Snapshot Saturday: A Week in Waco

Happy Saturday! This post is coming to you a little late in the morning because I’m typing as we’re heading home from Waco! We got to visit our daughter and son-in-law this week in their new hometown, and it was soooo good to see them! We enjoyed several fun activities with the newlyweds who gave us a tour of the town. Having more than just a few snapshots to share this week, I put them in collages so this post wouldn’t be so long. OK, here goes!

Magnolia Silos

I’ll begin with the one everyone is expecting from Waco: Magnolia! I’ve posted on this attraction before, so I didn’t take as many photos of the property this time (Be sure and check out my Silos post from last spring!). The whole environment at Magnolia is very pleasant. The shops are quite expensive, so we don’t purchase much but they’re still nice to walk through. There are fun food trucks, a bakery, and a coffee shop to satisfy all the cravings. And of course, the grounds are always beautiful with gorgeous landscaping, seasonal flowers, and that view of the rustic silos!

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Bookstores

Our whole family enjoys books so naturally bookstores are a favorite stop. The Fables bookstore not only offers a fantastic book selection but pulls you into the literary world with its imaginative decor. The children’s area, for instance, can be accessed by way of a secret passage: a Narnian wardrobe complete with fur coats to push through leading the child to the world of books! How creative is that! We also visited the largest book thrift store I’ve ever seen! I mean HUGE. But it is Texas, so you know.

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Waco Mammoth National Monument

The Waco Mammoth National Monument was a fascinating field trip (yep, I’m always counting field trips!) to a dig site where fossilized Columbian Mammoths were discovered in the 70s. The owner of the land gifted it to the city of Waco who, in partnership with Baylor University, formed the Waco Mammoth Foundation and built a dig shelter, museum, and trails. This stop was such an interesting experience and one we all agreed was one of our favorites of the week.

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Armstrong Browning Library

Our SIL attends Baylor University, so our daughter has eagerly explored areas of the campus since joining him post-wedding. She excitedly texted us a couple of weeks ago to tell us about this library/museum that she had visited and wanted to show us. Dr. A.J. Armstrong’s vision for a library to honor poet Robert Browing and house Baylor’s Browning Collection became a reality in 1951. The architecture, stained glassed, and paintings are all breathtaking and the Browning Collection had our attention for quite a while. Such interesting history there! The adjoining Garden of Contentment was added in more recent years and is a peaceful place to sit or stroll under the shade of massive oak trees.

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Mill-King Market and Creamery

The newlyweds drove us out of the city and into the vast Texas countryside with dusty crops and fields of cattle. I think one of the reasons we loved the landscape so much was because it reminded us of home! We stopped at a dairy farm where they like to get a few produce items and fresh milk. Before leaving we all sipped down bottles of the most delicious, creamy milk! We are still talking about this milk, y’all.
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Texas Eats!

My husband always says the food is an important part of any vacation experience and let me tell you we experienced some outstanding Texas eating! I think we covered all the bases with BBQ, Tex-Mex, Hamburgers, Hotdogs, ice cream, bakery items, and waffles–Texas-shaped, of course! For other meals, we ran to the store and got ingredients for some dishes my daughter wanted to make for us. She’s such a great cook! At her house we had beef stew, Mexican casserole, and build-your-own pizzas with tasty Maine root beer they introduced us to. And my SIL made homemade chocolate ice cream for us! We will all be getting back to healthier eating when we get home but boy, we enjoyed the food splurges!

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I’ll conclude our snapshots of the week with some Texas-sized windmills that can be seen as we’re driving out of Waco and start our trip home. It’s always going to be hard to drive away from my girl—she’s 12 hours away, y’all! — but I’m so thankful for the time we all got together this week and that she has a great guy by her side and they are having fun making a life together. Their apartment is small and cute and she’s making it into a lovely home for them both. And he’s very happy to have his bride there! Can’t wait to go back!

Have a great weekend, everyone!