Welcome to Waco, Texas, the new tourist mecca thanks to Chip and Joanna Gaines and their hit HGTV series "Fixer Upper." We are ready to be immersed into all things "Magnolia"--the name that the Gaines family chose even before they were famous.
Since their first episode of "Fixer Upper" was filmed in 2013, the Gaines' were catapulted to stardom. We can tell that they are loved by home and gardeners from around the country from the crowds now flocking to Waco. We visited with people from Georgia, Kentucky, Texas, Indiana . . . all of them bubbling with excitement to walk where Chip and Jo once walked. So our first stop of the day was at the Silos.
The Gaines family became famous for making old properties look better than new. They wove their magic again on this eye-sore in the middle of Waco. These rusty silos were slated to be demolished, but they saw the promise in this location.
The open area is designed for families to play corn hole and soccer and enjoy a meal at the food trucks that hang out close by. But on a sunny day with temperatures near 100 degrees, only the toughest customers were running in the sun.
Most of us were making our way to Magnolia Market, looking for the perfect treasure to give our homes the Joanna Gaines touch.
The one person in the flock that lives in a motor home didn't make a purchase, but even she was tempted. Don't expect any bargains, as most of the prices seemed a little excessive. It's hard to tell from the glare of the overhead lighting, but this section of the market was inside a very tall grain barn.
The other popular stop in this area is the Silo Bakery. There was a long line of customers that snaked its way outside in the heat. But we had shade, and a clerk was handing out menu options to speed up the process. An army of bakery-elves were filling orders. We wonder at the large number of people now hired in Waco from this bustling empire.
We tried the cinnamon rolls, cookies, and the orange/cranberry biscuit. Cupcakes are another popular option at the bakery.
The next piece of the empire is the new Magnolia Table restaurant. Because we heard that parking is limited, we took the free trolley that makes the trip between the Magnolia Market and Table every thirty minutes.
We had this stop timed well. Arriving at 10:45 should be after the breakfast crowd and before the lunch crowd, right? Wrong! After standing in line just to get our name on the waiting list, they gave us the news that our table should be available 1 hour and 45 minutes later! What?!?
There is an outdoor waiting area, thankfully shaded. But as the temperature inched closer to 100 degrees, it made for an uncomfortable wait. Denisa's Mother is 88, and the door guards thankfully welcomed her into the air-conditioned waiting area. Denisa has determined that if she and Mark ever make this Magnolia pilgrimage, we will buy some of the pimento cheese and chicken salad sold in tubs at the "take away" entrance. Pairing that with a loaf of bread would save about two hours of time and fifteen dollars according to menu prices.
We got time updates through our smart phone, complete with the number of groups ahead of us in line. After 45 minutes there were still 52 parties in front of us, and their original estimated time turned out to be accurate. People were sitting everywhere outside. We rambled around the property, and found that Chip and Jo Gaines did have a hand in this empire building.
The long wait gave us time to make our food choices. We bought the chicken salad sandwich (served on a croissant), the turkey and avocado sandwich, and Chip's favorite ham and scrambled egg sandwich. The green triangles on the plates below are avocado toast. Chip fought this menu item, until popular opinion convinced him that people would really pay $8 for a slice. We are proof that is true. Couple our sandwich lunch with two pieces of pie for dessert, and this was the most expensive meal of the trip. It's not cheap or fast to eat here.
A two-block walk in the heat took us back to the free trolley, and our car still parked in the silo parking lot. That's when we started our own driving tour of Waco landmarks affiliated with Chip and Joanna Gaines. We have been passing around their autobiography, as it was required reading for this girl trip. From its pages we learned about their first home remodels. We had just enough clues to find these two houses. The little white house on the left was their home when their first child was born. The house on the right was their first build-from-scratch project. It was fun to find them ourselves after reading about them.
We have had a fun adventure in Waco, that would have been more pleasant if the temperatures were in the 70's. But we found that hordes of people will fight through the Waco heat to enjoy all things Magnolia in this relatively new Fixer Upper Empire. The city of Waco has definitely benefited from the economic boom of becoming a new tourist destination. We spent two days in town, so we will be finding what else Waco has to offer in the next blog.
Denisa, her Mother, and two sisters have been going on "girl trips" for more than twenty years. We've been to so many places that it is getting harder to find interesting places that we haven't already visited. So we're glad when a new tourist attraction suddenly appears on the radar. This year our destination is Waco, Texas. But as we left the Oklahoma City area, we realized that our path would take us along the old Chisholm Trail. In case you have forgotten your history (like we had), here's a refresher. The Chisholm Trail is the route of the cattle drives that brought millions of longhorns from the range land of south Texas all the way to the railheads in Abilene, Kansas in the late 1800's. Just outside of Yukon, Oklahoma, is a nice statue of a cowboy on horseback. But it also explains that we are standing on the land where those herds of cattle and cowboys crossed on the Chisholm Trail.
The statue is actually of Bob Funk, the founder of the Express Personnel Company. Just down the road is the red barn where the Express Clydesdales live until they are needed to pull their big wagon in parades. We saw a mare and her colt grazing in the pasture beside the road.
Our next stop was the Chisholm Trail Museum about two hours down the road in Duncan, Oklahoma. Like usual, we arrived before the museum was open. We are probably the only group of women travelers that seem to always get places early. So we had time to take pictures of the large statue commemorating the cattle and cowboys of the trail.
A fitting flower picture of the day is the brightly blooming cactus flowers that would be found all along the Chisholm Trail. If we're not mistaken, that looks like an Engelmann cactus.
The outside exhibits include a map engraved in the sidewalk, illustrating the 1,000-mile route of the Chisholm Trail. We could see the many water crossings, and the few towns where supplies could be purchased along the way.
Denisa's sister, Connie, is pretending to be a cowboy, clearly happy to ride a horse all day for two months that the usual trip took. Most cowboys were paid $1 per day to eat beans and cornbread, sleep on the ground, and ride in the dust stirred up by 2,000 cattle.
Before the trip got started, all the cattle had to be branded. Denisa's Mother is proudly displaying the branch used on her ranch in the panhandle. Denisa stamped that "BL" at the branding station in the museum.
There were obviously fun exhibits and learning projects for kids in the museum. But we liked the 4D theater the most--where we experienced first-hand the wind, rain, lightning, and even rattlesnakes on the trail. Why in the world would cowboys drive so many cattle so many miles through all those hardships? It's because a steer worth less than $4 in south Texas would sell for more than $40 at the railhead in Northern Kansas. This trip brought those walking steaks closer to the markets of city-dwellers hungry for beef.
We headed on down the road, crossing the state line into Texas. Our next stop was Mineral Wells, a town we have driven through many times. But we never had stopped to see where the town got its name.
For many years, this town was famous for its mineral waters that offered medicinal effects from bathing and drinking. We are at the Crazy Water Company, where visitors can taste Crazy Water 1, 2, 3, and 4--based on the mineral content of each.
Available by the bottle or by the case, or straight out of the tap at the store, it seemed to be selling like crazy. They claim that it can cure what ails you.
Our last stop of the day is Cleburne, another Texas town with a cowboy history. Just to keep with the theme, we found that the new Chisholm Trail Parkway connects modern-day travelers from Cleburne to Fort Worth. Connie is standing beside one of the massive murals that decorate the plaza downtown.
We drove all over town looking for the murals, which we had read about. Imagine how silly we felt when we realized they were just across the street from the hotel where we were staying!
Instead of the usual chain hotel along the interstate, tonight we're staying in a suite at the Liberty Hotel in downtown Cleburn. Built as a luxury hotel in the 1920's, it was refurbished recently to its original grandeur.
From our second floor room, we had a great view of the old atrium style foyer of this well-reviewed hotel. We would add our first-rate review to the others.
The next morning we were on the road to our final destination--the city of Waco. We found that it is another stop on the Chisholm Trail. This city has memorialized these tough longhorns and even tougher cowboys in larger-that-life statues down by the Brazos River that meanders through town.
As hard as it is to drive 2,000 head of cattle across a prairie, it's even harder to get them across the rivers of the Chisholm Trail. As we look down the Brazos River, it looks like a formidable task.
That's why the Waco Suspension bridge was built in 1868. Ranchers were charged 5 cents per head to cross the bridge, but the cowboys (and cattle) appreciated a river crossing where the hooves stayed dry.
When it was built, this was the largest suspension bridge in Texas. It still stands ready for the pedestrian traffic that now uses it for free.
We've had a good history lesson on our way down the Chisholm Trail. From 1867 through 1884, five million cattle and a million mustangs made their way up this trail. During that short period it saw "the greatest migration of livestock in world history." But we have more to see and do while we are visiting Waco. It seems the tourist traffic to this little college town has picked up remarkably in the last few years. We hear there's more people coming through town now than the longhorns, in what might be the greatest migration of HGTV viewers in world history.
After four years of college, four years of medical school, and then three years of residency--we now officially have a pediatrician in the family! After our youngest son's wedding, we hustled back to Kansas City for the graduation ceremony of our oldest son. Our family has been busy this spring, and we are very proud parents of all of them!
This signals the final step in a very long journey for Luke and his wife. We took some pictures of Luke and Jordan, and our precious granddaughter Carter, before heading to the ceremony. You might notice the look of admiration in little Carter's eyes as she looks up at her Daddy. She's one lucky baby to have her own personal pediatrician father, plus a PA mother. She's in good hands!
Luke has been Dr. Engelman since finishing his M.D. degree three years ago. But it is the extra three years of rigorous training (with those crazy schedules and long hours at the hospital) that gives him the title of pediatrician. But the on-the-job training of being a Father for the last five weeks has given him some special intensive training that will be helpful in his pediatric practice for years to come.
When they flashed his picture onto the screen as he walked across the stage, we could see that he has matured some since his application picture three years ago.
Jordan's parents were also at the ceremony, doing most of the baby-sitting while we got to enjoy the program. We got a picture of all of us together before the evening was over.
We were seated on the edge of the tables to make it easier to calm baby Carter if she got fussy.
This was Carter's first big event, and she looked darling in her flowered dress and head band. This baby has been handled by a record number of pediatricians since she was born just five weeks ago.
After a late night at graduation, we were packed and on the road for yet another trip to Oklahoma. That means that we will miss the graduation cookout and party scheduled for the next day. We include a picture of some of the decorated cookies for the party--the symbol of Children's Mercy Hospital and a doctor's white coat.
If you're keeping count, we're making our fourth trip to Oklahoma since we've been visiting Kansas City. In fact, we have spent more days living out of suitcases than staying in our motor home. Now we're heading to the panhandle for a family reunion. That will be followed by Denisa traveling on to Oklahoma City to start the annual girls' trip. But just for a moment we will stop and enjoy the accomplishments of our children as we celebrate one of the newest pediatricians in the world. We end this blog with the outfit that Carter was wearing before graduation that proclaims--"My hearts belongs to Daddy."
After a hectic six days of wedding preparation, we were ready for some relaxation time. But we still had some projects to finish up, as Denisa had scheduled medical appointments for the next day. She had a mammogram, as well as her first bone density test. Not a fun way to spend the day, but at least she got a red rose send-off from the breast imaging clinic.
Then we went to the home of the newlyweds, to plant the flowers we used as decorations for the rehearsal brunch. With the help of Denisa's sister, Connie, we planted flower pots. Then we brightened up the flower beds to welcome the newly-married couple back to their home after the honeymoon.
The next day we made the long trip back to Kansas City. Since we've made this trip so many times in the last month, we tried a new route. We stayed on Route 66 for the first leg of our journey. We've already seen many of the Route 66 sites along the way, but we had never stopped in Bristow, Oklahoma. Denisa took a walk around town while Mark dozed in the car. She found this great public meeting area nestled among the brick buildings on Main Street.
It leads down to the train tracks, and the old depot that now serves as the Bristow city museum.
After being gone for a week, it's nice to be back to the motor home. It's still in the campground south of Kansas City, now into its second month parked in one place. Of course, our first order of business was going to see our new granddaughter. She is growing so fast!
After a week of wedding preparation, it is nice to get some exercise outside. So we were up early for a bike ride.
We had heard of Missouri's famous Katy Trail. It's an old train route that is now a bike trail stretching east to west across the entire width of Missouri. Years ago we rode a portion of that trail. Today we found a new spur called the Rock Island Trail, that joins up with the Katy Trail. We are resting beside one of the bridge crossings. The numbers above the "big creek" sign indicate we are 255 miles from the beginning of the Kay Trail on the east side of Missouri.
We were up early this morning, trying to beat the summer heat that is plaguing the midwest. We were glad to have shade on most of the trail this morning. At one point, we were also surrounded by the sweet scent of white blooms on both sides of the trail.
Occasionally there was a break in the trees, and the view opened to show the beans, corn and wheat growing in the fields around us.
It's a tranquil agricultural community with big barns and silos framed by purple thistle blooms.
Those purple thistles are intricately beautiful up close.
Even the immature blooms are lovely.
After seven miles on this gratefully flat trail, we turned around to pedal back towards the car. As the sun was higher in the sky now, we lost much of the shade for the return trip. We had to keep moving to keep a breeze as the temperatures reached over 90 degrees.
We rewarded ourselves with ice cream in Pleasant Hill, Missouri--the quaint little town close to the trail head. We now have a map of the bicycle trails in the Kansas City area, and we're looking forward to more morning bike rides as we continue recovering!
