@LKnomad - well, your son should be happy as a clam! We’ve had the rainiest October on record! My DH is from Whittier, and he’s pretty happy here, too, despite the rain.
Hopefully, we’ll have some decent weather here at thanksgiving for your sake, if not for your son’s. Do let me know if you need ideas for restaurants and/or stuff to do. It really is a great town!
@auntiek actually, do you know of any restaurants that might be open on Thanksgiving? I am arriving at 6:30 pm and I figured it was McDs for me. I assume my kid will have eaten with friends but would happily eat again.
Well, add my kiddo to the list of students for whom it is really not feasible to make the trip home until winter break. Money is not an issue so much, but time is a factor. Lots of traveling time to get back here, generally 12 hrs+ if flying. And she’s just so darn busy. She’s on a 10 day fall break right now, but is doing some leadership training for 6 hours a day, needs to run every day for the upcoming championship races, plus she has studying/assignments to do for classes the following week. Frankly, in the cool locations some of these kids are in, it would be awesome to have downtime to just explore! I’m a little jealous that I can’t hop on a train in walking distance from my dorm and be in NYC in an hour!!
The Public Transit unions are on strike in Philadelphia, so S is stuck on campus for the most part. Hopefully it’ll be resolved soon.
In general, restaurants housed in hotels will be open for Thanksgiving.
@madredos my sister ended up attending our local community college and living at home. But we’re both doing well
My D16 is learning how to make good use of all the excellent (and free) support systems that her LAC college far from home has to offer. This first college semester has been a huge challenge for us. I’m so so proud of my sweet stressed girl and how she is holding it together and fighting for each step forward she takes. She truly is blessed in so so many ways and despite the challenges she is at the right school for her.
Just keeping it real here folks.
@mom23travelers So good to hear she’s steadily making her way through the first year. College prepares ours kids with more than book smarts. I love this excerpt from Jeffrey Selingo’s “There is Life After College”:
"Our best employees are problem solvers and are able to weave everything they know together—customer service, empathy, persuasive skills, leadership skills, flexibility, and work ethic,” Marie Artim of Enterprise told me. “They can think on their feet.”
@Midwest67 Yes but hotel restaurants cost waaaaay to much. I think I will just get my kid, head to the movies (Fantastic Beasts) and eat popcorn for Thanksgiving.
@LKnomad I have a friend who lives in Portland with two teenage boys. Let me ask if she has an suggestions for restaurants. She’s not the type to go to a hotel restaurant, but more of an eat local type, so that might be more in your budget.
@LKnomad - I’ve eaten TG in a restaurant once or twice; it’s usually more expensive than other restaurant meals at the same place, but it should be possible to upgrade from popcorn 
Randomly, I googled where to eat Thanksgiving at a restaurant in Portland, (Portland, OR, right?) and found:
http://www.oregonlive.com/dining/index.ssf/2013/11/where_to_eat_thanksgiving_dinn.html
…now that was three years ago, but maybe it’s a start? Good luck!
Hello, everyone.
@fretfulmother : My grandmother made the most awful, mangled looking pancakes in the world, but she made them from scratch, and she was one of those “just pour it in, just scoop that in there, keep going, just a little bit more,” types of cooks who always knew how to get the job done. The outcome: best darned pancakes you ever tasted in your life! You are in good stead as counterexample.
All this talk of breaks for the kids has me scratching my head. I’m really rather hands-off and have no idea what her schedule is. She will come home at Christmas, and probably traipse through the Sierras with friends at Thanksgiving.
@palm715 and @HappyFace2018: I haven’t really seen the history here in this thread enough to know the whole story, but I’d hate to lose fellow travelers. Would you like to partake of a delicious stack of pancakes with me?
@readingclaygirl : Hello, young lady. You’re awesome, and we’re all here in virtual support of you as you turn those scary corners. Hope college is all you want it to be.
Welcome back @Waiting2exhale We missed you here.
Thank you, @Waiting2exhale!! 
There is so much going on, and I am a bit harried. I have another child going through the selection process right now, and it really is a repeat of the birthing process (well, in a way.)
For each of them, the steps forward are so different. For me, watching them make the steps, and guiding their hands as they reach, is one where I find I must temper my impulses to save them from wobbling, or do it for them. I am watching.
Are both of your kids at the same college, @Ballerina016 and @fretfulmother?
No they are not @Waiting2exhale Mine is attending the same school as your son.
@Waiting2exhale @Ballerina016 - mine picked Princeton, though I loved MIT and am living vicariously through both of you!
@Waiting2exhale welcome back! Your wise words are always welcome! I can’t imagine going through the admissions process two years running. Send your virtual strength pancakes! As for knowing about breaks, my daughter calls me often, or texts often, so I am very familiar with the overall schedule, though I still can never remember which days she has which classes. She put up a long post on Facebook last night that she is happy and enjoying college but can’t wait to be home for Thanksgiving in 16 days and exactly 20 hours, so I know EXACTLY when her break starts!
My daughter will text at 1:30 a.m., and then scold me for being awake to respond.
“Well, Darlin’,” I’m tempted to say, I wasn’t actually awake until you interrupted my sleep…"
I thought doing this back-to-back would ease the stress. Ha, ha, ha.
@sseamom: Thanks for the welcome. I can imagine what it will be like to have your daughter’s energy and light re-enter your home. Your husband may find he has no real need to string his own this year.
My daughter has been cooking, among the many other things she has filled her schedule with, so I hesitate to see what the first freshman semester looks like on her.
@fretfulmother : Okay, I’ll go sit in the corner for a while.
How could I screw up the college placements, @Ballerina016 when I had hinted that your daughter could work the kinks out of something and then pass the new-and-improved to my kid while passing each other in Infinite?
Yes, @fretfulmother, now it is all coming back to me. My '20 may yet need to crash on your son’s floor in two years. Will keep you posted.