The town of Waco has been beckoning us to revisit for quite a while. True, we’ve been there before, but we never tire of the classic spots around town. As we’ve journeyed past Waco on Interstate 35 to other day trips, we’ve noticed two iconic silos far in the distance enticing us to take a peek. So, when we found ourselves with a free day, we decided to wander through Waco and see where our adventure led us.
Of course, our trip through town started the way everyone’s must: with a tour of the Dr Pepper Museum, set in the original 1891 bottling plant where Texas’s favorite soft drink was first bottled. Across the three floors of the museum are tons of facts and pictures that would turn anyone into a “Pepper.”
Here’s a fun fact from the museum: In 1958 Dr Pepper was heated to 180 degrees and served with a lemon as “Hot Dr Pepper.” Who knew that accidentally leaving a DP in your car on a Texas summer day was once a specialty? Our favorite part was sipping a Dr Pepper float on bar stools at the old fashioned Frosty’s Soda Shop after our tour.
As we left the museum, we noticed a line of cars headed down the street towards large silos in the distance that could only be Magnolia Market, a home decor store opened in 2014 by HGTV’s Chip and Joanna Gaines. Even though our stomachs were growling for lunch, we were too intrigued by the silos to heed them. Near the market grounds, the traffic was gridlocked as people parked on either side of the street for blocks. We finally found the free (and hard to find) parking lot by following the gravel driveway on the left of the market to a lot in the back.
We entered Magnolia Market and realized that this was so much more than a store. The famed home decor shop is in a warehouse to the right of the entrance. However, below the towering silos is a luscious green field set up with free lawn games for children, a colorful garden rests on the back acre of the property and all around the site are picnic tables — and this is where we spent most of our time.
As our need for food grew unbearable, we followed the mouth-watering smells wafting from the back of the property where food trucks were lined up along the fence and hungry wanderers gathered for a bite to eat.
There was no shortage of choices; the food trucks ranged from sweet and savory crepes to handmade biscuit sandwiches. We opted for The Cheddar Box (because gourmet grilled cheese is always the answer) and it was heavenly. We feasted on the “Sweet Granny,” a grilled cheese with apples, honey, cream cheese and cinnamon on sweet potato bread as we enjoyed the sunshine at a picnic table.
After gorging ourselves on grilled cheese and taking in all the sun we could handle, it was time to hit up another Waco classic on our way out of town: The Waco Suspension Bridge. This architectural beauty has been around since 1870 and was actually the world’s longest single-pass suspension bridge when it was built. It used to provide wagons with a way to cross the Brazos River, but now it’s a pedestrian bridge providing photographers with inspiration and tourists with a place to take in Downtown Waco. And that’s exactly what we did.
Though we just skimmed the surface, our impromptu trip through Waco reminded us of the wanders awaiting in this timeless town. From laying out in the lush green fields at Magnolia Market to enjoying a frosty Dr Pepper in an old fashioned soda shop, there is tons to do in Waco and it definitely needs to be on your summer trippin’ list.
