Day Trip to Waco

Waco is only about an hour and a half from Dallas. I went recently with some friends and we had a great day.

Did you know two guys were hiking around the Waco, Texas area in 1978 and stumbled upon a mammoth bone? They were smart enough to let the proper people know and after so many years, the bones of many mammoths and other animals have been uncovered. And you thought Waco was just all about Chip and Joanna.

The Waco Mammoth National Monument is just a few miles outside of town. A huge building/shed has been erected over the site so the site is not desecrated by the weather.

The site was more interesting than I imagined. The two friends and I stopped here because one of them has a mammoth bone found on some land near Ennis long ago and she wanted to verify it actually is a mammoth bone. It is. The bone is an ulna of a mammoth. Since its origin is not really known and verified, it is a nice keepsake from a grandfather, but it also nice to have verification it is a mammoth bone. Following is a bone that was found at the Waco site and has a plaster jacket for protection:

Some of the tools used by the archeologists/paleontologists at the site are the following:

The bones of a smaller mammoth:

Another interesting find at the site was the bones of a camel.

Below are the bones and tusks of the adult mammoth that were found. Theories are that the mammoth was near a watering hole where many animals drank, and got swept up in some sort of weather event and either got stuck in the mud or drowned.

Some more instruments used at the site:

 

Another view of the large mammoth.

To read more about the mammoth site in Waco, Texas, click HERE.

The next place we stopped was called Spice Village. It is the upstairs portion of an old building that contains shops from different vendors with art, design objects, clothing, jewelry, an home decor items. More about Spice Village can be found HERE.

Next on the agenda was a bite to eat. We went to a food hall called Union Hall. There we found many small restaurant fronts and sweet shops. A ramen noodle shop and Tiny Pies were our choices. We thought Tiny Pies would be in its own standalone building, but we were wrong. The pecan pie at Tiny Pies was awesome. Other pies could be had in larger sizes and frozen, but I opted for the cupcake-size pecan one.

Finally, we headed to the Magnolia complex in downtown. The landmark is the two silos, then there is the restaurant, a coffee shop that is connected to the new furniture store, the original shop and warehouse, a new/old church for events, several shops run by associates of Chip and Joanna, and a seed/garden shop run by Joanna’s sister.

Following are a few pictures I snapped as we walked around. I will leave the products and insides of the stores for you to check out on your own . . . magnolia.com.

Food trucks with a view of one of the silos:

A closer shot of the gardens in front of the seed shop. The use of native Texas plants around the site is fabulous.

The cute church that can be rented for events:

Another view of the native gardens in front of the seed/garden shop.

Below is a fountain grass or Pennisetum that was located in certain spots in the gardens at Magnolia. I do not believe this particular grass is a native Texas grass, sadly. However, there was a lot of Mexican feathergrass or Nassella tenuissima all around the complex, which is a native plant.

If you are thinking about a day-trip to Waco, go for it. There is much more to do like enjoy the parks, the Brazos river, visit the Baylor campus, the Dr. Pepper museum, and numerous restaurants and shops.