Stanford, the Final Frontier

Mary's fifth college visit in five days was at Stanford. She and Brad flew out on Thursday, saw the campus on Friday, and arrived home late Saturday night. It was a whirlwind trip but they had a great time, and Mary loved it there.

Although they went on the official Stanford tour and information session, Brad was Mary's own personal tour guide on this visit to his alma mater. As you can see, it was a beautiful day to be back on campus. They not only did a lot of walking, but they also rented bikes and rode all around too. And with side trips to In N Out and Rubios, both their souls and their stomachs were well fed.

There are a lot of pretty sights to see on the Stanford campus, but I think it's hard to top the Stanford Memorial Church.

The guidebook made for fascinating reading.

Although the noodles at an on-campus eatery were apparently nothing to write home about, they didn't dampen Mary's enthusiasm for Stanford in general.

This is Mary and her friend, Clare, who is a sophomore at Stanford. They became fast friends last summer when Clare was one of Mary's counselors at Concordia Language Villages. On Friday night Clare joined Mary and Brad for dinner in Palo Alto, and afterwards they caught the end of the Stanford-Cal baseball game. Stanford won, so Mary was properly initiated into the Stanford-Cal rivalry. A highlight of the game for Mary was spotting one of the outside hitters for the Stanford womens' volleyball team in the stands.

On Saturday morning before leaving for the airport, Brad and Mary had breakfast with our friend Annelise, as she now lives in Palo Alto. Annelise and Brad worked together at SCJ for many years, and she has known our kids since we first moved to Racine. Translated, this means she remembers when Mary was born. So Brad and Mary had a wonderful morning with Annelise and her three kids and her husband. Next up: after a solid week of visiting schools, it's time to rest.