We went to Stanford today just to get out of the house.  My kids have been to the campus a lot (annual summer “splash” sessions), but I never have.  I’ve only gotten as far as “The Loop,” the drop-off spot at the front of the campus… to drop off my kids, and to the stadium to watch a couple of football games.  I guess I’ve also been to Stanford Mall, but that’s not really part of the campus.  Today, we would walk the rather large campus and also visit the art museum.

We started at the Cantor Museum, which is Stanford’s (free) museum.  It’s a great little museum with some major works including a whole Rodin sculpture garden.  One room had art on loan from the SFMOMA (under construction) including one of 17 versions of Duchamp’s “Fountain” (a urinal on its side with R. Mutt painted on it).  I much prefer his “Nude Descending a Staircase.”  There was also a Thiebaud “Pie” painting.  I love Thiebaud’s work.

While in the museum, we did a “bench tour,” something I have done with the kids since 2009.  This time though, Jeffrey wasn’t there, so this became the “Lonely Bench Tour 2014” as Courtney posed alone.

The Stanford Campus is really quite lovely.  We walked through the old center section, to the bookstore, where I bought a shirt (Rose Bowl stuff was now on sale – they had just lost that game a few days ago), and then to the newer buildings and dorms.  Our trip ended at the very closed Tourist Information Center right by the stadium and athletic grounds.

Once out of there, we went to Castro Street in Mt. View to eat Thai food, and then Tapas food (yes, we had two lunches!).  Both were excellent.  After that, we came home and crashed, having walked around six miles.