travel UT24 to scenic byway 12 for Capitol Reef and Bryce canyon, perhaps stopping in Torrey. [?] Then for Zion you cant beat the little town of Springdale that I would choose over St George unless you have reason to be there. I would also add at least a night into this part of the journey by taking one [or 2] nights from Dallas and/or Vegas.

Allow at least another 20% for 'real world' travel times. Computers don't allow for bathroom breaks, time to eat, rest, re-fuel or traffic congestion and construction.

[Lifemagician]

Get out some good paper maps and take a minute to study them, then you will see where all the NP are and the routes between them. With 10 days you could visit Mesa Verde (Durango) then all the national parks in Utah which Dave Mentioned - maybe even the Grand Canyon North Rim.

Lifey

[glc]

You won't be able to go to the North Rim in early April, the road in will still be closed for the winter.