Saturday night is a hard time to find a place in the Valley in mid-September, and we were caught with no place to stay, coming into Winthrop over the Cascades. So I called Central Reservations in Winthrop, and they offered the River View Inn at $129 plus taxes. I was told it was contemporary and located right on the river.

What they didn't say, is that it is NOT an inn, but a 'let-yourself-in' 5 unit stand alone, with no common ares at all. We arrived after dark, and there was no light on anywhere; we shone the headlamps on the front door to punch in the lockbox code. Unfortunately, there were 3 lockboxes and it took quite a while and two phone calls just to get inside.

Inside was a quite nice room- near new, decently appointed, with a rear balcony that, yes, overlooked the stream at the bottom of a dreary embankment. Standard 2 star bathroom, very clean.

However, the signs of a not-so-well-thought-out hospitality unit became evident. No reading light by the... more