From Apex NC to the Grand Canyon....

Yes, I scuba dove in the Bahamas and it was wild. It was just too choppy and chilly. It may come down between this and a cruise or all inclusive resort.

The Florida Keys are beautiful. You will enjoy that trip. Make sure you scuba dive and check out the sunset at the end of the world. You will know what I'm talking about when you see it.

Well,after reading these and talking to her, we've decided to wait until we get older and have plenty of time. 10-11 days is about all I can pull off. Key West is the other idea we came up with. I'm pleasantly surprised by all the cg's down there! I could make that drive in 2 days.

Depends on how much vacation time you have. Yes, it would be a lot of driving to get there but why can't your wife help drive? Many women do. In fact, it's a very good idea in case you're hurt or sick.

Also, once you make the effort to get to Grand Canyon there are so many wonderful southern Utah national parks to see as long as you're in that immediate area. So having a nice chunk of time to relax and explore is highly recommended. You could always make it a family vacation at another time, too. Your two boys would love the trip.

So...perhaps a cruise would be best at this time.

Congratulations on making it to 20 yr.!! Nowdays that's quite an accomplishment. :)

Do it when you have a month to six weeks to enjoy it. There is so much else out that way including Lake Powell and a bevy of wonderful National Parks in Utah. If you go all that way, you could easily spend a month seeing the sights, plus a week out from NC and a week back.

I'd plan no more than 400 miles a day drive time to enjoy the trip as a vacation rather than a marathon. Less is even better. So that's why I say a week to get there.

We've taken lots of cruises and loved them, too. I vote for the cruise for your 20th.

From where you are, figure at least four days each way. Two or three days there, maybe, and an extra half day for each place you find interesting along the way (and there are many, a big part of it is along old Route 66, an attraction in its own right). Figure two weeks for a relaxed pace, three weeks would be better. Most of the trip will be I-40, a lot to see along the way, making different stops on the way back than you did on the way there. Travel planning software helps me sort out a schedule for something like this.

A cruise is about being pampered, if that's what you want, and that pampered experience gets even better as you upgrade to more premium lines (Seabourne, Seven Seas, Crystal, maybe Celebity) and smaller ships, which tend to do 14-21 day cruises with many exotic ports (what my late wife preferred to do). Or you can go to the bigger ships on the mass-market lines like Carnival, Princess, RCI for a floating mini-Las Vegas experience, though it is more cost effective to simply fly to Las Vegas and experience the real thing.

For the Grand Canyon or Las Vegas, you don't need a passport.

Consider river cruises too, could be Danube, Rhine, Ohio, Mississippi, Yangtze. Done two of those, have my third scheduled, and we have a bunch of happy Ohio River cruisers from our travel club just arrived home excited about what they've done.

It really just depends on what you want to experience, but for a pleasant experience on the GC trip, I would figure two weeks minimum.

When we went to the Grand Canyon we were gone 4 months. We made several other stops along the way. It was sooo awesome !!!
Our trip out west was one of our best trips ever and we are returning August of 2014. Can't wait. It is a trip where you need to take your time and really take time to smell the roses. You will never forget it.

I was thinking the same thing. Might have to talk her out of the idea of driving that far.

I did NC > Grand Canyon > NC on I-40 in fall of '09 in my little class C Tiger. I spent 20 days total. I stayed in rest areas, truck stops, and the woods, so lost no time driving off-route, registering, or setting up camp. But in a C, it was easy to take short naps in rest areas, and I generally dawdled along. I suspect that the only day I made around 600 miles was the last one on the way back.

I did take several side trips. Spent a day each in Palo Duro Canyon and Flagstaff. Spent two days seeing Petrified Forest & Painted Desert. Spent a day wind-bound in a rest area in AZ.

For geek-me, the trip was mainly to see Meteor Crater; Grand Canyon was a side trip.

Jim, "The world is run by those who show up."

Stclairm wrote:
I figure it will take 3 solid days of 10 plus actual hours of driving, depending on what kind of speed I average. Is this a crazy idea?

I think you need to re-figure this. Almost 4400 miles round trip. You will be lucky to average 50mph. Do the math and unless you have the time to spend at least a couple days at the Canyon, take the cruise.