Three additional questions:

1) How much time should one set aside to see the Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands, and so on? Assuming that the visitor has no great interest in overnight camping or hiking for 10 miles at a time, would a couple of hours at each place be generally sufficient?

2) For a one-week vacation, would the following route (all done by car) be feasible, or is just trying to do too much in too short of a time span:

IAH----Grand Canyon----Zion----Bryce Canyon----Capitol Reef---Canyonlands---Arches---Verde Mesa---IAH.

3) As an extension of the above, would this route be feasible for a 2 week vacation:

IAH----Grand Canyon----Zion----Bryce Canyon----Capitol Reef---Canyonlands---Arches---Salt Lake City--Yellowstone area----Badlands----IAH.


I figure that for both routes, getting from IAH to the Grand Canyon, or from Verde Mesa to IAH or from the Badlands to IAH, would take 2 days. It is the stuff in the middle that I'm not too sure about.