One of the things I have cherished as my children approached Sophomore and Junior years in high school was college visits. After taking the first one with my oldest child, I very quickly realized that these trips were about much more than visiting colleges.
They are a very unique time to bond with your almost-adult child.
Being from Denver, we visited several CO campuses first and sprinkled between trips. But I’ve known for some time both of my kids will likely spread their wings and venture elsewhere, I get it, I did it too.
Trips with my son that I will forever cherish include WA state (Spokane and Seattle), San Francisco and San Diego. I brought both kiddos the fall of my son’s Senior year to Los Angeles where we toured 2 schools, and that was a great trip too, but a bit different than one on one time.
When in San Francisco, I made sure we had lots of extra time between visits to campuses to have down time and explore. We visited restaurants that could be his new home neighborhood joints, hiked trails and found adventures. It was a special weekend during a crazy time of application deadline stress, ACT prep classes and the normal daily grind. We laughed and talked about the future, his and mine. We put our land-locked toes in the sand. I was able to see him through new eyes that weren’t clouded with the hustle and bustle of home. My husband took him to Oregon and I know he cherished this special time as much as I did.
As my daughter is just getting going on the college search, she has had a trip to Seattle with dad and we also did one with both my husband and I in Texas this spring. We also had 2 girls weekends with another mom & daughter. These included San DIego and Sa
n Francisco. Times I will always cherish! She will go on one more soon with him alone and then she and I will have one more in the fall. And that is it.
As I know this part of the search comes to an end soon, I am really looking forward to our next trip. I know there will be giggles and lattes over croissants and T-shirt shopping, chatting about hopes and dreams and of course, college tours.
These visits have been some of my favorite times of my kiddos’ high school years.
