Is there a specific reason you are considering a stay at that location in West Sacramento? It is pretty much no where. West Sacramento is a different city than Sacramento BTW. It's on the west side of the Sacramento River.

The Homestead is outside the park at the south entrance. The valley is over an hour's drive from there. Look into Yosemite View in El Portal. It's just outside the Arch Rock Entrance on the west side, close to the valley and right on the Merced River.

These are the places I stayed would would stay again.
Zion - In park lodge
Bryce - In park lodge
Moab - BW Canyonlands
SLC - Little America. Nice, inexpensive, excellent location

I would not stay at the Ramada Inn & Plaza in West Sacramento. It is a horrible location...in an industrial area near nothing. If you give me an idea of what you are trying to see in Sacramento, I can give you suggestions for better placed hotels/motels.

BarbAnn & Suzie: There is a mini-GTG tonight at 6 p.m. downtown at Paesano's. Surfergirl is up from SoCal, so a few of us are meeting her and Mr. Surfer. The Kals and janisJ will be there also.

MY

Thanks Michelle!

"Sacramento: Ramada Inn & Plaza- West Sacramento
Yosemite: The Homestead"

No and no . . .

If you want a bargain - try Priceline for downtown Sacramento (though parking might be an issue). There are several terrific properties that come up regularly. Or, if you want to shop - look at one of places near Arden Fair mall.

For yosemite -- keep trying for a cancellation in the Valley. In the meantime, look at the condos in Yosemite West or barring that, Yosemite View like Suzie suggests.

Cedar City would work OK for Zion, but you'd be better off staying in Springdale if you can't get a place in the park. It's just outside the park entrance.

For Bryce, you don't want to stay near Zion. If you can't get lodging in the park, there are several places about a mile from the park entrance. We stayed at the Bryce View Lodge; comfortable room. It's cheaper than Ruby's across the street, and we were able to use the pool and other amenities at Ruby's.

Lee Ann

Darn, Michelle. I wish I had seen your message earlier. Hope you had fun.

For Sacramento -- I agree with the others. Our group today are staying in two hotels that we've all stayed at in the past, which are both great location-wise, and price-wise. One-half is staying at the Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza and the other (like me) at the Marriott Residence Inn. Both have a variety of price ranges. I like the residence inn because we can get a 2 room, one bedroom suite with almost a full kitchen, very nicely appointed, very big, and includes buffet breakfast (excellent!). There's a pool (currently the area around the pool is being renovated, but the pool seems currently accessible), a work out room (fairly outstanding and clean machines) and a laundry room. We paid aout $85/night with a government rate.

There is no specific reason for staying in West Sacramento... I just saw it was maybe in between since we will be traveling to San Francisco-Muir Woods and Napa Valley, and THEN to Yosemite. I wanted something maybe a little central but not QUITE downtown in case traffic gets really bad.....

We were trying to keep it around $100 for those days.. or less...

Hi CaribbeanChick - I responded to your other thread about the plan to stay in Sacramento, but I'll respond here too for the benefit of the others on this thread.

By staying in Sac to visit SF, Napa, and Muir Woods, you will be doing a lot of driving back and forth. For this portion of your trip, I'd stay closer to the areas you are planning to visit - the driving time you'll save those days will more than make up for the extra drive time the day you head up to Yosemite.

Sacramento has lots of reasons to visit -- but as a base for commuting back and forth to SF/Muir Woods/Napa -- not so much.

If you do decide to stay in Sacramento -- staying in West Sac would save you at VERY most 10 minutes. Not worth staying in a crappy area IMO.

If you mainly want to see SF/Muir Woods -- stay in SF or Marin county

if you want to get to the foothills and see Yosemite - start from Sacramento.

If you want to do both -- then stay a couple of days in SF/Napa and then a day in Sacramento. But that might change where you'd want to fly into . . . (SMF is a good airport for Napa - but not for San Francisco)

Stayed at Desert Pearl in Springdale for Zion/Bryce several years ago and found it quite satisfactory, attractive location on a little river. I'd check some reviews since things change, but it worked well for us in '06. Hotels pretty basic in Springdale as is typical around national parks but Desert Pearl was probably the best one at the time and a couple of restaurants in Springdale were pretty good. Ate lunch at BW Ruby's at Bryce on that trip and was not impressed with the food or the exterior appearance of the motel. Next month we're spending a night in Bryce in order to drive Rt. 12 to Torrey the next day and I'm going to try the [new? or refurbished and name changed?] BW Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel. Still stuck with eating at a Ruby's-owned restaurant, it appears. Also plan to try BW Greenwell, so hope for both of our sakes it's okay.

You don't have to eat at Ruby's. Take a left on Hwy. 12 and you'll find a variety of places between there and Hwy. 89. We had dinner at Foster's one night and it was pretty good.

Lee Ann

Thanks! We might do one night in San Fran area to see San Fran and the night before we head to Yosemite we might stay in Sacramento....