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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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