First time visitor to the park and would like recommendations on the hotels/motels to stay at in, say, July or August, 2006?
Also, the highlights of a 3-4 day visit, would be appreciated. Just my hubby and I are visiting.

Princess,

It is likely that the only accomodations left within the park are at Wawona and Curry Village, so no matter what people recommend you will be limited to that. At the park entrance, there are several nice hotels with pools, etc., but then you have to drive back into the park. You should probably look at the websites to see what is available on your dates, and then ask for help in making a choice.
http://www.yosemitepark.com/

AS for highlights of a visit, are you interesting in hiking?

The park will be very crowded at that time of year, but you might try Yosemite West, El Portal, and Mariposa for lodging.

Opennings in the park will be few if they exist at all. You might get lucky and find a cancellation, so I would make reservations wherever you can find them and then start calling the park reservation number a week or so before your trip to see if you can snag a cancellation at the Lodge.

For highlights - there is the Valley, Glacier Point, Mariposa Grove, Tuolomne Meadows - lots and lots of stuff to see.

Curry Village features tent cabins, a central bath house and nice cafeteria (when last I stayed there a few years ago). Rustic true, but reasonably comfortable and the experience of walking in the evening and waking in the morning with Yosemite's cliffs towering over one is something I wouldn't trade for a fancy motel.

The lodge at Wawona is nice, expensive and a long way, time wise, from Yosemite Valley. Both locations have the immense advantage of being in the park (there have been times in the past when the park was capacity controlled and getting inside could involve extensive wait time.

I just stayed at Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal and thought it was fine - its right on the river, there is a restaurant - easy drive into the park and doesnt take long to get to Yosemite Village - there was not much of a lineup to get into the park however I am sure that will change when peak season hits . Wawona was a LONG twisty drive from the village and Curry Village definately did not look like a place I would enjoy staying -

Too late for you this visit, but maybe for the future: we stayed at the Ahwahnee, and loved it. Had to book almost a year ahead (as you do to stay inside most National Parks).

Sunburn1944,

You probably didn't have much of a line getting into the park because hwy 41 was closed due to the rockslide just past Cedar Lodge. You should have seen the entrance station on Hwy 120 when we exited the park on Saturday around noon. I counted over 150 vehicles waiting to get in! YIKES.

So...didn't we have excellent weather and ragging waterfalls while in Yosemite!

Utahtea

Utahtea- yes we had GREAT weather. I came with all my long sleeved things and fleece - sure didnt need those.
We had such a great time- ! We walked up to the foot bridge at Vernal Falls- very spectacular -
We left on Sun and there was a long line up waiting to get in at 2 PM -41 HWY
I am REALLY happy we did this trip before peak season really hits - even Sat night in the Village area traffic was at a standstill around 5-6 PM .

Sunburn,

I know, I wore shorts & short sleeve shirts during the day times but I brought my thermal underwear thinking it would be cold! We didn't even have a campfire the first night.

We didn't make it to Vernal Falls or even the bridge this time because my DS and DIL wanted to do the hike so we stayed behind to babysit our 3 year old grandson. We rode the shuttle buses and went to Yosmite Falls and walked around the valley.

Even during the week on Thursday and Friday the shuttle buses were packed with standing room only sometimes. On a couple of occasions even our little grandson had to stand and hold on to the rails on the shuttle bus...he thought it was fun thou.

Utahtea