My mom and I are spending two nights and 3 days in NYC. The last day in NY is a Friday. We plan to stay until early evening in the city but we will want to drive out that night. (Our car will be parked in a garage while we are in the city) Saturday, we will be driving through NY along the Hudson river, getting an early start, but we need someplace to stay on Friday night. I'm looking for inexpensive, clean and close. Breakfast included would be nice but not necessary.
I have looked but don't have any idea about the areas north of the city and want to stay somewhere safe.
By close, I mean within 1 hour and by cheap, I would like to find something under $100.00. Traveling in early OCT and have GPS
Thanks for any suggestions.

I think the only way to get a decent hotel for under $100 in a good location is to use Hotwire or Priceline. Tarrytown would seem a good location for you. I don't see many wins on Priceline in Tarrytown but not sure if that's b/c people don't use PL for that location or if the hotels don't release rooms to PL. Anyway, picked an arbitrary Fri. in Oct. (10th) and looked on Hotwire. Found a 3* hotel for $92 for the night with lots of amenities (pool, golf course etc.) I can't figure out which it is using betterbidding.com Hotwire hotel list, but I don't see any possible bad options on tripadvisor.

Close to your budget, and about 20 miles outside the city - is the Holiday Inn, Orangeburg, NY

It also offers easy access on/off the Palisades Parkway - a route you might use and close to the slower paced / scenic 9W that runs along the Hudson River

A second vote for Tarrytown (where I live), there's a new Doubletree, a Sheraton, Courtyard by Marriott, a regular Marriott, Springfield Suites and a Hampton Inn, all easy to find and should have a good weekend rate as these hotels are in a "business" area. It's a charming town w/good restaurants and atmosphere.

Thank you all. I bid $80 at Priceline (after an initial $70 bid which was not accepted) and got it!!
for Tarrytown. It sounds great. The hotel is a Sheraton and fits the bill perfectly and I like the location near the Hudson river.
Great advice as always.
BTW, the holiday inn in Orangeburg was fully booked on our Friday night.
Now we are set!!

Great deal, it's brand new, only about a year old or so (we live very near) and easy to get down to the river from there. If you need any more info about Tarrytown, let me know.

If you want to go somewhere fun for a cocktail, the Tarrytown Castle is pretty neat.

For breakfast the next AM, there's the Eldorado Diner right down the street. You can have a really good full, hot breakfast for under $20 for the two of you.

Owlwoman and all...

Thanks for the info especially on the diner. (mom is not a cocktail person... but then she goes to bed early...)

I was so lucky with priceline that I booked another night there on our day BEFORE our NYC romp as well. I am considering leaving my car at a garage near the RR station and commuting into NY for our 2 nights there. What do you think?

I'd rather pay the rates there than in NYC and the train might be fun. We will be traveling pretty light at that point and our tickets would cost less than the gas to take us in, I'm sure.

What are your thoughts?

I think it depends on how spunky you and Mom are. The only issue with not having a hotel in Manhattan is the inability to rest in the middle of the day, drop off packages and ofcourse the issue of nightlife. I was not crazy about the place you picked to stay in Manhattan, so I'd prefer to see you at this nicer place in Tarrytown, but it does change the tenor of the visit.