In March 2021, I got to tag along with Christopher on a work trip to TX.  This was our first flight of 2021! We were so excited to go on an adventure, but we adventured cautiously. We brought lots of masks, clorox wipes, hand wipes, and I was half vaxxed. It wasn’t perfect, but we practiced all the safety measures we could.

If you haven’t been to the Austin Airport before, giant guitars greet you at baggage claim, and they might be Christopher’s favorite airport attraction. I don’t even think he’d mind waiting a long time for luggage as long as he got to stare at the pretty guitars while dreaming about being a giant and playing them.

We flew in and out of Austin, but stayed most of the week in Waco. Before we got on the road to Waco, we needed coffee (Merit Coffee) and doughnuts (Gourdough’s Big. Fat. Donuts.).  Honestly, look at those donuts. They are what dreams are made of and I still think about those Blue Balls donut holes.

Austin has such a cool vibe. Murals, so much coffee, so many delicious looking restaurants, kitschy bars, I really want to come back for a longer visit when the world is back open again.

On our way to Waco, we saw trucks moving a windmill down the interstate. Each truck had a different piece. Definitely not something you see every day, at least not in Florida

No trip to Texas is complete without a stop at Buc-ee’s! I’m pretty sure that Buc-ee the Beaver is the TX state mascot. Maybe I’m wrong, but if not, they should be.

The first thing we did in Waco was go to the Waco Mammoth National Monument aka Mammoth dig site. In case you are new around here, we are nerds and are always up for taking a look at a pit of bones.

Next up, Mount Carmel Center (site of the Waco Siege). This place was…. interesting? You go read about it, watch videos, whatever, and make up your own mind about this place, but I was creeped out and wanted to GTFO like 5 minutes in. I even wanted to take my donation back out of their little donation mailbox, but I didn’t. If you’re nearby, it’s probably worth a visit, but maybe do a little research first so you can see the artifacts/memorabilia and go.

Waco is a pretty neat little town. We found this partially completed shopping area made out of shipping containers. I hope if we go back again it’s open so we can see it in action.

You know we had lots of coffee in Waco, and I think Common Grounds was probably our favorite place. Look how cute this butterfly on the fence is! Plus it has a really cool vibe and an extra large outside space, perfect for our pandemic visit.

Next door to Common Grounds is Heritage Creamery, so obviously we stopped in for a cone. Their waffle cones are vanilla + cinnamon and are incredible, and even though they were out of the flavor I wanted to try (Lemon), the back up flavor (Salted Texas Caramel) was reallly good.

In-n-Out was like half a mile from our hotel, so that happened like every other day and I have ZERO REGRETS. One of my life goals is to eventually live near an In-n-Out, so this was great practice.

My other favorite place we ate while in Waco was Shorty’s Pizza Shack. This place was delicious, laid back, near Baylor so full of young, hip, people, and they had a really nice patio. The fried pickles and pizza pockets were so good we almost went two nights in a row, but I forced us to try new things. Booo. We ordered 2 flavors of the pizza pockets, 1 peperoni and 1 BBQ chicken. Both excellent.

Can you even visit Waco and not go to Magnolia Silos? I mean probably. Before this trip I didn’t even know this place existed. I don’t watch a ton of home shows and have maybe seen a handful of partial episodes of Fixer Upper while sitting in waiting rooms over the years, so when people started asking me if I was planning to visit “The Silos/Magnolia Silos” I had to google it.

The Magnolia complex is impressive. It’s beautiful, has lots of plants and flowers and open space, a bunch of little shops, plus the couple big Magnolia brand shops, food trucks, a little baseball diamond, and an old chapel that they moved here (I think) and restored. Bonus points for tulip season, one of my favorite flowers.

Of course I read all about the Sweet Tea truck and shelled out something like $9 for this mason jar, lid, straw, and 40 cents worth of iced tea. Don’t get me wrong, it was good tea, but I could have gone to McDonald’s and ordered 2 gallons of tea for the same $9 and put it in one of the 58 mason jars I have at home. I did it for the experience… at least that’s what I tell myself.

The line for  official Silos Baking Co. was crazy long, and it’s a pandemic, so I passed on that experience and opted for the abbreviated menu at the Silos Baking Co. food truck. I was still able to get a carrot cake cupcake, a Silobration cupcake (vanilla cake + chocolate buttercream icing with sprinkles), and The Silo cookie (oatmeal chocolate chip cookie + peanut butter chips & walnuts).

Later in the afternoon, once I had finished my iced tea, it was time for a coffee and a cinnamon roll. I got in the Magnolia Press line, which was pretty long, but if I have to pick coffee or pastries, I’ll pick coffee most of the time, because usually the coffee place will have bonus pastries, like this delightful cinnamon roll.

Another fun Waco attraction I didn’t know existed, is the  Dr. Pepper Museum. Christopher and I both love a good Dr. Pepper, so we jumped at the chance to see where this sweet treat was born and how it gets made. We even got a Dr. Pepper made by a real live soda jerk.

While in Waco, my dad told me to go visit the Baylor Bear Habitat to see the bears. I had no idea they had LIVE BEARS on campus at Baylor, so cool. Anyway, the reason for the bear visit was to see the memorial for my dad’s cousin Steve. It was a really cool experience and I was happy to send this picture of us “with” cousin Steve so my dad could share it with Steve’s sisters.

One of my walks around Waco led me to January Letterpress and Paper Crown for a few new stationery supplies. I got a new notebook, a couple of nice pens, a new washi tape, and a pin. Then I popped into BRU Coffee to use those supplies and have a latte. BRU is such a cool place with a really chill vibe and I loved it.

On our way back to Austin we stopped for breakfast at Butter My Biscuit inside of King’s Landing Games. The game collection is amazing and the food was delicious. I would go back to Texas just to go here again.

Back in Austin, we had even more coffee.

We took our coffee to Mayfield Park & Nature Preserve to see some nature and most importantly allllll the peacocks. It was phenomenal. They were so chill and beautiful. Obviously, we kept a safe distance unlike some of the fools there taking pictures while practically hugging the wild birds. People need to do their research before touching wildlife, the research will tell you this: DON’T fucking touch the wildlife.

Next, we visited The Bullock Texas State History Museum to learn a little about Texas history. It was a much larger museum than we were expecting, so during the last hour the museum was open we had to hustle through the top floor exhibits. We mostly chose this museum because it was one of the only places open, but I would recommend it if you are visiting Austin.

We ended our time in Austin with a drive around town to find a good view of the skyline, see the Austin Motel sign, and eat treats. We went to a Jeni’s Ice Cream store for the first time and got mini pies from Tiny Pies. Both treats were delightful.

It’s been hard and a privilege to be able to visit a few places during the pandemic. We have been lucky to have jobs that allowed us to work from home to stay safe. We were lucky to get vaccinated as soon as we were eligible. We are lucky to be able to travel as safely as possible, while doing our best to use grocery pick up, and getting take out or delivery for things we can’t pick up curbside when we are home.

We are vaccinated not only to keep ourselves safe, but to keep our family, friends, and community safe. We still wear masks in public. We do leave home occasionally and we try to make those occasions an experience to hold us a little longer before we feel like we NEED to escape home again.

As the world opens up, please do your part to keep other people safe. Keep yourself safe. Help us get closer to the before times.

Stay safe, be well, and keep hoping for better days ahead.