Magnolia Market at the Silos - Part I

As a fan of the HGTV show Fixer Upper, and being that I live only 90 minutes from Waco, you'd think that I would have visited Magnolia Market at the Silos by now...but you'd be wrong.  However, Barbara wanted to go, and that made the perfect opportunity for us to have a day trip adventure to Waco.  Quite honestly, the most I'd seen of Waco before this trip was the Starbucks, gas station, and a sandwich shop where we'd stop as we made our turn onto the 35 as we drove to Denton, back when we'd go visit our kids at UNT.  This trip changed Waco from being the halfway point to our destination, to a charming place to stop and visit for me.

Before we got on the road, we made a quick stop at our local Starbucks for iced lattes, and I couldn't help but smile at the sight of our two cups in the cupholders:

Our first road trip in the Duchess!  Barbara and I have quite a history when it comes to road trips, so getting to have one in my longed-for Mini was extra special.

We arrived in Waco and found the Silos quickly; we were early enough, plus it was a less-crowded Thursday, so we headed straight for the free parking lot despite seeing a lot of people turning into the $10/day paid lots.  There was plenty of space, and it was right next to the outdoor area of the market; as we walked in, we got a great view of everything:

On the edge of the dusty parking lot, about to enter adult Disneyland...so excited!

We heard that the bakery was a must, so we planned on eating our breakfast there; we strolled in that direction but stopped to take a few selfies in front of the silos, and a nice woman in a FedEx uniform offered to take our picture:

See the picnic tables on the stage behind us?  That's were we ate our breakfast.

We went around the corner to the bakery and yep, there was a line - but it wasn't too long, and we were in the shade...because of course, on November 2nd, it was gearing up to be a 90 degree day.  The outside was so cute; the window boxes were filled with live plants:

They had a pretty good system in place to deal with the crowds - an employee handed out pencils and cards with all of the bakery offerings listed; you were to choose what you wanted and write your name on them, and once inside, there was enough of another line where you could see the bakery items and made any changes you wanted to before handing your card over to the friendly bakery worker at the counter:

Inside the bakery - everything looked AMAZING.

We got:  the prize pig biscuit, a nutty cinnamon roll, a cranberry orange biscuit, a sugar cookie, and a gluten-free peanut butter oatmeal cookie...perks of being an adult, you can buy everything you want to try!

Of course we ordered too much - we didn't eat the cookies until the following evening.  We ate some of the biscuits and the cinnamon roll and then packed everything back up to take home.  As for taste?  Everything was really, really good.  Flavorful, not overly sweet, just delicious.  We wanted a cupcake for later, but held off so we weren't carrying around something that might melt in the heat.  We sat there, people-watching for a bit - there was a film crew doing an interview with a couple, so who knows if we'll see them on a future show?  We chatted with another couple who were sitting nearby, and took each other's pictures near this old Jeep Willys:

I was reminded of being at a big race, where everyone is helping each other out with picture taking.

I have to mention the atmosphere at Magnolia - it was such a beautiful place.  Very clean, even all of the outdoor areas - there was no sticky residue from all of the food and drinks being consumed, the awnings of the picnic areas were super clean, no spider webs lurking in the corners, and that's thanks to the amount of groundskeepers everywhere.  Inside the market, there were workers who were constantly restocking the shelves so everything looked full and fresh.  But the best part was that every employee we encountered was genuinely friendly.  It made for a lovely experience - we spent the day being welcomed and it wasn't cloying or fake.  We could tell that Joanna Gaines had a vision for this place, and it included how visitors were treated.  Employees took the time to ask us where we were from, and we had conversations with them, which is why we realized the bakery line took so long to get through - with only two employees at the card hand-off counter, any extra chatty guests made the line go slower.  But all in all, that's a small price to pay for the experience.  Oh, and our FedEx woman?  Turns out she works there - Magnolia has a shipping department in the market, so if you're buying something too big to carry home, you can ship it.  We ended up chatting with her when Barbara was checking on the cost of shipping home a couple of items.

The marketplace was really nice - we saw lots of great things to buy and also got a lot of neat decorating ideas.  We took our time perusing all the goodies; I think we went around twice just to make sure we saw everything.  I didn't get many pictures inside, but here's a taste of what we saw:

Chip had a lot of cool things in his corner, including several metal signs with his sayings on them.  I was tempted to get one that said "you got this" because I need to remember that when I'm doing hard things like running long distances, but when I went back to get it, the sign was gone.  Is that in itself a sign?  Maybe I don't got this.  Hmmm... 

This is the back half of Magnolia Market.  I tried to get a shot to show how ginormous the building is.  I mean, there's a greenhouse INSIDE of it - it's just huge!

The greenhouse had all kinds of holiday decorations - more ideas to carry home!

We made our purchases and went outside in search of something for lunch.  There are food trucks lining the perimeter of the grounds, so we checked every one of them out before deciding to share an acai bowl - it was so hot that nothing cooked sounded good at that point:

Every picnic table had a pretty centerpiece on it - I would have loved to buy one and bring it home, but they weren't for sale.  Also, Barbara is pointing out the irony of the sign on the canopy, warning that you might hit your head because it's low.  Not to us!

We went back to the car, dropped off our bags, loaded up on more sunscreen, and Barbara changed into a skort.  Then we wandered the grounds; it was nice and uncrowded enough that we got to relax on one of the swings:

 

This swing was really comfortable and we could have stayed there, swinging, for a long time.

Barbara got to do a lot of this:

Photographing the photographer.

We went to the garden shop:

We loved the idea of using metal tart tins for pot saucers!

Air plants the size of your head - for only $16.  I still don't know why I didn't buy one; must have been the heat clouding my judgement at that point.  I did buy a watering can with a small spout, which I've been meaning to get to water my succulents.  But still, why didn't I buy that air plant?

There was a small greenhouse outside; customers weren't allowed in, but this sweet succulent fairy garden was close to the door, so we looked at it while talking to one of the gardeners there.  Wish I had the talent to make something like this!

Can you believe there's more to our trip?  Stay tuned for part 2!