MN to San Fran, I need advice for UT badly, love the outdoors

[TreyJ45]

Hello everyone,
I am planning a road trip starting in Minneapolis , Mn and ending in San Fran. There is so much of the country I want to see, and Im going to be accomponied by my british girlfriend who knows nothing of the US. Im 22, I love to see the outdoors and experience new things, I also love cities. I am especially interested in any help on going from salt lake to bryce canyon to grand canyon, there are many routes, time is not important, i want the most spectacular. Here is my current travel plan if you want to check it out, any advice would be appreciated

Anyways, my basic plan is-
Leave minneapolis and head to mount rushmore
proceed to yellowstone via montana, anything worth seeing in mt off the interstate?
after yellowstone head to jackson hole
i either want to white water raft here or in UT, prices are cheaper in jackson hole, does anyone have advice on an affordable place to white water raft?
go to pocotella Idaho to visit friends
head to bryce canyon
go to grand canyon
does anyone know the best scenic routew between bryce canyon and grand? what else is there to see in southern utah, detours are not out of the question by any means
next, head to vegas
then to LA
follow US highway 1 to San fran

This is my plan, what do you guys think? I am willing to make more detours, however 2 weeks is a maximum i can do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much,
Trey

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

With 14 days to cover just over 3000 miles it could be done at a reasonable pace, as by the time you have added in small diversions you will probably still only have to cover less than 250 miles a day, under half of our recommended 500-600 miles max per day. Although, having said that if you spent just one day at each of your list of places to visit you are already hitting around the max travel times.
You could possibly make the journey to Rapid city in a long day but if you stopped short you could visit Badlands NP. From SLC you could head to Green river UT and from I-70 head towards Capitol reef NP and Torrey and then down scenic 12 through Escalante to Bryce. [From Green river, Arches NP and the town of Moab [rafting/biking] would be an option]. A Couple of hours away from Bryce is Zion NP which is quite spectacular as well and you could also visit the quieter North rim of the Grand canyon. To get to the South rim head through Page where nearby is Lake Powell and Antelope canyon. From the South rim you could head onto part of old route 66 through Seligman to Kingman before heading over Hoover dam on the way to Vegas. If you have the time then a detour through Death valley before heading to LA is worthwhile ,even just to drive through this amazing landscape. If time was tight I would consider if it is worth going to LA, if for instance you only had a day or less to spare there, and instead heading North on 395 from Death valley and drive through one of my favorite parks, Yosemite and then head for the coast and SF.
I think you will have to pick and choose carefully and to know that you will be busy, but otherwise it's possible.