Nevada, Arizona, Utah Loop Road Trip Revised Itinerary Feedback

Looks like a good itinerary!
Per your request, here are some notes:

In Page, AZ, you could also do a half hour visit to the Glen Canyon Lookout to see Glen Canyon Dam. Its very impressive.

We had dinner at the Lake Powell Resort: the dining room has massive windows and a fantastic view of Lake Powell. Research it and look at their pictures.

If you do visit horseshoe bend and do the walk out the edge, do it in the early AM and try to get there before the tour buses show up.

At Bryce, if you do stay at Stone Canyon Inn in Tropic, UT, be sure to eat dinner at their restaurant.

At Zion NP, an easy walk is the Riverside walk, It ends at the river at the beginning of the Narrows hike. If you do decide on the Narrows hike, rent waterproof boots and a long hiking pole in the town- Springdale.
Another good walk with easy elevation is the Emerald Pools hike.
Skip the movie at the History museum or at least don't go out of your way on the shuttle bus to see this. It's boring and useless.
The shuttle buses from Springdale into the park will be jammed pack, so go early in the AM.
After your walk or hike, look at lunch at Zion Lodge or the outdoor cafe next door. Don't expect good food at either place.

In Sedona, we liked Creekside American Bistro, Mariposa and lunch at Wildflower. Near your hotel lis Elote Cafe for lunch or dinner. And there are several breakfast/coffee cafes, a very short walk from the Matterhorn Inn.

And as a trivial note (as this was a trivia question at a recent pub quiz night): Sedona has the only MacDonalds in the country with arches that aren't yellow. What color are they?

At Grand Canyon, in the busy season, which includes September, iif you don't want to walk the entire South Rim Trail, take the free shuttle bus that goes east to Hermit's rest and back and get off at the overlooks that interest you.

Finally, with your one night in Las Vegas, if you aren't exhausted from the drive from Zion, take in a show. Bellagio has the Cirque du Soleil or for free, visit the Fremont Street Experience at night. (but Fremont street is crowded!). the Downtown Grand Hotel has cheap $5 blackjack tables and will validate parking. Otherwise downtown parking at the public lots can be expensive.

We visited the Neon Museum at dusk and really enjoyed that.
https://neonmuseum.org/your-visit/

and since you like bicycle tours. They have bicycle tours of the downtown LV historic area and also of Red Rock Canyon, we did the Segway tour of the historic Downtown and enjoyed that. But you may not have time for that except for the morning of the 23rd.

have a great trip!

Trying to decide between Stone Canyon Inn or Under Canvas Glamping.
Activities:

So you're looking at staying just outside of Tropic (Stone Canyon Inn) or further (Under Canvas Glamping). We've stayed in Tropic, and it's a bit of a drive in-and-out of the park: you're not going to want to return to your lodgings during the day and then go back to the park. But if determined to do one or the other, I'd pick Tropic as Glamping would be too far out for us personally. Unless planning to eat at the lodge or grabbing something from the General Store, I'd pack a cooler. As well, the main road (UT 63) in the park isn't a loop, and it's quite some distance to the furthest point (Rainbow Point) so you'll want to plan your visit to hit everything along that road heading out that way just once; don't plan on returning, say, to the lodge restaurant/store halfway through the day and then driving back out again.

Parking can be a pain: it's a busy park and overlook lots can fill quickly. I haven't biked Bryce but from Bryce Canyon City there's a multi-use trail into the park you could ride (carefully at lower speeds with an e-bike). LOL, not that you are intending to speed along but this trail trekker is a bit weary of being practically mowed down by e and racing bikes!
https://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/shared-use-path.htm

Zion: while it doesn't necessarily involve a big elevation change or very long trail, Emerald Pools (Lower, Middle, Upper) does take a bit of effort, at least to the Upper Pool. Whether it'll work for you or not depends on your level of fitness. This is also one of the busiest trails in the park (done it twice). If you do any part of it, do combine it with connecting Kayenta Trail; some great views from that one. Speaking of busy, this is a VERY busy park and solitude is in short supply.

https://www.nps.gov/media/things-to-do-trip-ideas-search.htm#fq[]=Type:%22Things+To+Do%22&q=emerald+pools
https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/hike-kayenta-trail.htm

Other short hikes/walks: virtually all of the hikes that the park rates easy or moderate should work for you (done 'em all except Sandbench) but if at all possible, do the Narrows. That will involve favorable weather and flow conditions, and you do want to rent the proper footwear, dry pack and hiking stick in town (we used Zion Adventures; great folks). They'll also tell you if it's safe to give it a go or not; I don't know as they even rent the equipment if it's not. Oh, and they rent ebikes too.

I'd rent the stuff the night before your hike and get out to the trailhead (which is a Virgin River access point at the end of Riverside Walk) as early in the AM as possible to avoid the crowd (too many of them having no clue what they're doing) that builds as the day goes on; you might want to ebike in but the Temple of Sinawava trailhead is some distance from the park entrance; at the very end of the park's (otherwise shuttle-only) scenic drive. Hike in at least as far as Wall Street; you may be hiking in the water much of the way or not as much, depending on depth. We did it on a September trip and conditions were darn near perfect. Not so lucky the 2nd Sept. trip: heavy rain and flooding made it a no-go.

https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/zion-canyon-trail-descriptions.htm
https://www.zionadventures.com/the-zion-narrows.html

Restaurants we've enjoyed in Springdale: Bit and Spur, Spotted Dog and Zion Pizza & Noodle although they probably have some new ones since last we were in town.

Have a great trip!

Thank you for the great detail - It had me down the travel vortex for an hour or 2. I think I will keep checking the lodge at Bryce since it really seems like being inside the park would make for a much more accessible experience. I do have a question about our first day. My husband isn't sure he wants to go to the Hoover Dam as he's wondering if he could handle the heights. I was thinking about adding an additional day to Sedona, but a 4 hour drive on a travel day doesn't sound appealing. Is there a different stop worth making between the airport and Sedona? I would shift the whole itinerary and consider adding something later in the loop as there seems to be more options, but I am booked into Bright Angel and right now there isn't availability on either side of those days.

I did a similar trip in September 2023 and have done other trips to Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce as well.

In Sedona I loved the Matterhorn Inn. The pool was fantastic and I mostly had it to myself. Bring a swimsuit! I thought the pink jeep tour was good. The trolley tour that takes you by the Chapel of the Holy Cross is a good way to see it without having to find a parking space - the parking was crazy there. I had a nice meal at Elote and I just walked back there from the Matterhorn Inn. It's not too fancy, but you will need a reservation.

At Grand Canyon, if you like biking, I would do a ride out to Hermit View. You can do a guided ride, it's basically flat and well worth the ride. Also, you will be there at the tail end of the Grand Canyon Music Festival most likely. I attended a concert one evening - they requested a donation, but it was very inexpensive and such a cool thing to do. Put that on your radar screen and see if it works out. The rim trail is cool. But If you want a little peek below the rim you can go down the Bright Angel trail for 50 feet, 100 yards or whatever feels right for you and turn around and come back. I hate heights and I found it not scary at all.

From Page you might like the dam's visitor's center for a quick stop. Note that the float trip below the dam has changed to an out and back from Lee's Ferry. I lucked out and caught one of the last floats where we drove through the tunnel to the base of the dam and just came back down to Lee's Ferry. I still think it would be worth it in its new format if you want to get on the river. I also did a hike that meets your parameters to a hanging garden. No one was there but me. It was interesting. I had a nice meal at the Gone West Family Restaurant. The chicken at the Bird House was good too. I did a less crowded and less expensive canyon tour. It was called Waterhole Canyon experience. I hate crowds, so it worked for me. There was some climbing here and there and it did get hot coming out, but worth it.

I was at Bryce Canyon and Zion several years ago. Both offer lots of excellent hikes, but I second the recommendation you got to do the Narrows. We rented our equipment in town the day before and made one of the earliest shuttles. It was memorable. Between the two parks there is German Bakery in Orderville Utah that is worth a stop.

The hoover dam tour is about going DOWN into the inside of the dam. The tour goes by elevator. No scary height issues at all. You dont have to walk out on the bridge to get that scenic view of the dam. We didn’t because it was 102 degrees F. And we didn’t want to do climb stairs up to the bridge walkway in that heat.
I wouldn’t skip visiting the dam because of this unfounded fear.

Good info on the Hoover Dam. Thank you. I am cautious and empathetic when planning our trips related to heights and drives that can trip my husband's vertigo. I love to go to the edges of the earth and can't understand what he goes through, but I've seen it - not good. A friend just suggested going by route of Arizona Joshua Tree Forest and staying over in that area, then driving through Prescott National Forest on our way to Sedona. This looks like a nice option too.

Amy, regarding your DH's vertigo....
You'll be driving to Zion from Bryce via 89 to Mt. Carmel Junction, and then 9 into the park and Springdale, The scenery as you drop down into the canyon is wonderful but there are some drop-offs along the side of 9/Zion Park Blvd that he might consider long-ish. I might suggest doing a google virtual drive from the west end of Zion Mt. Carmel tunnel to, oh, about Canyon Junction Bridge so you know what to expect?

LOL, there's a convenience store in Mt. Carmel Junction that had really nice bathrooms. Hope it still does.

Without probably needing to tell ya, at Bryce and the Grand Canyon - which are look DOWN parks versus Zion, which is largely a look UP park unless heading to Angel's Landing or similar, which you're not - he will probably do better looking across the canyons versus down when close to the rims...which you will be a lot of the time. :O)

If you can't get into the lodge at Bryce, I might suggest exploring the hotels at Bryce Canyon City: it's just that much closer to the stuff you're going to the park to see. It's also the start of that multi-use bike/hike path I'd mentioned earlier, and ebikes are available at a couple different locations in Canyon City. That said, there are also ebike rentals at the Historic Service Station in the park, north of the Lodge.

https://www.nps.gov/places/000/service-station-and-bike-rentals.htm

If you can't get into the lodge at Bryce, I might suggest exploring the hotels at Bryce Canyon City:

I agree. Tropic UT is a bit of a drive to the entrance of Bryce NP and a bit of a drive to the Dark Ranger Telescope tour location.
Canyon City is only a 7-10 minute drive to the Entrance and Visitor Center. You'll spend more time waiting in line at the entrance to pay your entrance fee or show your Senior Pass, than you will driving from Canyon City to the Park entrance.
We stayed at the Best Western Plus Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel on the East side of Hwy 63, which we felt was less crowded than
the BW Plus Ruby's Inn on the West side. The included Breakfast was ample as most BW breakfasts are.
Unfortunately, there are NOT a lot of choices of good restaurants here, that's why we ate dinner at the Stone Canyon Inn.

The road to Sedona is twisty and might not be to you husband’s taste. However, going down from Flagstaff to Sedona you are on the inside lane and so you aren’t looking right out into space. Driving up to the GC, you could go the I17 alternate route that avoids Oak Creek Canyon. Of course you could avoid 89A both ways