<p>For spicy food, try the Korean Tofu house($8/pp) on El Camino Real, near El Camino WAY, in PA. Further down the road on El Camino Real in Mountain View, there is a huge Korean BBQ, all can you eat, you BBQ meats yourselves. In Palo Alto, for Chinese food, Try Ming’s across highway 101, large parking, Dum Sim and Dinner served all day. Just name a few we go.</p>
<p>In my town, there is a new Chinese restaraunt that serves Allegator meat dishes, if you are so advanturous. :)</p>
<p>I just got off FaceTime with my Stanford sophomore D. There are some things that must not be missed and that others have mentioned: Memorial Church, Hoover Tower, the Mausoleum, the Green Library, Cantor Art Center, Lake Lagunitas (even if there is no water). The Engineering Quad is supposed to be awesome, according to some of her friends. The best dining hall is Ricker, although it is off the beaten path. Next best is Lagunitas. The two freshman dining halls are Stern and Wilbur. She says that most underclassman don’t leave campus much except for an occasional meal so you should stay on campus for most of your time. She offered to get you more specific information but knowing when you will be on campus would be helpful. She recommends the tour to get your bearings before exploring. Feel free to PM me and I can get more specific info for you, if you would like.</p>
<p>I strongly suggest that you sit in on as many classes of interest as your schedule will allow. That’s the best way to see for yourself why Stanford is the best university in the country. : )</p>
<p>I also suggest if you can arrange a night stay in the dorm and let you DS to see for himself the life at Palo Alto. Its normally not possible unless you have some student you know personally that can help you.</p>
<p>BTW, the Korean BBQ place is in Sunnyvale, I always got those two towns mixed up.</p>
<p>[Palace</a> BBQ Buffet - Sunnyvale, CA](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/biz/palace-bbq-buffet-sunnyvale]Palace”>http://www.yelp.com/biz/palace-bbq-buffet-sunnyvale)</p>
<p>At last reunion, I walked around looking at outdoor sculpture (it’s all over the campus)–don’t miss the Rodin Sculptures, but there are lots of others-- and visited the Memorial Church. Also go inside the bookstore.</p>
<p>i would second Castro Street in Mountain View for wonderful ethnic food choices, Chinese, Indian, Greek, Mexican. Have fun on your visit. Also have a sophomore D there who has never been happier. Hope it is a good visit for your son.</p>
<p>My brother lives in Palo Alto, so we just visited with D2 a month ago. She talked about going to a school in the West coast. We visited Berkeley and Stanford. After the visit, she said Stanford was too sterile and too sunny. It is now off her list. I got a good chucke.</p>
<p>I live in Palo Alto. Stanford campus, Hoover Tower, Stanford Shopping Center, downtown Palo Alto, Silicon Valley region, San Francisco, Monterey/Carmel are all good ideas. Maps are a good idea.</p>
<p>A rental car is the way to go - driving/parking isn’t that hard here. Public transport here is not extensive or that great compared to what I experience where one of my kids attends college (a major metropolitan region). However, parking in SF is a hassle and costly and be aware of multiple public events occurring which impact traffic.</p>
<p>Novelty recommendation: when international family friends visited last summer, their teens requested I take them to the HQ of facebook (not far at all from Stanford) so they could have their photos taken with the company sign. You can also check out HQ and major offices of many other famous high-tech companies, if that is of interest.</p>
<p>Restaurants: downtown Palo Alto - Miyake at 140 University is a basic Stanford student place close to campus. In fact, there are lots of sushi spots around Silicon Valley - you can even get great sushi at the grocery store, so we eat it a lot. Our family comes from very different ethnic backgrounds, but if you spend much time in Silicon Valley you may become accustomed to sushi and Indian cuisine. This isn’t a place for steakhouses.</p>
<p>Oldfort, that’s funny. Weather is too perfect - too many warm sunny days, not enough snow, sleet, black ice, or frozen rain, and no high humidity in the summers! I mean, that’s just not living.</p>
<p>Four places with some Stanford history, none of which may be what it once was:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The Dutch Goose – near campus, in Menlo Park. Burgers and beer for grad students and Sand Hill Road VCs.</p></li>
<li><p>Alice’s – at the very crest of La Honda Road, which goes from Palo Alto/Woodside over the mountains to San Gregorio beach. An old biker bar. THE post-exam kick-back place.</p></li>
<li><p>Colonel Lee’s Mongolian Barbecue – on Castro Avenue in Mountainview. All you can eat for not so much. Apparently, it died two years ago, but there’s another Mongolian barbecue in its place. Not gourmet eating, but a source of many fond memories. I took my kids there a few years ago, and they loved it as much as I had.</p></li>
<li><p>Once upon a time, a decade ago, Il Fornaio in downtown Palo Alto was the spot for power breakfasts. You could walk in and see 11 figures of aggregate net worth, easy, any weekday morning.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I really can’t 
Much more excited than my kids.
After seeing The Social Network I want the picture in front of the Facebook sign. And Google too! 
Is Carmel that close? We were there about 10 years ago, I still remember thinking that it would be perfect to visit around Christmas.
Monterey might be of interest to DS. His LA class is still immersed in The Grapes of Wrath. And there is a nice Aquarium there.
We will definitely do the Dish :)</p>
<p>How do I arrange to sit in the class/lecture? Will have to ask DS to look into it.
I personally think that it is nice to listen to lectures about the subjects you are familiar with - this way you can tell how good/engaging the lecturer is. Do you agree?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for sharing!</p>
<p>Carmel and Monterey are not that close. Less than a two-hour drive, but not a whole lot less.</p>
<p>There is a very good Steinbeck Center in the small town of Salinas (inland from Monterey). It’s about an hour and a half drive from Stanford.</p>
<p>Monterey is a nice place to visit, but very touristy in the Cannery Row area - which is now pretty much a shopping mall.</p>
<p>Have your son contact some professors himself. D1 did that when she visited Stanford 5 years ago. Most of them were very accommodating. D1 made a point of meeting with few professors at every college we visited.</p>
<p>You will need more than 12 hours from dawn to dusk to visit Monterey and Carmel, we have done that many times with visitors. The typical routine starts at 8am and we return to the bay area well after dinner. You won’t be able to do that unless you add another day to the trip.</p>
<p>About eating, can visitors eat at their cafeteria with cash?</p>
<p>^^You can certainly eat at Tresidder (the student union) with cash.</p>
<p>Kelowna, Carmel/Monterrey do need a dedicated day, but if you want a quick beach visit, you can zip over to Half Moon Bay, which is only about 30 minutes or so from campus. Just a nice quiet stretch of beach and big boulders, if you’re in the mood to commune directly with the Pacific.</p>
<p>[Tamarine</a> Restaurant](<a href=“http://www.tamarinerestaurant.com/]Tamarine”>http://www.tamarinerestaurant.com/)
Not cheap, but great Asian fusion food.</p>
<p>You can eat in any dining hall with cash. We do it all the time when visiting D.</p>