<p>places to stay, places to eat, things to do.</p>
<p>what do we make sure not to miss???</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>For LSU:</p>
<p>Where to stay: I think a lot of visitors stay at the Cook Conference Center and Hotel on West Lakeshore Dr.</p>
<p>Where to eat: </p>
<p>Louie’s Cafe: My favorite. Great burgers, awesome breakfast food all day. Near the north gate (turn left after the Blockbuster).</p>
<p>Roul’s: Haven’t been here, but my dad loves it. Also by the north gate. Huge, greasy burgers.</p>
<p>The Chimes: Another one by the north gate, right across the street from campus. Really good spinach and artichoke dip, and I like their salmon salad. I think they also have some Cajun and Creole dishes.</p>
<p>Chelsea’s Cafe: Not too far away from campus… it’s under the Perkins overpass. Fantastic food, neat atmosphere, live music on some nights. Great shrimp poboys! (You can also go to Poboy Express if you want a quick poboy; there’s one on Perkins near LSU).</p>
<p>LSU Dairy Store: A creamery run by dairy science students at LSU. Has cheese, sandwiches, shakes, and really good ice cream (I recommend pistachio). You MUST get ice cream at the Dairy Store while you’re on campus!</p>
<p>What to check out while you’re there:
-Mike the Tiger VI, whose huge habitat is across the street from the stadium. It might be too hot for him to be out playing when you visit, but he loves splashing around in the water.
-Cannons in front of the military science building donated to the university by General William Tecumseh Sherman.
-The parade ground, used back when LSU was a military school. Now mainly used for frisbee.
-Memorial Tower: You can step inside and have a look at the names of Louisianians who died during WWI engraved on the walls. The bells play LSU’s alma mater at noon.
-The Indian Mounds: Constructed by Native Americans around 3000 BC. Now just fun to roll or sled down (use a piece of cardboard!)
-459 Commons: A dining hall on campus. Get a look inside if you can; it is BEAUTIFUL.
-Greek Theatre: Neat amphitheater next to the music hall. There’s a nice little woodsy area behind it with live oaks and cypresses.
-Free Speech Alley: Outside the Union (on the side facing the parade ground). Traditionally, a place where speeches, debates, etc. were held. This doesn’t happen so much anymore, but there are still the occasional Christian loonies who will roam there and rant.
-The LSU lakes: A really popular place to run. Also home to Baton Rouge “Beach.”
-LSU is a really short drive away from downtown BR. You can check out, among other things, the USS Kidd, the Old State Capitol (beauuutiful), and a few different museums. See here: [Downtown</a> Development District | Baton Rouge, Louisiana](<a href=“http://www.downtownbatonrouge.org/]Downtown”>http://www.downtownbatonrouge.org/)</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>thank you for all that freat info!
that will give us some ideas for today!!!</p>
<p>: )</p>
<p>Two Words- Sweet Tea</p>
<p>BBQ (10 Chars)</p>
<p>For Alabama (we just got back from there a week ago):</p>
<p>Where to stay: </p>
<p>The town has several motel/hotel chains. The Capstone is right on the campus (it is expensive but beautiful)</p>
<p>Where to eat:</p>
<p>If you want BBQ, try Dreamland or Full Moon.</p>
<p>Newks, which is across from the campus, is great, too.</p>
<p>In Tuscaloosa and the surrounding area:</p>
<p>Bama Belle Riverboat: take a cruise on the River</p>
<p>Mercedes Benz plant: About 15 miles from Tuscaloosa on I 59-20</p>
<p>President’s Mansion: On campus. Very cool place to visit. One of the few buildings not destroyed during the Civil War.</p>
<p>On campus: </p>
<p>Visit the Paul “Bear” Bryant Museum. It’s right on the campus. And you will be humming the fight song all day.</p>
<p>Bryant-Denny Stadium: Just to say you were there. Good photo opportunity, too.</p>
<p>The Denny Chimes. On the south end of the Quad.</p>
<p>Go check out the Student Rec Center. That sold my youngest son on UA.</p>
<p>Make sure you visit Ferguson – it is the student center. And of course, buy a t-shirt or two. You also can check out some of the dining options the kids have.</p>
<p>If your daughter/son has the SAT/ACT/GPA to qualify for the honors college, do check out the dorms. That sold my son, who will be a freshman this fall at UA. The dorms are just wonderful. My son loves to tell his friends that he will have his own room.</p>
<p>Have a great trip.</p>
<p>well, we are at auburn now.</p>
<p>if you are coming here and are looking to not spend too much on hotel, try the sleep inn. my internet and AAA rate was about 71 bucks, and the place is new clean and quiet.</p>
<p>would like to find something as nice in this price range tomorrow!</p>
<p>we drove around auburn tonight for a while. everything looks really pretty! and the surrounding area is not very scary at all!</p>
<p>my DD is really charmed by the nice dorms as well. i think they have similar dorms here at auburn.</p>
<p>: )</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>For UA:</p>
<p>I would recommend The Waysider for breakfast. I recommend either 15th Street Diner or City Cafe for lunch. Both are meat-and-three places. City Cafe is Tuscaloosa/Northport tradition, but the lunch lines can get a bit long. 15th Street Diner is a bit more expensive ($10 per person to City Cafe’s $6 per person). For dinner, there are so many option - it depends on what you are looking for. For a nice dinner, I would recommend Cypress Inn on the River. A Tuscaloosa tradition is Nick’s Original Filet House. It’s better known as Nick’s in the Sticks, and the name’s aptness becomes apparent once you ask for directions to it. You could also go to any number of places downtown. DePalma’s Italian Grill, Venice Italian Fusion, Mellow Mushroom, Chuck’s Fish House, Mugshots, Surin of Tuscaloosa, Ruan Thai, Swen Chinese Restaurant, these are just a few option available.</p>
<p>As far as hotels go, I would recommend any of the business-class hotels (Courtyard, Hampton, Hilton Garden, Holiday Express) or the Hotel Capstone (the only really high-end hotel in town).</p>
<p>Places to see: the Strip, Downtown and Temerson Square (adjacent to downtown), downtown Northport, the Quad, the Natural History Museum on campus, the Bryant Museum.</p>
<p>Mike, if you’re going to LSU the weekend of July 11th, the state swim meet is there that weekend. Hotel rooms will be hard to find. Many swimmers are at the Cook Center. Meet is from Thursday through Saturday, I believe.</p>
<p>Other possible hotels can call. The Best Western Richmond Suites. Use your Triple A card. Can get points and a discount. Great rooms. Stayed there for a swim meet. The Embassy Suites will probably be booked, as our team usually stays there. </p>
<p>If already saw LSU, ignore this post. Sorry I’m catching your post late. Didn’t realize you were coming up around the time of the state meet. </p>
<p>Can’t wait to hear about your Auburn visit. Really a fantastic, well respected school down here.</p>
<p>MomReads: the rec center sold my DH on UA 
And the honors dorms sold DD. Guess we’ll know in a few months if that will be where she ends up.</p>
<p>Can’t wait to hear about your impressions of UA & Auburn, MikeWozowski.</p>
<p>Very interested in your impression of Auburn. It is low on my son’s list because it doesn’t have the exact program he wants, but he is still intrigued by it.</p>
<p>i will update more later but short story is</p>
<p>loved auburn and alabama</p>
<p>did not love lsu</p>
<p>Mike, I saw you tried to PM me but my inbox was full. I’ve cleaned it out now. I REALLY want Auburn and 'Bama on the list for ds.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay - I really wish Auburn had the program DS wanted, but they don’t even have any way for him to “create” it with any legitimacy. Very frustrating. Oh well - it’s still on the list, just low.</p>
<p>hmm. not sure what you all will want to know. and most of what i would be able to report is probably alredy stuff you know.</p>
<p>both schools were really pretty. (important for my dd! haha!)</p>
<p>auburn is in a small town that is there because of the college. looks like grandma could live here. all the buildings pretty much go together. it is a smaller area with lots of buildings close together.</p>
<p>people were nice.</p>
<p>my dd will probably qualify for 2/3 OOS tuition.</p>
<p>since my DD does not know what she wants to do, we are not influenced much by what programs the school has. she will just have to find something when she gets there.</p>
<p>we did not meet with honors, but i think honors would be an option for my dd. she is not sure she wants that option, but i might.</p>
<p>one thing that is not really important in the big picture…freshman do not necessarily get football tickets.</p>
<p>also, housing is NOT guaranteed for freshman or anyone else. that is a negative in my opinion.</p>
<p>alabama seemed really big when we drove in, but as it turned out, most of the class buildings ended up being fairly close to each other. things there were farther apart, so there seemed to be more greenspace around.</p>
<p>everyone was nice.</p>
<p>the rec center was awesome.</p>
<p>the student center was nice.</p>
<p>the new style dorms were nice. we are not sure if that style is a good or bad thing (making it harder to make friends/meet people.)</p>
<p>town was much larger but by no means a big town. there is a mall.</p>
<p>dd could be in honors here for sure. again, not sure if she wants that.</p>
<p>intramural fields looked really nice and close by.</p>
<p>neither of the tours talked much about class sizes.</p>
<p>i think my dd would be happy at either of these schools. they are both far from home (10 and 11 hours) but 3rd choice state school (texas tech) is about 10 hours as well.</p>
<p>auburn didnt seem to be too trafficky. alabama sort of did. lsu was a traffic jam in the summer. hard to imagine what it would be like in regular school year.</p>
<p>auburns scholarship criteria are a little tougher than alabama’s. and from what i gather, auburn would be a little more prestigious. but we are not really into that stuff.</p>
<p>idk what all else you might want to know. but you can ask questions if you have them. </p>
<p>: )</p>
<p>“did not love lsu”</p>
<p>Aw, why not?</p>
<p>we liked it on the drive thru the night before.</p>
<p>but on tour day, we had pouring rain and a horrible tour guide.</p>
<p>i was also kind of disappointed in the amount of traffic and seemingly busy streets. also, some of the surrounding area was a little ( or more than a little) scary.</p>
<p>but i guess that is ok. college tour wouldn’t be that helpful if you loved them all!!</p>
<p>: )</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m not in BR right now, but I heard about the rain. It was badly needed there, but I’m sorry it wrecked your tour (same for the tour guide).</p>
<p>Not sure what you mean by the surrounding area being scary, but if you’ve made up your mind, I’m not going to try to talk you out of it. Good luck deciding!</p>
<p>ha! : )</p>
<p>i really wanted to like LSU. isn’t that just how it goes sometimes. kids (and parents) here going to a school ready to hate it end up loving it and vice versa.</p>
<p>i wanted to like it because it was about half as far (5 hours vs. 10 hours) as the alabama schools. also because a 30 on the ACT will get you full tuition. : )</p>
<p>not sure if we will tour any more texas schools.</p>
<p>we are running out of summer as band starts aug. 3.</p>
<p>: )</p>