Utopian Suburbia

Service: Nice staff at the front desk. Housekeeping is inconsistent, but rooms are clean and tidy.

Rooms/Decor: Relatively tasteful and spacious, homey, better than typical hotels/motels. I've never stayed in a hotel room with an abundance of light; this place is no different. I usually have to move the standing light over to the desk or by the bed. Rooms include a good desk and AC/heater unit, and small balcony.

Facilities: Good--they have an outdoor pool, sauna, small gym (clean, with towels and TV available), and nice sitting area in the lobby. As I mentioned earlier, a restaurant is right next door.

Extras (the best part!): Your stay comes with a free continental breakfast of instant oatmeal, fruit, juice, coffee, and so-so pastries. Nightly turn-down service includes a bottle of water and a piece of candy. A basket of small red apples is always out by the front desk. Free overnight shoe shines. Another great perk are the "events." I got a free 10-minute massage from a certified massage therapist, who comes to the hotel every Tuesday from 6 to 8pm. A weekly wine tasting features a different bottle each week for guests to taste.

Sounds pretty good so far? Well, here's what turned me off to this hotel. On my first stay, I walked into my bathroom and spotted about 10 dead ants on the floor and in the tub. Not good, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and figured they had recently sprayed the place and maid service hadn't been done since the spraying. No further problems that time. BUT, the second time I stayed at RPH, I encountered a couple of live ants in the bathroom each day. On the third night, I noticed that there seemed to be a slight increase of ant invaders on the bathroom floor and requested to be moved into a new room. I didn't want to risk waking up to a bathroom full of ants. In addition, I had found a weird-looking tack-sized beetle-type bug on the floor (I'm surprised I was able to spot it on the dark, dizzying-patterned carpet). The staff moved me right away, commented that it was due to the rain (it wasn't raining on my first visit!), and gave me some type of frequent guest card, which gives me who-knows-what rewards.

Anyway, decide for yourself if you'd like to stay at the Rocklin Park Hotel. I really enjoyed the extras and comfy atmosphere, but the bug problem left such a bad taste in my mouth that I'll be heading somewhere else in January.

Larkspur Landing tries to be guests' home away from home. The best amenity here is free use of washers/dryers for your laundry (you pay for the detergent). They also offer a heated indoor swimming pool and a small gym.

The front desk staff were friendly upon arrival. They put me in a quiet room on the first floor, on the side of the building that doesn't face the 80 freeway. My one complaint is that somehow, the person who checked me in didn't properly handle (and lost) the computer/paperwork and another front desk staff person checked another guest into my room while I was in the gym. The mistake was realized before the other guest went into my room (so I was told), but I had to find out by trying my door and then walking to the desk to figure out why my key wasn't working. Couldn't they have left me a note, or flagged me down as I walked on my way back from the gym?

My room was neat, clean, and quite spacious. I enjoy having a kitchenette for my longer stays so I can save leftovers in the refrigerator and reheat them in the microwave. A very nice touch is the little basket of teas, bag of popcorn, and granola bars--they're actually pretty good!

The bathroom was pretty standard, as was the rest of the room. The dark brown wood furniture is much more homey-feeling than that nondescript stuff they buy for Courtyard by Marriott or whoever. I don't think the bed was quite as firm as at the Rocklin Park Hotel, but not bad.

This indoor mall is cutely decorated with a carousel, brightly lit, and especially festive during the holidays. There is one main corridor of shops, with a food court on the second floor in the center. Behind the food court area, you can access the outdoor courtyard via stairs (or past the Restoration Hardware/Pottery Barn on the first floor) where Plutos, Max's Cafe, an Italian restaurant, Barnes and Noble, Crate and Barrel, and a few other places are located.

The mall is always a great place to relax and walk around (especially after a hard day's work!), surrounded by a non-threatening, friendly, relatively affluent Roseville crowd.

Early evening brings out the local denizens of the area. Maidu Park is a suitable for joggers/walkers/rollerbladers/cyclers, with a pathway that meanders around a large, grassy six-field soccer area, softball field, a wild wetland-bird-refuge-type area, and the local library branch, community, and interpretive center.

Besides getting some fresh air and exercise, the classes offered by the Interpretive Center can teach you and your family about the Maidu culture, animals, etc. A branch of the library is located at the park as well.