<p>I am taking my daughter for a tour of Purdue in August. We will arrive the night before and also have some time to look around in the morning. Is there anything that we "must" see to make the visit complete? </p>
<p>W. Lafayette/Lafayette is a pretty typical midwestern large town/small city so I don’t have any “must see” suggestions. There are things to do and see, however, I can’t really tell you what might be interesting coming in at night and in the morning before the tour. The campus is quite pretty in the summer and it is rather large. The tour will likely take you to the main section of campus. You might get a map and take a walk around some of the less frequented areas. For an experience that has been on TV’s Diners and Dives you can go to the XXX Restaurant, the name is for the Root Beer as opposed to Harry’s Chocolate Shop, which is a bar. A walk across the Wabash on the pedestrian bridge is nice as is walking in downtown Lafayette. In the Lafayette area is Prophetstown, Wolf Park (it is what it sounds like), and The Tippecanoe Battlefield and Museum (that should be open in the morning). August in any college town is going to seem kind of dead. The summer students have gone home and unless your going in late August the fall students won’t have arrived yet. One thing you’ll realize walking around the campus and the city even in the summer is that it is a safe pleasant place to be. Purdue is fairly large so there is little reason to be bored once classes start. </p>
<p>^Agreed.</p>
<p>XXX is great - breakfast all day! The Levy (bridge across the Wabash) is a hang out area, as is Chauncey hill. If you want to see quaint parts of the Campus, visit Vonn’s bookstore, University Bookstore (for the 56 cent, 32 oz. “den pops”), Greyhouse for the coffee, and of course XXX. </p>
<p>Prophetstown and the battlefield/museum are both approx. 10-15 minutes from campus if you take S.R. 43. They are located in Battle Ground. Prophetstown (off of Swisher road) is a prairie state park (meaning few trees, and GORGEOUS sunrises - $6/car entry fee). The battlefield is also beautiful and is linked to the Heritage trail, a hiking trail that goes through the area. Wolf Park is a little further north of Battle Ground. There are also walking/hiking trails close to campus at the celery bog (take Northwestern Ave. to Lindberg Rd). </p>
<p>I hope you enjoy the visit!!!</p>
<p>My D is a rising sophomore so we had our visit last year. Being from a big Metropolitan area, that entire area looked like a small rural town to us. There was nothing to see. Don’t let that affect your D negatively though.
We/ our D loved/ love the campus and the school. It has everything you need. Maybe you can take your D shopping at Tippecanoe mall or even Walmart just to show her they are the same everywhere.</p>