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Lady and Lion Co. Spent a day in Waco & are letting you in on the top 5 musts if you only have a few hours...
1.) M A G N O L I A
T A B L E
Obviously we got in on the pilgrimage to see the Gaine's empire, in hopes to feed off of that energy for a while. To start our day, we went to Magnolia Table. We recommend going in the early morning... It opens at 7, we got there at 7:30 and it was already packed. We were seated right away, but, the people who came in after us, were put on a 15 minute wait if that tells you anything.
We were totally tourist, I bought a "The Good Ol' Days Are Still To Come" mug from the take away shop, and dreamed about the interior of the restaurant. They did an immaculate job on the renovation, and if you follow the link to their website, can read about the history of the building... Loved how they kept the Spanish facade, and all the plant dividers gave the restaurant such good vibes.
2.) M A G N O L I A
M A R K E T
We went to the Silos directly after Magnolia Table, (Also recommended). We waited 20 minutes for it to open at 9am, and there was still a swarm of people, (keep in mind this is on a Wednesday). It wasn't too much to manage. The locals were the ones who told us to go first thing. We hung out on the stripped bean bags and in the garden. Once we were inside, the installation art that was incorporated was absolutely genius. Paper mache umbrellas, the bee hives made of rope, the paper cherry blossoms, I was in love. I didn't purchase anything here because I was saving for the Little Shop on Bosque.
Cut out about an hour and a half for Magnolia Market, and make sure to save room for Silo Baking Co.!
3.) S P I C E
V I L L A G E
If you still have the shopping bug, Spice Village is a must!
In fact, I'd advise everyone to save their money for Spice Village, because there was so much cool stuff inside, it took us hours to walk around! All these little vendors combined to make a HUGE retail space. I would make a day trip to Waco just to go here again! Not to mention, the best place to shop for gifts for pretty much anyone you know. Give yourself two hours and $200 and go nuts in here!
4.) C O M M O N
G R O U N D S
I'm going to get serious. Common Grounds is A MUST! We went here three times it was that good. AND WE WERE ONLY IN WACO FOR 24 HOURS! Being from Seattle, and Carlos being from Latin America, we both are very particular about our coffee. I fell in love right away, and would seriously consider making a two hour commute to Waco every day to get my standard, iced vanilla latte. Since it's right across from Baylor, it's open late for college kids. So we went once when we first got to Waco, once after Magnolia Table, and once before we drove back to Conroe. It was perfect. When I lived in Seattle I drank about three lattes a day... my coffee shop stopped charging me for the second and third because they knew not even Seattle elite could afford it. It was sad, but worth the commitment. It felt good being back to the real me (haha).
It's perfect at that 3pm drag after running around the first part of the day.
5.) T h e
D r . P e p p e r
M u s e u m
The Dr. Pepper Museum is a must especially if you go to Magnolia, because it's only a couple blocks away. Did you know Dr. Pepper was first medicinal, and was marketed to people with low energy. Obviously today, it is sugary syrup mixed with soda water, but way back when, it was called "The Waco" and invented by the town pharmacist. There are lots of cool things to see inside, like a preserved artisan well, short films, and they even have Spanish translations of most the talking exhibits, which we really appreciated since Carlos' first language is Spanish. To see more of what the museum has to offer, you can watch my story highlights on our instagram.
A D D I T I O N A L
R E S O U R C E S
If you find yourself finished with our guide with nothing else to do, we have a few more things, we heard were cool but didn't get to do. Also, if you're wondering about food, we had bad luck, so ask around and make sure you hear about the places more than once.
- Waco Hippodrome Theatre -
We went to the restaurant attached to the theatre called The Raleigh and it was great food, but the only server there was... poor. #UnfortunateRestaurantRealities
Despite his poor service, he did tell us the theater is newly renovated with a rooftop bar. It's open Thursday through Sunday, and if we were to go back, we'd try it again, just maybe not on Tuesday night.
- River Tour -
So we got into Waco at 5pm the day before we did our guide, and by the time we settled into our hotel we missed the evening river cruise by 5 minutes :( Here's the link if you're interested though.
- Stay at the La Quinta Inn-
Brand new hotel, and it was perfect! Staff was really helpful, bed was comfortable, all the amenities were nice. We were comfortable and I truly wish we had a longer stay.
- Visit a Different Museum -
Dr. Pepper not your thing? That's cool! There were so many museums to chose from, and it was hard to pick. The Mayborn Museum was our second pick,
then the Texas Ranger Museum, then the Mammoth Museum, and The Texas Sports Hall of Fame, along with an abundance of art selections. Waco is the most random place to find a plethora of museums to chose from... We found it particularly interesting.