San Diego to Chicago good locations

I have to pickup a car in San Diego tomorrow and drive back to Chicago. I'll be going through the deserts of AZ with a detour to the Grand Canyon and continuing on through OK. Any other must shoot locations? Do you know of any perfect locations for sunrise or sunset shots?

Longitude and Latitude coordinates welcome.


Thanks, Drew

Maybe if you gave a more exact route and how far you are willing to travel off that path we could give some suggestions.

Also how much time do you have to spend driving back to Chicago. If you take smaller highways and make your way up through SE Utah and the up through Colorado, you could also hit Arches, CanyonLands, and Rocky Mountain national parks, but that may add quite a bit of time especially if you find areas that you really like.

Open to any route, back roads not a problem and willing to go hours off the main route. Only set plan was to stop at the Grand Caynon. I've got 4.5 days to make the trip. That gives me a little extra time and flexability I figure I've got two extra days.

Jeff,

Thanks for the ideas, you've helped greatly. Plan right now start San Diego - Grand Canyon - Moab, UT - Estes, CO then through Omaha, NE and back to Chicago. Since those parks are huge any suggestions on what areas I should check-out?

Drew