Upon our return to travelling mode, we stopped in Waco for a few days. Our daughter, Annie and her husband Matt live here and so we left our van with them while we were back in BC. We’ve been to Waco several times now and I thought I should really write about this place before talking about the rest of our journey.
Waco is a community that is coming back to life, with much of the thanks going to Chip and Joanna Gains, whose HGTV show Fixer Upper has brought attention to what was an old and somewhat abandoned downtown city core With tourists now flocking from all over to visit the Silos, the attached bakery and their new coffee shop, businesses in the surrounding area have also sprung up. Each time we come to town, there is a new brewery, eating establishment, shop or coffee house. Of course, all of this growth is helped along by the presence of Baylor University, supplying a population of young people who both work and live in the area.
In addition to the new shops in town, there are the old favourites to visit like shopping at Spice Village, where a multitude of smaller boutiques all live under one happy roof. I can spend hours shopping here!
Along the river, there is the Branding the Brazos sculpture featuring the iconic longhorn cattle to view and more recently, on the way to the Cameron Zoo, a whole lot of wild animal sculptures have been placed. It makes for a very pleasant walk along the riverfront on a sunny day.
There are a number of museums in Waco to visit. We have been to the Doctor Pepper museum several times, where you can learn about the history of this factory as well as sampling a yummy Doctor Pepper float. We have yet to visit the Wooly Mammoth National Monument, but we understand it is very cool. As well there is the Texas Rangers (the real ones not the baseball team) Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and a few others. And of course, there is the zoo, which is a lot of fun for kids and adults. So, the next time you are down south of Dallas, stop in at Waco – you will find a lot more than the Silos!
