Our Girls Trip to Waco

For my mom’s 60th birthday, my sister and I wanted to do something special! It’s a milestone birthday! It’s been a long time since the three of us have gone on a trip together, so my sister came up with the idea of surprising her with a trip to Waco, TX for all things Fixer Upper and the Gaines’. We all own Joanna’s cookbook and have purchased things through the Magnolia line at Target, so it was something we knew we would all enjoy doing together!

Overall, we had a great trip! We ate well, loved the house we stayed in, and enjoyed how we spent our time while we were there. We arrived in Waco on Friday afternoon (around 3) and left Sunday morning around 10am. For us, that was plenty of time! If you’ve considered taking a trip there or have one planned, I thought it may be helpful to share some of my thoughts on it. Remember, this is just my personal opinion! Everyone travels differently and wants different things out of a trip, so how we spent our time may not be right for you, and vice versa.

On the positive side, the staff at all things Magnolia-related was fantastic. Truly. Every single person on staff that we interacted with was helpful and friendly! They spared no detail in designing and executing the restaurant and everything at the Silos. As someone who loves home decor and pays attention to detail, it was fun to see that they thought of everything! From signage, to layout, to the fixtures – it was all beautifully done and very “Fixer Upper”, which was cool to see, especially as someone who used to watch the show!

I will note that there isn’t a whole lot to do at the Silos themselves, other than walk through the store and grab a bite from a food truck. If you’re there when it’s not sweltering hot, you can enjoy the outdoor seating and play areas they have. But that’s really all there is on that property. I was a bit underwhelmed by the size and what to do there, but I also didn’t do any research on it, so I didn’t go into it with the right expectations! For us, about 2 hours total was plenty of time there.

There are things to do in Waco besides Fixer Upper activities, but it’s still a small town in the middle of Texas. If you’re planning a trip there, I recommend doing a bit of research on the things you might like to do before locking yourself into the number of days of the trip. Once you start researching, you may find that you need less time than you originally thought. I think a Friday-Sunday is the perfect amount of time to do the Magnolia thing and explore a little bit of Waco – shops, restaurants, etc.

Let’s get to the details of what we did:

Where We Stayed

We stayed at The Morrow House. It’s a charming little fixer upper that worked really well for our trip! We were less than a 10 minute drive from downtown Waco and all the activities that we did. Note: the neighborhood left some to be desired, so do your own research!

What We Did

+ walked around and explored the Silos area – there’s about 8-10 food trucks and snack spots, the bakery, the market, the garden shop, and plenty of tables and hang out areas. We probably spent a total of two hours here. On Saturday, we went in-between meals, so we just strolled through the market and garden shop and picked up some cupcakes.

+ walked through a few local shops near the Silos – a lot of the shopping (of the stores we went in), understandably, is rustic/vintage home decor and goods

+ shopped at Spice Village, which is a collection of pop-up type shops offering everything you can imagine – clothes, accessories, trinkets, candles, and more. It’s fun to walk through!

+ we didn’t do one of the Waco Tours, but those come highly recommended!

What We Ate

We ate very well on this trip! Every meal we had was delicious!

+ snacks from the various food trucks at The Silos (highly recommend the popcorn and lemonade!)

+ dinner at MOROSO – delicious, wood fired pizza

+ brunch at Magnolia Table – we arrived at 9:30am on Saturday morning and put our name on the list. We had an hour wait, so we popped into the “take away” spot and ordered some biscuits and coffee to hold us over. We decided to just wait it out on the property, so we sat in their waiting area for our table to be ready. It was worth the wait! Everything was great! I had the breakfast tacos with homemade tater tots, my mom loved the quiche, and my sister did a standard breakfast spread, plus pancakes. We also shared the lemon lavender donut holes and they were so good!

+ dinner at Twisted Root Burger Co. – cool vibe and great burger/sandwich options. If you’re a fried pickle fan, get them!

+ wine/drinks at Z’s at the Curry – great place to grab a drink and chat or play cards!

+ breakfast at The Olive Branch

+ cupcakes from Silos Baking Co. – very good! My personal favorite was the chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream, but they were all delicious!

A lot of what makes the trip fun is who you go with! If you’re planning a trip, my best piece of advice is to go into it with the right expectations. Do some research on the things you want to do, where you’ll be staying, etc. Oh, and be prepared to eat a lot of good food! I’m already planning on making the biscuits from Joanna’s cookbook because they’re SO GOOD.