And so on...lots of questions. Please provide us with a few more details - are you interested in mus

We are a Scottish family of 2 A 2 C ( 15 and 12) arriving San Francisco mid july, 2 nights santa Cruz, 7 nights L.A. 3 nights Long Beach, student flight ticket special we have another 6 nights to fill and on the last night we need to be staying within 3 hour drive of San Fran. Is it possible to drive Long Beach to Las Vegas (taking in grand canyon (1 day)) then to within 3 hrs of SF on night 6? Hope someone can help
If you like driving long distances without seeing much... it's possbile to do the itinerary you describe. You'll need one full day to GET to Grand Canyon. Then at least 1 day to explore it a bit (be sure to get up to see the sunrise over the canyon... student flight ticket special an absolute must). Have a grand dinner in the El Tovar Hotel.
It's not a long drive to Las Vegas, and you can get a good taste of the town in 1 or two nights (max). From there, why not drive to Yosemite National Park. One day will give you a good tour. Then you can finish up by driving to the Bay Area... if you want to be within 3 hours of San Francisco airport, you can stay in Sacramento, Berkeley, Napa, or near the airport in Palo Alto (home of Stanford University).
And so on...lots of questions. Please provide us with a few more details - are you interested in museums? the beach? fine dining? children's entertainment (which would be better in San Diego than Las Vegas, IMHO)? Your trip is 18 days long, is that correct?
It is a bit cheaper to rent your car in downtown SF instead of at SFO. Are you headed directly to Santa Cruz or are you planning on spending a night in SF? You might also want to check airfare to San Jose and Oakland compared to SFO.
My wife and I both love the HI Hostel at 10th H streets in Sacramento. It is about 8 blocks student flight ticket special from the state Capitol grounds which are beautiful. They do have private rooms and the kids can stay in the dorms. The hostel is the second oldest Victorian mansion in the city.
If I understand student flight ticket special the question, you have 6 days to spend between Long Beach-Las Vegas-Grand Canyon then to within 3 hours of SFO? If so, that would work but is a lot of driving (welcome to the US Southwest).
A road trip from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon (Williams, AZ) is 4-5 hours one-way but traffic is usually not an issue, then either drive or train to the canyon which is another 30-60 min. Makes for a long day round trip.
You could shorten your GC trip by taking a day trip via coach, helicopter, or fixed wing flight all of which depart out of Las Vegas. These range from about $180 to $500 per person and may not be an option depending on your budget.
An even shorter visit would be to the Sky Walk which is an interesting experience that is a relatively short drive (or motor coach ride) from LV but tickets onto the walkway are pricey for what you get. At last check access onto the skywalk is about $80pp.
The Grand Canyon does have a huge wow factor, but unless you are doing some serious hiking or some rafting, then it doesn't offer nearly as much to do as the parks in CA. I don't think hiking in July in the GC would be a good idea anyway. I think the CA parks have almost as much wow factor anyway. I will admit, student flight ticket special there is nothing like that GC, but there is nothing like the waterfalls in Yosemite or the Sequoia student flight ticket special and Redwood student flight ticket special trees either. I don't know how good the falls would be flowing in Yosemite student flight ticket special by July.
This is REALLY difficult. Santa Cruz to LA via the quickest/least scenic route (in fact a downright nasty route) takes 6.5 to 7 hours at the best of times plus stops. Depending on exactly where in LA -- it is 350-375+ miles.
OMG: Had a couple pops at the Padre game and some vino with friends student flight ticket special afterward. Will come back and try to further decipher this - but you can visit the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas in a day (a van trip - or an airplane flight - or 5 hour drive) - and then fly from Vegas back to SG.