Day 3: Stanford, Fish and A Beach

Well, we are more than half done with our California College Study Tour. Day 3 has come to a close and the kids are all in their rooms, sleeping...or talking. We had another great, fun filled day. We toured a campus, rode in our faboulous bus, and got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean.

We started our day by loading up our big charter bus and heading out of San Francisco towards Palo Alto and Stanford University. We had the bus drop us off at the Oval on campus, and walked across campus to the bookstore. The great thing about the California college campuses is they are still in session. This week is finals week for most of them, so there are students all over the place. It is a great chance for our students to experience what a college campus is like when people are there. We have been able to eat lunch in the cafeterias with college kids, experience the long lines during book buy back periods and watch them walk from classroom to classroom.

We got our first group picture today on Stanford's campus. We even had a graduate get in the picture with us. He was from Puerto Rico and got a degree in egineering (I think). It was really neat for the kids to see that!

We had four current Stanford students do a question and answer period with the kids before we headed out on the campus tour today. It was really great to hear all the really intelligent and fun questions they came up with. They were asking some really key things, and I think we all got a lot of great information. I was not able to go on the whole tour, because I had to wait for lunch to show up at the Old Union Building on campus. But from all the stories I heard, it seemed to be a big hit! I was very impressed with how beautiful the campus is. Lots of trees and flowers, beautiful buildings and art work.

We fed the kids pizza on the bus so we could get out of town quickly. We had a 3:00 pm entrance time for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I was really looking forward to this portion of the trip. The kids were able to explore the Aquarium for a couple of hours before we headed to dinner. They got to touch sea cucumbers, starfish and kelp. We went out to the decks to look for whales, otters and sea lions. We checked out the gift shop and I have a feeling some people are going to be getting some pretty sweet presents!

Dinner was at a diner down the street from the Aquarium. Pretty simple, lots of fries, burgers and chili cheese dogs for the kids tonight.

We went back to Marina, ran to the Wal Mart, to gather supplies for the bonfire tomorrow night and then headed to the hotel.

We got there just in time to run down to the beach for sunset. It was chilly and windy, but a great moment. I love getting to stand in the sand and watch the sun go down below the horiozon on the water. Sometimes I try to pretend the mountains are the water and I am at the beach, but there is just no comparison for the waves crashing against the beach and the kids running around in the freezing water!

We played a few ice breaker games this evening with the kids before lights out. Hopefully they are getting to know one another and forming some great friendships!

Tomorrow, we are headed to UC Santa Cruz, Henry Cowell Redwoods and the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. We are going to close out the trip with a beach bonfire, and my personal favorite, smores! Nothing quite like a toasted marshmallow and some melted chocolate...or 50 kids on sugar highs!