Back to School

As you drive onto the Stanford University campus, you will come across a huge field known as the Oval with a garden in the center.
The red flowers make up a symbolic letter S.

The plaque by the garden reads "Take Time to Smell the Flowers".
Such a simple saying, yet we sometimes forget.
From my research, Carolyn Craig Franklin and her husband, Carl, were instrumental in raising money to fund scholarships for students attending University of Southern California where at one-time Mr. Franklin was the school's vice president and law professor. Mrs. Franklin had a knack for gardening and she was devoted to campus beautification that after she passed away, the school's trustee dedicated this garden area in her honor.

As you walk further in, you will come across the beautiful Memorial Church opened in 1903.
On this particular day, the church was closed to visitors, but you can see its interior from one of my previous posts.

Jane Stanford had the church built as a memorial to her husband and the school's founder, Leland, who passed away 10 years before.

On any given weekend, it is not unusual to spot newlyweds having their pictures taken here amongst the colonnades.

Close by is the Hoover Tower named after, Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States and a member of the school's first graduating class of 1895.

You can see people looking out of the tower's 14th story observation deck.
- Karen