Waco

At 7:00 a.m. this was the scene from the motorhome.  I took so many beautiful pictures of the sky and lake but to conserve space, I am only posting two.

 

Only God could create such a beautiful sunrise.

Our first stop of the morning in Waco was for breakfast at Magnolia Table, the restaurant owned by Chip and Joanna Gaines.  We had a short wait because we told the hostess that we would sit at a community table.  We sat with three young couples, two of which were from Fayetteville, Arkansas and the other from Houston, Texas. They were all very nice and one of the ladies took the picture below.  This was taken after we had eaten...notice the full looks on our faces.

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I had the breakfast sandwich and homemade hash brown tator tots.  Half of the sandwich had a yellow tomato on it.  I love yellow tomatoes but have never gotten them on a sandwich. 

Carol had biscuits and gravy.  He said the biscuits were the best he had ever eaten.  They were light and fluffy.  In fact, he could not eat them all.

This block was in the sidewalk around the building,

This is the restaurant.

The next stop was the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.  We really enjoyed it.  We spent nearly two hours there looking at so many displays and pictures.  We learned that the Texas Rangers were formed 1823 to help protect settlers from the different Indian tribes.  Over the years the focus of the Rangers changed as the needs of Texas changed.  From the protection of settlers, they played a part in the range wars between the ranchers who put barbed wire fences and those who wanted open range.  They were involved in the wars between the US and Mexico.  In fact, 20 rangers were killed at the Battle of the Alamo.  In the late 1800's to change the perception of the rangers from rough and fighting men, they began to dress in nicer clothes like vests, suits and the traditional western-style hat. During the 1920's and 30's they battled  criminals like Bonnie and Clyde.  Today, the rangers focus on investigative work.

We took so many pictures of the different display cases but I am posting only a few.

The building that houses all Hall of Fame and other memorabilia.

In one room the focus was on the pop culture of the rangers like the Lone Ranger.  I did not know that Lego had put out a Lone Ranger set but here is the proof of it.

Some of the saddles used by the rangers in the 1800's were so beautiful.

One thing that some early rangers did was survey the State of Texas.  As they would travel around the state doing their other duties, they would also survey.

Every since we began to plan this trip, Carol has been looking forward to seeing the Brazos River that flows through Waco.  Here it is.  The bridge above is the Waco Suspension Bridge that was built in 1870.  It was the first bridge to span the Brazos River.  During the days of cattle drives, this bridge was used to get the cattle across the river...for a fee, of course.  Waco is under major road construction projects.  We spent a good part of our time trying to get some place and being detoured around to some other place.  Normally you could walk across the bridge, but this was as close as we could get.

These are metal sculptures showing the cattle being driven by the river.

Next stop was the Dr. Pepper Museum.  Dr. Pepper was invented by a pharmacist in Waco.  It is the oldest major soft drink.  This building was the original location of manufacturing and bottling the drink.

Soda is 90% water and the water in Waco contributed to the quality of the soda.  It was first advertised as a physical benefit for your kidneys, bowels, and stomach.

This is the well from which the water used in the original Dr. Pepper came.  To this day no one knows where the original name came from.

An old delivery wagon for Dr. Pepper.

Baylor University is located in Waco.  It has a large campus and this is just one of the building we drove by while looking for something else!

Our last stop was the Silos owned by Chip and Joanna Gaines.   

The silos for which the market is named.  We walked through some of the market buildings.  The stuff they were selling was nice but not our style.  We did not buy a single item.  It all was pretty to look at but most of it had pretty price tags.

The one thing I might have purchased was the cupcakes sold in this building; however, the line was wrapped around the building and I decided the cupcakes weren't worth the wait.  

I should not have said that I didn't purchase one thing because we did eat lunch from the food trucks that surround a plaza by the silos.  Carol had pizza and said it was good.

I had a grilled cheese sandwich called "The Boss."  It was gouda cheese with bacon on sourdough bread.  It was very good.

Carol also got tea from this truck.  He got a "Mason/Dixon" because it was half sweet and half unsweet.

We got back to camp around 4:00 and sat outside enjoying a breeze and letting our feet rest from their usage today.  The resident armadillo ambled by.  This is a better picture. He walked right by our site.  We also saw so many deer that we lost count and stopped taking pictures.

The car is on the dolly. Lawn chairs are put up.  In the morning we will finish the pack up and head from the city to a more rural setting.  We have enjoyed all the things we have done so far....some better than others.  We both decided that the Magnolia Silos didn't excite us as much as some of the other things we did but we are glad we saw it.  Waco is a nice city and we could return here.  The city must have money to spend because it seemed that nearly every road we needed to be on was under construction.