We’ve found that when we travel, we prefer to find a hotel that’s kind of a home base for several nights, allowing us to see several different sites without packing up our luggage each day.  If it has a kitchenette, or even just a microwave and refrigerator, all the better because we can eat fewer meals in restaurants.

On our trip to Pennsylvania, we found a winner with the Homewood Suites Valley Forge.  We stayed there for six nights, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, for $89 a night.  That’s a bargain at most any hotel for our family of six, but this was no ordinary room; it was a suite with 2 queen beds, chair and TV in one room, sofa, desk, chair, and sofabed plus kitchenette with full-sized refrigerator/freezer, sink, dishwasher, cooktop, and microwave in the other.  In addition, it came with free breakfast and a “Welcome Home” evening reception (baked ham one night, beef stew another) during the non-holiday weeknights of our stay.

The location was easy to find and convenient to many of the places we wanted to go:  5 minutes from Valley Forge, 30 minutes from the Philadelphia historic area, 60 minutes from Washington Crossing State Park, 90 minutes from the Statue of Liberty, and just over an hour from the Crayola Factory.  There were three restaurants and a convenience store adjacent to the parking lot, and a WalMart just across the street, as well as other restaurants and stores nearby.

If guests are really desperate for provisions, there is a small convenience store by the front desk for necessary items or quick meals.

Our complaints about the hotel were minor.  We wished there would have been a guest laundry area available; it was too expensive to have our mountain of laundry sent out for cleaning.  The dresser-space was also small for the extended-stay space, although there was plenty of room for suitcases without them being in the way.  And although many of the rooms accommodate six people, there were no tables for six in the breakfast/reception area.

We’ve stayed at Homewood Suites before and found them to be very family-friendly; it’s one of the first chains I check when we’re traveling.  Our stay in Audubon was no exception.

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