the beginnings of a route???

1)okay - we start out in Vegas (not NP, but one day perhaps?) Nevada
(here is where it gets tricky)
2) Zion NP Utah
3) Bryce Canyon NP Utah
4) Capitol Reed perhaps, NP Utah (not on the list, but check it out, might be on the way)
5) Canyonlands NP Utah
6) Arches NP Utah (yes, that makes 5 national parks in a row, all in Utah, but we aren't done yet) (Anne listed Moab as another NP, but it seems to be a town, not a park, outside of Arches)
7) Mesa Verde NP Colorado
8) 4 corners
9) Antelope Canyon near Page Arizona
10) Grand Canyon NP Arizona
11) Las Vegas Nevada

Okay, this seems to be a pretty good route, as far as I can tell, hitting all the places Anne listed in her original post, plus Antelope Canyon. The problems include: this is a lot, let me rephrase that, A LOT, to do in just a short time, with a lot of driving. So the question is, should we cut down the trip to make us spend less time in the car and more time at the various places? The problem with this is that we would then cut out (most likely) the places the furthest away - which is Mesa Verde and 2nd four Corners. But Mesa Verde, as I understand it, is the #1 reason for the trip - kinda a theme for the whole road trip around which all else was planned. We could cut things on the way, that would save some driving time (perhaps a lot, perhaps not, I don't have a good enough feel for how far out of the way some of these places are. if we could travel line of sight alot of them would be on the way anyway, so why not stop, but the way roads are laid might make them quite out of the way), it would also save time in that we wouldn't be spending time walking and sightseeing. This could help the trip to be less hectic, but might make it end up being: time in Las Vegas, a day of driving nonstop, some time in mesa verde, another day of driving non-stop, then back in LV. (obviously I am oversimplifying, we wouldn't get rid of all the other stops). The problem with this is that we have very long amounts of time in the car without any breaks. Is this a problem?
If we leave the route as is (at least roughly - it surely needs some fine tuning) the problem is that although the start of the trip is well paced, meaning you are never in the car for a super-extended period without a stop, on the way back there are only 2 stops really, Page/Antelope and the Grand Canyon, so the pacing isn't as good. Since this route is a loop, not a line which we backtrack after reaching the destination (mesa verde, since it is the furthest) it is not possible to simply 'hit this place on the way back.'
I know this is alot to take in. It helps to read this with an atlas in front of you. Let me know what you guys think, and if there are any other places that should be included. (I didn't include the places close to Las Vegas, like Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire and Red Rock Canyon, since they don't need to be done in a specific place in the large driving loop).
One thing I think we should consider is not only hitting all the most beautiful locations, but rather hitting the most beautiful of each type of location - ie, the best Indian dwelling, the best canyon, best arches, best climbing/hiking, etc.