Texas – Valerie's Voice

Waco, Texas

When I told others we were taking a road trip to Southern Texas many asked if I was stopping in Waco, Texas. I wondered why would we do that? I soon learned about Magnolia.

The name: Magnolia, known for it’s metal letters, among many other things.

It’s a small complex in downtown Waco with two large, historic silos, an old grain warehouse converted to a home goods store, and a small bakery in the old office. Apparently there is a popular program on cable TV called Fixer Upper that Chip and Joanna Gaines, a Texan couple, are famous for – a reality show about fixing up and “flipping” houses, with a touch of humor.

The two historic silos, on the property of, and preserved by, Magnolia. The picnic area is in the foreground. The store is on the right.

The friends we traveled with to Texas knew of Magnolia and had seen a few episodes of Fixer Upper so were intrigued to stop and see this attraction. It was very close to the 35 W exit (unlike the Salt Lick BBQ restaurant) and so we pulled off the exit early one morning on our return trip from Mission, Texas. After parking the car, we headed for the bakery first, and it was a good thing because later, as we drove away from Magnolia, the line spilled outside the bakery door and continued down the block. This is a popular place.

,,,collecting our own precepts. This sign was hanging on the bakery wall at Magnolia.

It was interesting complex and it’s always nice to get a delicious bakery treat and browse in a home store. It was certainly unique. But, I think the person who enjoyed our visit to Magnolia the most was my husband. He’s not a shopper, and he barely set foot in the store, but he was intrigued by the two historic grain silos outside, on the grounds.

Vines planted in the old conveyor bucket.

He learned this site Magnolia now owns had been a cottonseed oil mill. Although many of the original buildings were no longer standing, Gary liked to see the old silos with their rusty conveying systems. At his first job out of college, he worked in oil-seed processing with Cargill and was intimately familiar with the types of conveyors and silos left standing, so he stood their visualizing what the site looked like in its heyday of pressing oil from the cottonseed, and the handling of the seed, oil, and byproducts. It brought back lots of memories for him.

On the tables in the outdoor picnic area.

So…at this fun stop off 35W in Waco, Texas we had an interesting twist to our visit to Magnolia.

Juicing

Mission, Texas is home to hundreds of Winter Texans, which the surrounding communities embrace, which are also home to many other Winter Texans. The Winter Texans bring a lot of business to the area and there are signs all around welcoming them.

Our friend’s backyard patio with planters and a glass table my friend made in her glass class.

It was fun to see where our friends spend their winters: in a nice, two-bedroom home in a 55+ retirement development. They have a community room with a library, game room, swimming pool, indoor and outdoor hot tubs and a fully equipped tool shop and art studios. My friend discovered she can paint and has painted several pictures already, with lessons from an art instructor. She also enjoys making cut-glass art pieces. Her husband likes to spend time in the tool shop. They have enjoyed getting to know their neighbors and made some good friends over the years. It was fun to hear stories as we walked through the neighborhoods.

Right across the street, at the end of the driveway, our friend’s neighbor fills a three-tiered metal basket with surplus fruit from his backyard trees, free for the taking. We grabbed a couple of grapefruit to enjoy, and I also picked one ripe grapefruit still hanging on our friend’s tree.

Their backdoor neighbors have a lemon tree, also overflowing with fruit, and we were free to pick lemons anytime.

Friends down the block brought a big bag of oranges from their trees (twice while we were visiting) for us to make freshly-squeezed orange juice. All the fresh fruit was a special treat. We soon got in the habit of making fresh orange juice or grapefruit juice, usually in the mornings. One day we picked enough lemons to make a fresh pitcher of lemonade. Our friends had an electric juicer, which made the job very easy and fun.

Using the electronic juicer for squeezing the lemons.

Delicious lemonade from freshly-squeezed lemons.

We really enjoyed that fresh, off-the-tree citrus fruit which we don’t get in Minnesota.

On the Road to Texas

Before we leave on a trip I usually ask around to see if anyone has suggestions for the area we are going to visit. That is how I got a strong recommendation for “the best BBQ in Texas”. It was only twenty miles off the freeway. It sounded like a great place, and twenty miles doesn’t seem too far…when you’re looking at a map. It’s different when you are actually driving it!

The first day of traveling we drove continuously south on 35W for twelve hours…stopping only for bathroom breaks and fuel…eating snacks and lunch in the car. We traveled with friends. We listened to an audio-book, and read a year’s worth of precepts over the 3,000 miles (round-trip), from a book recommended by a friend, 365 Days of Wonder, Mr. Browne’s Precepts: A Quote for Every Day of the Year About Courage, Friendship, Love and Kindness by R. J. Palacio. Both the audio-book and precepts helped pass the time and prompted discussion and laughter throughout the trip.

The morning of the second day we got back in the car for another long day of driving. This was the segment where we would exit the freeway and drive to the BBQ place. My co-travelers were interested, yet a little skeptical, but we decided to take a detour and try it. The GPS took us on different turns and it seemed we were on a back road in Texas.

As we kept driving down this country road I think we were all envisioning a “hole in the wall” joint along the side of the road. I kept shrinking in the back seat, thinking to myself, I’ll never hear the end of this! The twenty miles seemed to take a very long time.

Then, voilà! There was it was in the middle of nowhere in particular – The Salt Lick BBQ restaurant we were looking for. It had a huge parking lot for all the customers who come to this unique BBQ restaurant in Driftwood, Texas.

We were all pleasantly surprised. It looked very promising and our friends recognized it from a food network episode. I was breathing a sigh of relief! It was unique, rustic, large, and what one would imagine a grand, country, Texan, BBQ place to be, and best of all – it was delicious! It was the best BBQ we’ve ever had.

The Salt Lick seats about 1,000 people, the waitress shared with us. They usually turn over 3,000 people on weekend nights. It’s not uncommon to have a 2-3 hour wait, she said. We arrived at a good time…it was a Friday afternoon about 3:30 p.m. so we didn’t have to wait, although there were plenty of customers already seated.

Picnic style tables and benches/chairs in dining room of the Salt Lick. O ya, there are trees growing in the dining room.

On your way to the seating area you walk by an open fire pit where they cook the BBQ. Between the four of us we had the pork ribs, pulled pork sandwich and brisket. All were amazing. And to top it off, we ordered a blueberry cobbler for dessert, which was also the best we ever had!

After our fun, tasty, and satisfying meal, we continued driving for another couple hours putting 500 miles on the car that day.

By lunchtime on the third day we finally made it to the southern border of Texas, our destination. Our friends dropped us off in Mission, Texas and they continued on to Alamo, Texas about 15 miles down the road.