[nathanbarlow]

hi all,

Im wanting to get some suggestions on 'must see places' to see when I am in the states in December.
Our Plan so far is landing at LA, and getting train or flying to Las Vegas. Spending about 2 or 3 days in LV, one of those will be taken up by visiting the Hoover Dam with a rental car. Then driving out to Williams, AZ via state highway 40. Train up to grand canyon, overnight there and train back to williams end of the following day. Rehire a car and driving (hopefully) "cross country" to Grand Junction via the 191. Then up to Denver. Got a day or so there before heading up to the mountains for something like a week of snowboarding. Then back to denver for a day i think before flying out to LV (again) where we will be doing the whole touristy Las vegas bit with the casinos etc etc for about 2 days. then home again

My main questions regard the drive from Williams, Arizona to Denver. and denver itself. We've been told that driving the 'back roads" should be fine even in winter. Planning on this because we want to see monument valley and the surrounding area, plus want to get up onto the Grand Junction road. Is there anywhere else enroute which is awesome to go? Happy to do a bit offtrack to see something thats a bit more hidden away... Then wiith denver, My family won't want to head out for photography, but since Denver is supposedly the top photogenic city in the US, Im prepared to miss some sleep haha. Main thing is I would like some suggestions for 'photo locations' such as a high view point, or even a particular street/area which is a nice location. Ive got about 2 days tops in denver, and I wish for more, but unfortunatley didnt realise the potential untill after the plan had been finalised, and cant change it much.

Apologies for such a long post, but any 'local' advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers
Nathan