That’s what I had in mind too. :-p
They also keep asking you if you are Australian but don’t let that put you off. 
LOL
A few years ago when in LV I booked a trip to the GC
Picked up at 5.30 on a warmish morning, stopped off at the Hoover Dam nice and mild.
Got to the GC snow and heavy cloud all around could not see a thing over 50 ft.
Got back to LV 10.30 at night.
Interesting thing is 35 miles from LV is a ski resort called Mount Charleston that had a 27 inch snow fall this Feb.
Temps in LV around 72f
I get that all the time but am to polite to tell them to go FO
Would say have 3 days in Vegas.
They have top line stars performing.
Also if you interested in Alcatraz they have downtown at Fremont St the Mob Museum where you can see the original wall with the bullet holes of the Valentine’s day massacre and histories of all the mob gangsters.
And they do helicopters rides to the GC from Vegas and might be cheaper…you hotel will give a discount for all shows .
Floydy
if your doing Alcatraz may i suggest you book the ferry/boat to the island before you go. If you leave it until you get the Fishermans Wharf it will be too late
https://i.imgur.com/t7FsZCR.jpg
we went in 2010 and a ticket then cost $18.75
While your there take a trip out to Muir woods to see all the Redwood trees
Yes, the weather can be very strange in those areas.
This is all great, I’m taking lots of notes. Thanks folks 
My biggest hurdle at the moment is the logistics of the whole thing going coast to coast.
I have a list of the main places we want to stay or visit in the time we have (roughly 19 days). The only drawback is the travelling time on some of the longer journeys.
For instance, I’ve changed the first one to Los Angeles because it’s better to go straight to San Francisco and start our holiday there. From there we will possibly go to Long Beach to stay for the LA sightseeing. This will be less of a journey to Flagstaff afterwards.
Then the biggest internal flight will be from there to Boston. It’s too far, so I’m thinking of adding Chicago - but then again that’s still a long way from Arizona.
A possible solution is cutting back a day or two from LA or New York to make a two night stop at either Kansas City or St. Louis, right in the middle. But then we end up with too many flights and hotel moves, so it’s a big issue really.
We will get there eventually and it’s all very interesting trying to figure it all out!
I’m sure I’ll arrive at something before we see the travel agent for advice and flight/hotel bookings in October!
Don’t miss out Las Vegas, tacky it may be but fabulous it certainly is. Go to the Gunstore and fire a couple of machine guns for $50. We did a national parks tour on a cool air condition coach starting in South Dakota and ending in Nevada.
Another must see is Yosemite national park. The views are outstanding when going to Alcatraz this must be on your list as well
All good stuff, cheers guys. I’ve taken your suggestions on board and added them to my plans. Keep ‘em comin’ 
I’m writing out various alternative plans and various “Plan B’s”, trying to fine tune the trip. Vegas is definitely a no-no, my wife definitely is adamant she doesn’t want to go there 
Thinking of less flight times and hotel stays (as pondered on above) My new idea is to skip the stays at Chicago and Boston - we can always go to Boston for a day trip form NY), I’m now questioning Nashville.
The four nights we now have spare from those two cities we can use an extra day each for SF and NY but we can have two nights in Nashville also. I’d love to go there and it also breaks up the flight time perfectly. It’s all coming together…slowly! 
I’m pretty sure we also had five days in NYC. The first morning was a whistle stop tour supplied by the tour company. For the following four days (sight seeing) I got hold of some city maps then plotted a course for each day taking in the things we wanted to see (more or less the same as your list plus the Natural history museum). It worked well and saved going backwards and forwards wasting time, did sort of round trips in each of the areas.
Not something I’d really forget tbh…
Sounds good mate. 
Would suggest leave the wife at home and go to Vegas…it will blow your mind
Don’t forget Kennedy Space Center. We went and well worth a visit.The size of the rockets are amazing and then out to the launch pad viewing area.
No chance of that I’m afraid, Realspeed. It’s in Florida.
Our budget (and time off work) doesn’t stretch to going there unfortunately.
That looks fabulous Floydy. Did you say it’s your first time there? I’ve never been to the West Coast. Would love to go sometime. Especially San Francisco. Hope to go back to NY some time as I went in '88 and it’s changed so much.
I totally agree with Galty about Las Vegas. I never wanted to go there but we ended up going by chance on a driving trip. It was fabulous, a sensory overload. You could just go for one day/night and soak up the atmosphere. You can also see Hoover dam when you’re there which is really impressive.
Hi Annie.
Yes, it’s our first time in the States (apart from a one day stopover at Dulles Airport when I was in the RAF).
It’s really early planning so far as we won’t be booking the holiday until mid-October. I will try to get a couple of nights in Las Vegas but at the moment it’s trying to find a suitable mid-point for a couple of night to ease the long flight from Flagstaff to New York. St. Louis may be an option.
It will all come together in the end!
You do have to do Vegas
No need for gambling.
I always have Christmas with my daughter her husband goes to his Mothers…
We will have a Christmas Day together as we have had since her mother died.
So one day drunk I said How about Vegas(she is a none gambler)
She then replied a day later after I thought want a stupid suggestion Yes she said but was also drunk.
So we went
We had great 4 days .
This is the Christmas present I brought her cost $45.
Oh my word! :shock: Did you have a go on it too, Galty?
No, it’s not for me I’m afraid but Vegas is looking more of a possibility as this thread goes on I think 
:-p:-p
Not just your mind Galty eh? :-p:-p