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| Please note that you see NO ONE else in this shot. |
Texas weather is nothing if not sporadic. We had the never-ending summer, jumped straight into winter, and then back tracked to a nice fall temp. We had planned a fun trip for a few days to Waco with my parents. We normally head to Branson the past couple of years, but this year we didn't want to drive that far and my parents didn't want to fly so we settled on something closer. My eldest daughter is a HUGE "Fixer Upper" fan so a trip to the Silos has been a must see for a while. The two days before we left were perfect. It was mid 70's and sunny. Unfortunately, the day we left, actually about 30 minutes before we left, an artic cold front came through. The winds were insanely high with this front, over 20mph sustained and 45 mph gusts. What better time than this to drive a high profile vehicle 150 miles?
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| Beautiful day before the cold front. |
I had known it was coming and thought about moving our trip back a day, but my parents weren't changing their plans and my husband seemed unconcerned. He reminded me that several times on our 2 week trip he drove in wind and rain with no issues. He was right about that. It was quite windy when we drove through Illinois. He seemed to feel that the wind would not be an issue so we trucked on with our plans. We already had the girls secured to watch the animals again so we were good there, though I was nervous because it was going to be so cold the stock tanks and chicken waterers would freeze. If the girls didn't come by and break up the waters the animals would have nothing to drink. Both equine and chickens use water to help process their food so it is very important that they always have access to it.
The front hit here just after we finished our morning chores, for which we were grateful because setting out hay in 40mph wind doesn't sound like fun. It was really windy. It is one thing to hear how windy it is and another to experience it. It is pretty much always windy at our house. It is flat out here, mostly cattle farms, and with no houses, buildings, or trees anywhere there is nothing to provide a wind break. We quickly decided to leave early and try to get ahead of the front. So we embarked on our journey, 2 kids blissfully unaware, 1 kid that kept saying "I don't think this is safe", 1 wife who was worried the chicken coop was going to collapse, and 1 husband who was seriously rethinking his previous comment about driving through this. Thankfully, the wind would be behind us most of the way so it wouldn't be as much of an issue as if we were driving with a cross wind. Still my husband had a death grip on the wheel and I would lovingly remind him to "KEEP BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL".
After about an hour, I had to stop to use the bathroom. Once again, this is where I discovered that the vent cover in the bathroom had blown off again. We are driving in a cold, windy drizzle and now have to contend with putting a trash bag over the vent hole in 40mph winds with 2 people in winter coats in an RV BATHROOM, you know a 2x2 area. The trash bag was just a sail in the wind and after about 30 minutes we finally got it on good enough and continued on. We stopped for lunch just an hour later and the trash bag was still on so we figured we did good enough.
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| What a great job we did! |
We made it to the camp ground early and after switching to a more level spot we were ready to go explore. The campground was really nice. It was our first time staying at an Army Corp. campground and we were pleasantly surprised. The spaces were ENORMOUS! We could park the car, trailer, and probably another truck on our pad. The space between each site was fantastic also. If we go back to Waco we will definitely stay there again. It was one of the nicest campgrounds we have stayed at.
We decided to do the Silos first since I had heard they are the least busy about an hour before close. If you really want the least amount of people when you visit then go an hour before close, in 40 mph winds, and 20's for the temperature. We decided to do the bakery first since we knew that usually has the longest line. However, it was so cold and windy that we were almost the only ones in the bakery and NO ONE was in line in front of us. This made us feel kind of rushed. You are handed a card to fill out with what you want to order as soon as you walk in. You then hand this card to the cashier who rings you up when you get to the front on the line. However, with no line we were just thrust to the cashier with no idea what we wanted so I just wrote down some stuff and handed it to her. We ended up with 6 cupcakes, 2 cinnamon rolls, and a blueberry muffin, all of which were good. I would not have waited 3 hours for them, but for the 5 minutes it took us they were great.
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| Beautiful campground |
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| The only other person out at the Silos with us is in this shot. |
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| No other people |
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| The store was nice, but overpriced. |
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| A few people were downstairs shopping, but not very many. |
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| Who gets this many shots without other people in them at the Silos? |
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| It is like our own private tour. |
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| We had chocolate cake with vanilla icing, vanilla cake with chocolate icing, and strawberry. Strawberry was the favorite. |
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| They were yummy. |
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| Yummy! |
Next, we walked around the open space where the food truck were. Yes, the trucks were still open, but literally we were the only ones walking around....and not for long either because it was so cold! Next, we warmed up in the market where we found a magnet to add to our collection, a cute Christmas ornament, and a couple of shirts. They had just opened a coffee shop and on the way back to our car we stopped to get hot cocoa and coffees. The longest wait was at the coffee shop which took about 10 minutes. Our entire Magnolia experience took about 30 minutes. It was worth braving the cold and wind for such an uncrowded experience at such a popular place.
Our favorite Magnolia business came the next morning when we ate breakfast at Magnolia Table. Once again we got right in with no wait. The food was excellent and their hash browns were different, but really good. They were shaped like a nugget and tasted like it was potato and biscuit combined. I highly recommend eating here if you are in the area. The prices weren't as exuberant as I thought they would be.
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| The restaurant was cute. |
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| I had a scrambled egg, sausage and hash brown plate. D had eggs benedict. |
Afterwards, we all headed out to Mammoth National Monument to see the mammoths. We ended up having our own private tour. It was fun and informative. We did some shopping at Spice Village and concluded our day at the DR. Pepper Museum. We spent over an hour and a half at the museum and had a great time. They have an incredible train display that T loved! We were still freezing so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching movies and staying warm in the trailer. We had planned to go to the zoo the next day, but since it was so cold and they forecasted rain (remember the hole in the bathroom ceiling) we just decided to leave early and come home. The animals and house did fine in the cold wind storm. We just have some minor roof damage. The girls took excellent care of the animals and it took 2 days for all the ice chunks that they took out of the stock tanks to melt. The trash bag made it all the way home and to top it off we lost a trailer light cover on the way home. Now, we are replacing those before it rains again. Ahh, life with a camper!
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| The Family |
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| There are a lot of remains at this one sight. |
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| T standing next to a mammoth femur and a human femur. |
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| I found a cute scarf here and L found a wrap. |
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| My cute scarf and L's wrap, which sheds on EVERYTHING. |
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| Old Dr Pepper advertising was quite comical. Originally marketed as a health drink! |
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| They had a cute old soda shop set up. |
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| Having fun with Grandpa. |
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| This was a cool train display. |
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| We all had a great time. |
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