2015 East Coast College Tour Day 8

After breakfast in the concierge lounge at the hotel, we grabbed the car. We have our last two college tours of the trip. The first stop of the day was Northeastern. I was surprisingly impressed by this school. They have an intern program that they call Co-op that mixes traditional classes with work experience. I was more than a little appalled that their slideshow was cut off on both sides of the screen...



We had an interesting lunch at Summer Shack. Sharon and I split oyster and lobster sandwiches.

We spent the afternoon at Tufts College. For the informational part of the program, Tufts had one person speak for almost an hour. While he was well-spoken, an hour is a long time; I had trouble staying awake. It is a nice campus, but I don't think that it is the right place for Jack. It is probably the only college that we visited this week where I wouldn't even encourage to apply.



While not quite as bad as Thursday night driving back from Boston College, it probably took us 45 minutes to drive 6 miles back to the hotel. I just can't believe the amount of traffic.

We finished the night with a late dinner at Mama Maria in the North End. I had lobster pasta, while Sharon and Jack had rabbit pasta.

I was amazed at the amount of people on the streets in the North End. All of the bars and restaurants were packed!

2015 East Coast College Tour Day 7

After breakfast at the concierge lounge at the hotel, we got the car. We have four college tours in and around Boston over the next two days.

The first stop for the day was Boston University. BU had a very nice visitor center near the Charles River. At least for me, they had a unique presentation. They had an admittance counselor and a student. After a video, they tagged teamed the presentation back and forth. Sharon said that one of the schools on their Chicago trip used the same approach.

BU is an urban campus stretched out over a mile along the Charles River. It didn't feel quite as urban as George Washington or NYU.



After the BU tour, we drove to Boston College and parked on the campus. We walked over a mile to Chesnut Hill for some lunch at Aquitaine. Back on the campus after lunch, we bought some BC swag.

The BC presentation was also a little different. It included a panel of five students answering questions for about 30 minutes. BC has a very nice campus. It is much more a traditional college campus compared with GW, BU and NYU. I was surprised how much the students talked about going to the football games!



It took us over an hour to drive 5 miles back to the hotel after the BC tour. The traffic is making me more than a little crazy.

Over the course of the day, we decided to go to Mission Impossible at the IMAX. After getting a snack at the concierge lounge, we walked more than a mile to the theater near the Boston Commons.

We finished the evening with a late light dinner at the hotel bar.

2015 East Coast College Tour Day 5

Up before 6 am, it was a long day. We left the hotel about 7:30 pm and headed north to New York. It took about an hour to crawl 30 miles out of Washington DC. Above Baltimore, we got on the New Jersey Turnpike and made good time. About 30 miles from New York city, the traffic completely stopped. It turned out that a truck and trailer had crashed and caught fire. They ended turning the traffic around on the freeway and heading it back the wrong way to an off-ramp. With the turn pike closed, we had to figure out a way to get into Manhattan. It ended up taking us more than 6 hours to drive the 234 miles from Washington DC to Manhattan. We rolled up to the hotel about 1:30 pm. As Sharon pointed out, I am losing my patience with traffic…

We will be spending one night at the Eastside Marriot. We spent a couple of nights there in 2013 with the Gainsleys. After getting checked in, we jumped in a cab and headed to NYU. Starting at 2:30 pm, we had an hour presentation and a hour tour. NYU is a very urban campus. While there are clearly some unique opportunities, including some new international campuses, it would take the right kind of person to start at NYU as a freshman.



After the tour, we headed to the Gramercy Tavern for a bit to eat. From there, we jumped into a cab back to the hotel. Getting cleaned up, we walked to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. I am always amazed at the number of people in and around Times Square. We saw Kinky Boots.



We finished the night with a late dinner at Joe Allen Restaurant. Sharon and I both had New York steaks, while Jack had pasta. We walked back to the hotel and crashed about midnight.

2015 East Coast College Tour Day 4

After sleeping late and having breakfast at the hotel, we walked to Georgetown. The plan for the day was to visit Georgetown University and George Washington University. I was very impressed with the neighborhood that we walked through on the way to the Georgetown campus.

At Georgetown University, we sat through a 30 minute information presentation and then took a tour. The tour was longer than others that we have taken and lasted almost 1 1/2 hours. I was very impressed with the campus and the opportunities that are available in the Washington DC area.

With a 2:30 pm tour at George Washington, we walked back through the Georgetown University main gates and jumped in a cab to George Washington University. It is amazing how easy it was to find a cab. After lunch at Chipolte, we sat through another 30 minute presentation and took a hour tour. George Washingon has a very urban campus, but it is bounded within a specific area. While the urban campus has some drawbacks, the proximity in Foggy Bottom to the White House, State Building and other government buildings creates some very unique opportunities. I hadn't thought seriously about either of these schools, but was very intrigued by both of them.

After the George Washington tour, we walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to M Street and our hotel. Sharon and I had a drink in the bar and then got cleaned up.

We finished the night driving out to the Nooters in Arlington. Nooter barbecued some pork and chicken. Both Weston and Austin were at dinner. It was a very nice dinner. I appreciated being able to spend some more time with Nooter. Facing an early morning on Tuesday, we left about 10:00 pm and headed back to the hotel.

2015 East Coast College Tour Day 2

After a restless nights sleep, Sharon and I had a solid breakfast in the hotel. After breakfast, we walked a long ways to UPenn to meet Jack. I had set a GPS point near his room in the dorms, but he was waiting in the front of the building. Finally connecting with Jack, we walked back across the campus and down Locust Walk. Walking up to Chesnut, we hailed a cab and headed back to the hotel.

Dumping Jack and Sharon at the hotel, I walked a couple of blocks to Enterprise. One of the oddities of the trip is that it was half as cheap to pick up a rental car downtown on Saturday than it was to pick it up at the airport on Friday; literally, half as expensive…

Picking Sharon and Jack at the hotel, we headed to Villanova. Although Villanova doesn't offer tours on Saturdays, we decided to make a stop there. Unlike UCLA, walking around campus was a success. We ended up at the business building. We were all impressed with the campus. Villanova might be one of Jack's safety schools.

We headed to Washigton, DC. I could complain about the traffic, but it would quickly become a broken record. With a longer than necessary stop at Subway for lunch, it took us about three hours to get to the hotel. We are going to spend three nights the Capella Hotel in Georgetown.

Somewhat unbelievably, the room was not ready at 4:15 pm. After an hour wait in the bar, we were finally in a very nice room.

After getting unpacked, Sharon and I headed to M Street. Sharon did some shopping and we ended up at ENO for a class of wine. We wandered down the C&O Canal and out to the river. I need to come back and visit the Stone House.

We finished the night with a late dinner at the hotel restaurant, The Grill Room. Sitting along C&O Canal, I had yellow fin tuna, Jack had veal and Sharon had guinea hen.

After dinner, Jack and I spilt a couple of games of chess in the library before finishing the night watching Treehouse Masters.

2015 College Tours Day 4

Finishing up the Chicago area colleges on Jack's initial list, Sharon and Jack spent the morning at Loyola University Chicago. After sitting through an hour presentation, they took a tour. Sharon noted that this was the least polished of the four presentations of the last couple of days. Loyola is much easier to get into than most of the colleges on Jack's list. It represents one of a number of possible safety schools that we will be touring over the next few months. Like Northwestern, the campus is right on the lake.

They spend the afternoon wandering the Art Institute of Chicago and having a light lunch at the museum. Jack sought out a number of pieces that he has studied in his art appreciation classes.

They returned the rental car back at the airport about 5 pm. After eating dinner, they caught a 7:10 pm United flight to Sacramento. They were on the ground in Sacramento a little ahead of schedule at 9:45 pm. Waiting in the cell phone lot, I picked them up at the curb after they collected their luggage.

All in all, it was a very successful trip. We will be doing a longer college tour on the east c0ast in early August after Jack finishes up at the Wharton Sport Business Academy.

2015 College Tours Day 3

Spending the night in downtown Chicago, Sharon and Jack planned two college tours for the day. Their morning stop was Northwestern. Sharon raved about the drive along the lake from the downtown to Northwestern and about the homes in the neighborhood around the campus. They spent a little less than two hours in a presentation and a tour. After spending yesterday at Notre Dame, they noted how much more secular Northwestern seemed.

After the tour, Sharon and I talked that one of the lessons learned for the day was that we need to leave more time at each spot to explore the area around the campus. We need to take this into account when we do a longer east c0ast tour this summer.

They immediately started back towards downtown Chicago and continued to University of Chicago for the afternoon stop. After lunch at a food truck on campus, they attended another presentation and took another tour. Talking to them on the phone afterwards, Jack noted that the student body seemed more nerdy than Notre Dame or Northwestern. Sharon commented that the tour guide didn't do a very good job.

Talking to them on the cell phone as they passed Soldier Field, Jack expressed surprise at how close to the lake the stadium was. They finished the night having dinner at David Burke's Primehouse.

University of Notre Dame [2015 College Tours Day 2]

Sharon and Jack spent the morning on the Notre Dame campus. They had sat through an hour presentation about the school and then went on an hour plus tour. They had lunch in downtown South Bend.

After lunch, they headed back towards Chicago. They made a short stop at St. Josephs Church in Hammonds, Indiana where Sharon's parents were married. Unfortunately, the church was locked.

In spite of some weather and a struggle with the rental car, they were back in Chicago in the late afternoon. They are staying at a hotel on Michigan Ave [Magnificent Mile] not far from where I stayed when I was there last fall. They finished the night shopping in a giant Under Armour store and having some Italian food.

2015 College Tours Day 1

Working with our external college counselor, we built a list of 31 potential colleges for Jack. Visiting the colleges on the top of Jack's list is going to be a priority for the next six months.

With Jack off for Easter break, we decided it made sense for Sharon and Jack to make a quick trip to the Midwest. Dropping them at the airport at 5:30 am, they caught a 6:30 am United flight to Chicago. Sharon rented a car and they drove to South Bend. On the way, they stopped for lunch in Hammond, Indiana near where Sharon's parent were raised.

After checking into a hotel across the street from the University of Notre Dame, they wandered around the campus to get their bearings. They will be taking a formal tour on Thursday before heading back to Chicago.

Stanford College Visit

Sharon, Jack and I traveled down to Palo Alto on Sunday night. We stayed at Palo Alto Sheraton and had dinner at Joya (tapas and paella).

Monday morning, we had breakfast in the club level of the hotel. We drove the short distance to the visitor's center. Unlike the visit that we made to UCLA, we had signed up for a formal tour ahead of time. The day started with an hour long presentation about the school, the application process and financial aid. Afterwards, we did an hour plus walking hour of the campus.

We got a quick bite to eat and then headed to the baseball stadium. Jack had contacted the baseball coaches. One of the assistant coaches [Eric Smith] gave us a tour of the facilities and talked about the program.

We rolled towards home about 1:45 pm and were back in Carmichael at 4:15 pm. We are planning a long trip to the midwest and east to visit more colleges next summer.

2014 Under Armour Southwest Championships 18u Day 6

After a hectic five days, we slept until after 8 am. She and I took a long walk along the Santa Monica Beach, including a stop to explore the lobby of Shutters, a hotel that she had looked at on-line. For the fourth of the last five days, we grabbed a light breakfast at Starbucks. I was shocked to see a notice on the door indicating that the Starbucks had received a permit to serve beer and wine. Apparently, Starbucks is starting Starbucks Evenings at selected sites…

With an 11:00 am check-out time, we lounged in the room for the rest of the morning and enjoyed the view. Packing up the room and checking the luggage, we wandered down Ocean Avenue to the Water Grill. We had a very nice lunch; Sharon had cod, Jack had a lobster sandwich, I had an unusual shrimp louie and we all split a dozen oysters.

The plan for the day was to visit UCLA. Sharon was not able to book a formal tour. As a result, we wandered around the campus using an audio tour as a guide. I am not sure that it was the best approach. We need to be more organized for the next set of college tours. UCLA is big: 24,000 undergraduate and 12,000 graduate students. Afterwards, We stopped by UCLA's Jackie Robinson Baseball Stadium which is more than a mile from the central campus.

From the baseball stadium, we headed to the airport. The trip has reminded me how much I don't enjoy Southern California: too many freeways and cars. We dropped the rental car and caught the shuttle to the airport. Our flight was about 20 minutes late taking off. We were back in Sacramento about 8 pm and home about 8:30 pm. Jack and Tiber were glad to see each other.