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So the spousal equivalent and I are planning a road trip for next month.
We are leaving from the Vancouver BC area and heading down to Utah to see some parks, then the Grand Canyon. From there over to Denver to see her dad, then back home by way of Yellowstone.  I will be bringing my camera gear and looking for some nice landscape opportunities.

We will be staying in hotels (except Denver). Any advice on good (cheap ish) places to stay would be appreciated.

The main places we want to hit are Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon (North Rim), Antelope Canyon, and Arches.
I know we will have to book a guide for Antelope and I also know there may be ungodly hot temperatures (average is around 35c) but if anyone has experience with visiting these locations and can make some suggestions , that would be appreciated.

We have 18 days to do the whole thing and want to spend 4 days with her dad.

The trip would look something like this (https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Surrey,+BC/Salt+Lake+City,+UT,+United+States/37.6782394,-112.174973/Zion+National+Park/36.6290628,-112.1746232/Page/Arches+National+Park/Morrison/Yellowstone+National+Park/49.1805433,-122.8470498/@45.2222991,-106.8005333,5z/data=!4m62!4m61!1m5!1m1!1s0x5485dc034d3fa75b:0xd28b4898abd598e0!2m2!1d-122.85!2d49.183333!1m5!1m1!1s0x87523d9488d131ed:0x5b53b7a0484d31ca!2m2!1d-111.8910474!2d40.7607793!1m0!1m15!1m1!1s0x0:0x7c2e3a15aa3656f5!2m2!1d-113.026298!2d37.298168!3m4!1m2!1d-112.0605997!2d36.2104149!3s0x873312b1dbb90ca1:0xf8a8c68c1027c689!3m4!1m2!1d-112.2188637!2d36.6865334!3s0x873497f296fab125:0xcd7d58f5b94442b5!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x8734135bfdcd758f:0x6e982f5153384e39!2m2!1d-111.4558333!2d36.9147222!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0x4f42ea69d128c495!2m2!1d-109.592514!2d38.733081!1m5!1m1!1s0x876b7817bd454fc3:0xef00554d2d581268!2m2!1d-105.1910996!2d39.6535988!1m10!1m1!1s0x0:0xaca8f930348fe1bb!2m2!1d-110.588455!2d44.427963!3m4!1m2!1d-122.8209902!2d49.0758378!3s0x5485db46124ffd3d:0x79d0e1d74e8567a2!1m0!3e0)

The only thing I know from my attempt at planning a Grand Canyon trip is that those places are all very far apart, and accommodations are apparently scarce.

I don't know how much time you've allocated to Yellowstone but it most likely won't be enough.  Additionally, Yellowstone park rooms will sell out almost a year in advance.

I'm not able to see the route at the moment but if you are passing through Salt Lake City and are willing to make a small detour to the east I would recommend going to Snowbird and riding the gondola up to the top.

there is a part of canyonlands which has a scope that simply cannot be captured on any media. you can't take a picture of it and show it to someone else and have them really understand. It's called the Island in the Sky district. you go down grand view road to grand view point. good drive, then just get out of the car and soak in the literal curvature of the earth.

Whatever you do, don't stay at the Motel 6 near the airport in Boise. On the move from Ohio to Seattle my cats fucked one of those rooms up like an 80s rock band.

I always meant to drive across the salt flats - maybe I'll have to do that trip and Grand Canyon next year.

I came here to say the exact same thing. Drive to Island in the Sky. Go to the overlooks. It blows Arches out of the water in my mind.

Our main concern is accommodation. I was hoping that we could do as much as possible without have anything preplanned/scheduled.

I know we will have to for sure schedule an Antelope Canyon tour. I was thinking that we could stay at random hotel/b&b/motel each night as need be but from what Yegolev is saying we may need to book hotels ahead. Now I am starting to worry that we could be in trouble regarding hotels?

As for Yellowstone. I figure we may have a few days. I realize this is just scratching the surface but really its just a bonus and if we don't have time we could always skip it all together.

Canyonlands is a place we considered and may still be an option. I am hoping to get to Salt Lake City 1st night so the gondola at snowbird may be an option as well.

The other thing we are debating is what car to take. I really really want to drive my car (FR-S) but she does not drive stick and I would be doing all of the driving. (plus premium gas) Whereas she has a new Elantra GT so that may save us some gas and definitely will save us on time as we can both drive.

Staying in Moab is usually not too bad. I'm not sure what your price cutoff is, but it's probably between $100-200 a night depending on how high-end you want to get.

We stayed at the Hampton there, which was great for 2 nights. We did Arches and Canyonlands, and we did a rafting tour.

I think your tolerances for lack of civilization and local monopolies will dictate what you do.  My wife, for example, isn't cool with eating canned meat or anyplace without a bathtub, so I might not be a good person to listen to.

Take the Elantra. The FR-S would be nice for show, but on a long ass road trip? Besides, if things should, god forbid, go south and you sprain an ankle or break a foot, she'll have to learn stick pretty quickly.

I have some ideas I'll post in detail later today.

In Salt Lake you will have no problem getting a room as it is basically off season and there are tons of rooms here.  If you want to check out Snowbird I wouldn't suggest booking up there because it will be expensive. There are a bunch of places at the base of the canyons that will likely be cheaper and it is a 25 minute drive up the canyon.  The hotels at Snowbird are nice though and the Aerie has a good Sunday brunch if that lines up.  There is a brand new Hyatt Place (http://cottonwood.place.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html) that just opened up that would work well, right off the freeway so you don't have to hunt for it after a long drive and a good staging area for the Cottonwood Canyons (Snowbird is in Little Cottonwood).  You could also stay in Downtown SLC as nothing is very far but it isn't exactly a hopping downtown (although it is getting better, if you decide to stay down there I can make some specific suggestions)

Getting rooms on the fly near the Utah national parks in July is a sketchy proposition. Those places book up (mostly with German tourists) and places like Bryce and Zion actually don't have that much in the way of capacity that is close.  It will be mostly shitty Motel 6s, La Quintas, and the like.  The town of Bryce Canyon is boring as hell and has like 4 hotels total. Other than the park there is literally nothing to do there. The Ruby Inn is funny and kitchy, but not particularly nice and is long in the tooth. Best Western is your best shot there.  If you are going to Zion, stay in Springdale. The Holiday Inn (used to be a Best Western) is probably your best bet. Decent restaurant/bar across the street and another couple decent ones up the street. 

Haven't been to Grand Canyon.

After that, rather than going through Mexican Water via 160 you can go up 161 and hit Monument Valley on the way to Arches.  Really beautiful and you will recognize a lot of the rock formations from the movies.  Since you are coming from the south you could also jaunt over to Natural Bridges Park which is often overlooked but has some cool stuff.

Would definitely stay in Moab for access to Arches/Canyonlands (and you should go to Canyonlands, if you are pressed for time even some of the most spectacular stuff is literally right off the road and doesn't take much time) as it has the most capacity and is a cool little town.  My favorite place is this small hotel called the Gonzo Inn (http://www.gonzoinn.com/). Great suite hotel but it isn't huge so I'd definitely book ahead.  Other than that mostly chain stuff although there is a couple of ranches off the beaten path east and south of Moab.  For Arches, go early in the morning if you want to go to Delicate Arch, and there is a great area that you need a guided tour for that you need to book in advance called the Fiery Furnace.  This is probably a no-brainer to say but it gets really hot in these parks in July so be prepped with water. 

Again, going to Yellowstone in the summer with no hotel reservations is a dicey proposition. When we went we stayed at a cool ranch just over the Montana border called the 320 Guest Ranch. A tad spendy and is a good 45 minutes north of the park though.

That's all I got but can try to answer any specific questions you have. I live in Utah and have been to all of those places so will do my best.

I'm sure there's an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives that can help you on your trip.

http://www.tvfoodmaps.com/s1/UT

That's supposed to be a list of all the restaurants in UT that have been on food shows.

(http://i.imgur.com/O8lrZHN.jpg)

I thought Antelope Island was a darn cool stop in the Salt Lake area, it's a wild game/national park in the middle of the great salt lake, home to a herd of wild buffalo that crossed the lake when the lake dried out. If you are hitting the grand canyon I'd also make the several hour detour and hit Hoover Dam, it's a lot bigger than you would think.  Plus the water level is so low it looks funny.

Thanks for all the advice.

We are going to tweak or trip slightly to spend some more time in Moab (canyonlands/arches) It looks like we might just be dropping off YellowStone altogether as we don't really feel like we will have the time.

As it is we are looking at getting to the Bryce/Zion area on a Saturday Morning/Midday and then Spending Sunday/Monday there. Heading to the Grand Canyon on a Tuseday morning. Trying to see what we can that day and the next, then either leaving for Page/Antelope that night (Wednesday) or the next morning. On Friday Heading up to Moab, Spending Sat/Sun at Canyonlands/Arches and then Monday heading over to Denver to see her Dad.

Does this sound reasonable (ish?)

Once again, thanks in advance fopr any advice?  Also Hwy 67 to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Is there any place to stay around there? It doenst look like there might be many hotels in the area. Thoughts?

    

Looking at hotel options around the north rim of the Grand Canyon and i am starting to think we may be fucked.

A giant 277 mile long tourist destination and it only has 1 road to access it from the north. who knew?

It is in the middle of fucking nowhere and the terrain is not really suitable to easy road building (and is also surrounded by national parks and Indian reservations).

welp went on the trip and had a good time (7500km of driving)
stayed in Kanab for 4 night and went to Zion, Bryce, GC. Then went to Page and saw Antelope & Horseshoe Bend. After that 3 nights in Moab to see Arches, Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point. Including getting up at 4 am to see sunrise ate Mesa Arch, then heading over to hike up to Delicate Arch while it was still cool.

Have 4 images here (so far) if anyone is interested http://imgur.com/a/kxdqe