Kaysey Price/Winonan

This weekend is parents’ weekend at Winona State University. Yes, it is time for a visit from dear old mom and dad—and you were just getting into the rhythm of living on your own. You have figured out the joys and gut-aches of eating ice cream for dinner, you know where all the good coffee shops are, and you know when the best time to do your laundry is (the middle of the night).

Aside from asking about your classes and social life, your parents are bound to ask one very important question this weekend: where should we go out to eat?

You’re not sure. You only know where the coffee shops with the most caffeine-infused lattes are, and which pizza joint has the fastest delivery service. Do they even have family restaurants in Winona?

Never fear, this week I asked some college students what their family traditions are during parents’ week, to offer you a few suggestions.

Junior Wylee Holguin commented on her family tradition.

“In the past years [when] my parents and sisters have come up, we always have gone to Jefferson’s to eat. Then we would go to Garvin—driving not hiking, and then to the Trempealeau Apple Orchard,” Holguin said.

Dinner and a hike are sure to keep your parents occupied until Sunday when they pack up and head home leaving you in your well-earned freedom once again.

For another suggestion, junior Hannah Baumann shared her family’s usual plans.

“My parents and I always go to Green Mill. We get a deep-dish pizza, and they pay because it’s so expensive. It’s a nice splurge,” Baumann said.

Don’t forget, when your parents are in town, it is a great time to take them to the fancy, expensive places you might have been wanting to eat at. Order the foie gras. It’s a nice break from the Great Value pop tarts and Easy Mac you may have been living on for the past few weeks, and will continue to live on once your parents – and their check book – leave town.

Baumann also suggested bringing your parents to the Acoustic Café.

“I would say Acoustic because it’s cozy, and you can actually sit down and spend time with your parents. And it’s delicious,” Baumann said.

The Acoustic Café offers a comfortable place far away from your torn, used couch or small dorm room to converse with your parents. You can brag about all the clubs you have joined, your inspiring, or maybe not so inspiring, professors, and the nice, or maybe not so nice, people living on your dorm floor.

Hopefully these suggestions will leave your parents fed, happy and proud of their little college student. And you, having successfully entertained your parents for a weekend, can walk across campus with your fists in the air like Rocky Balboa when he scaled those famous steps.