Stanford & travel

After another solid night of sleep, I woke up to the alarm at 7:00. We checked out of the hotel and put our bags into storage, then we took “Marguerite,” the free Palo-Alto to Stanford shuttle. The campus itself is much larger than it looks on the map, and the campus extends far beyond the region shown on the map, more than 8,000 acres. We got off in the central campus area near the main quad and spent a little while walking through the main quad and the central campus area.

We found the bookstore, which was quite possibly the only building on campus with any significant activity at 8:15. There was a café inside, so we stopped for breakfast. I bought my customary college shirt there. We headed outside to walk around the campus a bit more, and found ourselves outside the music building, just as we were beginning to wonder where it was. The lady at the administration desk was very helpful and gave an overview of the programs and a tour of the facilities. The music department (not a school, just a department, which makes it easier to take classes or a minor without the need for a special application, only an audition) seemed very organized. It even offered work in music technology, a good mix of engineering, computer science, and music.

After our tour of the music building, we walked across the pathway to the Tresidder Union building where our tour of campus started. Our tour guide “Mike” was very helpful. Like many university tour guides, he walked backward for much of the tour. We walked around the center of campus because the full campus tour would take all day. The tour focused on academics, residential life, and extracurricular activities on campus. The campus is like a small city, it seems to be the center of student life.

When the tour was over, we went back to the Union building for an information session. Like all other information sessions, the presenter covered general information, and then focused on the admission and application process and financial aid. At $43,000, Stanford is just a bit pricy. Most of the information can be found a bit later in my Stanford-info post.

By the time we were done, it was 11:30 and time for lunch. We ate at a restaurant on the lower floor of the Union, I had nachos. Because I didn’t want to fight my way back inside to get a fork, I ate them with chopsticks. It worked surprisingly well. I think we would have enjoyed lunch better had we eaten on the other side of the building, in the shade and away from the bees.

We went up the Herbert Hoover tower to get an aerial view of campus. Hoover was a graduate of Stanford and a major donor, as well as a rather unpopular President of the United States because of his image as a scapegoat for the depression. From the 14th floor observation deck, we were able to see all the way into Oakland and San Francisco, as well as the entire 8,000 acre campus, including the radio telescope and all the central campus buildings. Next, we went inside the ornate chapel located on the main quad, dedicated to Leland Stanford and the Stanford family for their contributions to the university.

We had a bit more time to kill before the transfer to the airport, so we took the shuttle back to the transfer station and walked a few blocks into downtown Palo Alto. We walked a few blocks around the town before stopping for ice cream and heading back to the hotel. The shuttle driver was nice enough to call and tell us he would be 15 minutes late… and then to call and tell us he was going to be another 5 minutes… combined with some backwards driving on the freeway yesterday, he may notice a decrease in tip.

The Oakland airport really isn’t all that big, we bought a few things at the gift shop then went through security. The terminal we were in had a few shops and some small food places, so we waited for an hour and a half (the flight was delayed for 40 minutes, fortunately we’re not in a big hurry.) Every couple of minutes there was an announcement over the intercom, either a security announcement or something like “the rental car shuttle goes to the rental car area.” Really? I always thought the rental car shuttle went to the Wall-Mart parking lot… do people really need these kinds of announcements?

The flight itself was decent, we were about 20 rows back again and the people in front of us were kind of annoying, reclining seats and moving around a lot. Someone brought a ghetto-blaster as their “personal item.” Sound like a Jeff Foxworthy joke, anyone? The flight ended with a request for the transfer passengers to get off first, but nobody really paid attention to that, or hurried off the plane. We got a town-car to take us to the University Inn for about $40.
After checking in to the hotel and calling home, we walked a few blocks to IHOP for dinner. The service was slow and the food was warm… in places… but I guess it hasn’t changed in the 25 years since my mom went to school there. After dinner we walked around the block and then went back to the hotel. One more day to go!