Cross-Eyed Moose

A short walk from Springhill Suites Ft. Worth Stockyards (a stay we heartily recommend) you’ll be greeted by vintage, antiques, and Western funk — all in Cross-Eyed Moose. And if they don’t have it all, you really don’t need it. Hunt for Native American blankets, skulls, buttons and dolls. From smooth to fuzzy to iron-hard spurs, we dare you to keep your hands off the goods.

Lucchese, Ft. Worth Stockyards

But if your heart yearns for the finest, the newest, the best-made Western wear, you gotta stop at Lucchese. The website assures you that Lucchese has been “celebrating craftmanship and the adventurous spirit since 1883,” but there’s nothing like rubbing your fingers across hand-tooled leather or pulling on boots that last a lifetime because you love ’em enough to wear ’em for life! It’s not just boots any more. Look for purses, beaded bracelets, belts and key fobs. If it’s fine Western gear you’re after, drink in the best.

E. Exchange Avenue, Ft. Worth Stockyards

A stroll through the stockyards puts you squarely in front of rodeo buildings and rodeo kings.

and the Texas Trail of Fame

Ft. Worth Stockyards Herd Cattle Drive

But two times a day (11:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.) you can soak up the ultimate experience: Ft. Worth Stockyards Herd Cattle Drive.

Get there early for a front-of-the-sidewalk spot and wait ’til you see the big deal: steers (Yep, real ones!) promenading from the stockyards down the main street! And be sure to bring the kids for up-close looks at cowboys, cattle, and all things Texas.

Of course, if you’re a kid at heart, they’ll let you raise your best rodeo arm and act like you know what you’re doing!

For updated events (Rodeos are back, by the way) in Ft. Worth Stockyards, check out the website, and also book yourself a Western dinner to remember at Cattlemen’s Steak House. (Rib-eyes for us!)

Step into the West!

Ft. Worth Stockyards Historic District

If a trip to Texas is in your future, circle Ft. Worth Stockyards on your map, read the history, and plan your trip. It’s a great stop not far from the Waco sites we visited — and a taste of the historic Texas you’ve always heard about. If you’re thinking of traveling again, grab hold of Ft. Worth!

Travel Western,

Rusha & Bert

This ends our series on Waco and Ft. Worth Stockyards. We invite you take a look at all the posts — but we really hope you’ll go see for yourself. Texas just might be your next destination!

We didn’t consider ourselves strangers in Waco, Texas, even though we’d never been there. After all, we’ve been Fixer Upper fans and watchers of Chip and Joanna Gaines for several years, so we felt right at home in Waco standing at the Silos. But the chance to visit the actual city blocks with relatives brought us to a new realization: Waco’s growing!

With the purchase of additional space downtown, Chip and Joanna refurbished and, at times, built new places at the original silos on the property: Silos Baking Company, Magnolia Home, and Magnolia Market. Their newest additions opened the week we visited (October, 2020) on the grounds of the Silos: two rows of tiny shops and a renovated chapel.

Long lines of people enduring 100-plus degree heat meant one thing: Magnolia shoppers are a breed to be reckoned with.

We had time to visit only two shops since wait time filled up most of our afternoon. But what we saw was impressive. The stationery shop held watercolors, signs with words to live by, and leather-covered journals all in one tiny little place.

A women’s clothing shop offered signature dresses — plain and prairie-like — that we wished we could have seen on models like Joanna Gaines herself. (But no Joanna, even though it was opening day. We heard she came the following day for the “official” opening.)

A keystone piece of architecture for the new square is The Old Church, an old but endearing building found in Waco and renovated by the Gaines. It was Joanna who first saw the potential. But we’re pretty sure it took all hands on deck to build a new foundation on Magnolia property, dismantle the original building, move the old church to the new site in the complex, and renovate while maintaining the structure’s integrity. Be sure to read “New at the Silos: The Old Church” for detailed pictures of the move and this amazing renovation.

In many ways, it’s hard to tell what was part of the original structure and what was new. But one thing’s certain: this sweet piece now has a home where people can worship in a vintage architectural gem.

Even locked doors can be unlocked in time.

Joanna Gaines

While you’re thinking Waco, be sure to check out our other posts on Waco, Texas, and click on this picture of my brother-in-law to see where we stayed while visiting the city.

We invite you to stop back by if you want to read about our encounter with Jimmy Don, owner and founder of JDH Iron Works in our next post. Until then, keep dreaming of shopping at Magnolia — just because it’s fun!

Travel Texas,

Rusha & Bert

The world needs who you were made to be.

It goes without saying that Chip and Joanna Gaines are stars. After all, they’ve renovated countless homes in Waco, Texas, for the HGTV network show “Fixer Upper.” But it didn’t stop there.

Chip and Joanna purchased several city blocks near two old silos, converting the properties into a shopping mecca where droves of tourists like us take the trolley to Magnolia Market at the Silos and hunt for simple, yet elegant, home goods and clothing made popular on the show. Joanna’s good taste is everywhere — from the simple black-and-white-and-tan color scheme to the textured pillows and baskets, perked up with nature’s greens.

Magnolia Market is just one of several buildings that hold home decor treasures selected or designed by the Gaines. And when we visited in October 2020, a few favorites caught our eye.

But Joanna is not just a designer and Chip her handyman. They’re both sages of sorts, delivering genuine, down-home takes on what brings joy and happiness into a home. Some of those quotes made it into the book, The Magnolia Story.

“I always thought that the “thriving” would come when everything was perfect, and what I learned is that it’s actually down in the mess that things get good.”

Joanna Gaines, in The Magnolia Story

“It’s up to us to choose contentment and thankfulness now—and to stop imagining that we have to have everything perfect before we’ll be happy.”

Joanna Gaines, The Magnolia Story

If you get a chance to shop in downtown Waco, get inside all the shops from Silos Baking Company to Magnolia Home to Magnolia Market. Or if you can’t travel right now, you may want to check out the new Discovery+ streaming that also includes Joanna’s new cooking show, “Magnolia Table.”

There’s more than just goods for sale in downtown Waco, Texas — there’s a glimpse into a wholesome approach to living that we all may need right now!

See Waco,

Rusha & Bert

P. S. We received no compensation for this post. We just loved our day in Waco!

We arrived at Magnolia Home a few days after its grand opening (October 2020), only to find that everything, not just the building itself, is grand. Joanna’s signature style pervades each vignette, not only in the colorways she loves (white, black, brown with punches of color for surprise) but also in the furnishing she’s designed or selected. Huge, wide-open spaces seem intimate as “rooms” flow one into another, blending rugs, bedding, artwork, lighting, and little touches (like books covered in one-color covers) to make you take a second look.

To hear Joanna talk about her design plan for this home decor space right in the heart of Waco, you can check out “The Making of Magnolia Home” on YouTube. A 3-minute video takes you inside what used to be an industrial warehouse but is now a place where Joanna and her design partners have added their signature touches.

We’ve watched numerous episodes of “Fixer Upper,” and this trip to Waco was like going to the TV locations where home dreams come true. And so, as we watched the video, we were glad to hear Joanna summarize her dream for this new venture, Magnolia Home:

“My hope is that this is a space to use as a tool to create the home you love.”

If you’re in the area, you owe it to yourself to check out the Gaines’ latest hometown venture — Magnolia Home.

Travel creatively,

Rusha & Bert

Magnolia Home, 418 S. 8th Street, Waco, TX 76706 (Open Monday through Saturday, 9 to 6.)
The new streaming network, Discovery + contains past “Fixer Upper” shows.

“Sure. Let’s go see what this place looks like. I saw it on HGTV. But I’m telling you: I’m not buying anything. Watching my weight, you know.”

Well, you can guess how that turned out. It was our first day in downtown Waco, Texas, at the Magnolia complex.

And now, since Discovery+ network has just become available for streaming, we thought this would be a good time to show you a few great places in that little city made famous by Chip and Joanna Gaines. (New series of Magnolia Table aired January 4, 2021.)

First things first: Silos Baking Company.

The dream of owning a bakery stemmed completely from Joanna’s love of baking and cooking. From a young age, Joanna delighted in spending time with her family in the kitchen. There, she learned the trade secrets to her homemade chocolate cake, Syrian donuts, chocolate chip cookies, pies and more.

History: Silos Baking Company

We thought we wouldn’t be buying anything to eat — we were just looking at the properties — on this hot, hot day in Texas. Even with the heat, though, flower boxes were beautifully planted and maintained — with pansies, no less, that usually wilt in the summer.

Inside, it was just as we expected. With that impeccable good-taste style Joanna Gaines brings to every place she touches, the bakery sports white subway tiles, black cabinetry and treasured herringbone floors that workmen set in place on the show “Fixer Upper.”

Rounding out the look in Silos Baking Company are antiques and one-of-a-kind pieces gleaned from Joanna’s jaunts about town searching for special items to display and some of the original brick walls.

Neatly stocked cabinets hold mugs, cookie decorating kits, and Joanna’s cookbook, Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering, for sale.

And workers smiled even though they were so busy they hardly had time to breathe let alone take pictures of tourists from Tennessee — but they did anyway.

After standing in line still affirming that we wouldn’t be purchasing anything, we came, we saw, and we succumbed — by ordering two signature Silo Cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with peanut blueberry muffin crumbles), two Nuts & Bolts (vanilla cupcakes filled with pecans and walnuts, topped with cream cheese icing and nut crumble) and two Prize Pigs — Joanne’s signature buttery biscuits filled with bacon, cheddar and chives. You can guess whether we ate them on the spot or saved them for next day’s breakfast. I’m not telling.

We had gone in expecting a tastefully decorated building (check!) but we came out with oh, so much more, especially when you consider service was impeccable and friendly!

Stay tuned. Silos Baking Company was only our first stop. There’s more Waco to come!

Travel full,

Rusha & Bert

Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.

Most people would say that going to the town of Waco, Texas, home of the Chip and Joanna Gaines “fixer uppers,” would be treat enough, but while searching for a place to stay, we not only FOUND a treat, we STAYED in one!

While I was searching AirBnB for available spaces to rent, this site popped into my browser. And it looked familiar. Very familiar. As it should have been.

The house belongs to Leslie Saeta, a trendsetter of home decor through My 100 Year Old Home, a blog I’ve been following for quite some time as well as Leslie’s Instagram account. And I’ve watched as this California resident purchased a home in need of renovation in Waco, Texas, to transform into a star rental through AirBnb. With one quick check to see if was available — it was! — I hurtled downstairs telling Bert that we (along with my sister and brother-in-law) would be staying in the home known on the internet as My 100 Year Old Waco Home! (I think there was a leap in the kitchen right after that!!)

What we found when we arrived was even more creative than what was shown online. I’m guessing (don’t really know for sure) that the style is called “farmhouse” with its white walls, original floors and ceiling, open concept, and practical uses for vintage and industrial objects. But whatever it’s called, Leslie in California and her partner Kelly in Waco have made it a memorable, treat worthy place to enjoy.

Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.

Charles Eames

As you can see, the renovation offered us much to talk about while we enjoyed the comfort, but it was the “little things” that made a big impression — and expanded the treat that this whole house was. Here are some of the “found” items that now have a second life, thanks to the creativity of Leslie and Kelly.

If you’re planning a trip to Waco, see if My 100 Year Old Waco Home is available from AirBnB. You’ll feel as if you’ve stepped right into a real live “fixer upper” — which you have, of course. And you, too, will be saying, “What a treat!”

Travel safely and look for shiplap and chippy paint,

Rusha

Future posts on what we saw in Waco are forthcoming, but thanks to blogger/photographer Tina Schell (Travels and Trifles) for sharing this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #120 — What a Treat! with all of us. (Her photos of wild animals and the photo tips in her post this week are golden, so I invite you to check it out.) If you’d like to participate, be sure to tag your post Lens-Artists and link here to Tina’s photographic treat for all of us this week.

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, College Station, Texas

A trip is not a trip for us if we don’t stop along the way and see a place or two.  And so it was, that in going to a wedding in Houston, we were able to stop not once but twice at presidential libraries:  Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, and George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas.

Taking the circuitous route from Knoxville to Houston via Little Rock, AR and College Station, TX (and a few other places along the way)!

Just as we stated in our post Inside Clinton Presidential Library, this tour of the Bush library comes with no strings attached:  no endorsement of anyone for president, no leaning to the left or right.  Just an assemblage of pics to get you inside two structures that are chock full of interesting memorabilia, gifts from all over the globe, and vignettes that reveal who these leaders of the U. S. really are.

Flags of many countries Bush visited during his term of office hang in the Presidential Library and Museum.

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum resides on the Texas A & M University campus, squarely in Aggieland.  How’d it get there?  Shortly after Bush became commander-in-chief, Texas oil businessman Michael G. Halbouty (Class of 1930) approached the President about placing the library in College Station.  The town even renamed Jersey Street as George Bush Drive in 1989.  In 1991, George Bush agreed to the placement of his presidential library and museum in College Station. The structure itself is open, stately, and commanding with its high-ceiling lobby leading into one of many exhibit areas.

The graceful lobby of Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

Greeting us at the time of our visit was The National Parks Photography Project celebrating the centennial of the National Parks Foundation: 1916 to 2016. Elegant black and white framed photos lined the walls with a quote by John Muir posted squarely at the end: “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

Celebrating the centennial of the National Parks Foundation is the National Parks Photography Project.

An expansive photo of the Grand Canyon filled another wall, accompanied by elegant words from President Theodore Roosevelt written in 1903.

“Leave it as it is.  You cannot improve on it.  The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.  What you can do is to keep it for your children, and for all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American . . . should see.”

Photo mural of the Grand Canyon

George Bush Presidential Library has a comfortable feel to it.  You walk through “stations” (I guess you can call them that) and read about phases of Bush’s political life.

Exhibit on George Bush as Congressman

Or you can gaze at the many gifts bestowed on George and his wife Barbara during their years in the White House.

Like this grazed porcelain piece, “Sevres” by Jim Caswell, presented by His Excellency Francois Mitterand, President of the French Republic, following the President’s trip to St. Martin on December 16, 1989.

“Sevres” by Jim Caswell, a gift from Francois Mitterand

An exact replica of President Bush’s Camp David with his desk, comfy chairs, and photos is open for all to see (but not to touch).

Replica of Bush’s Camp David in Bush Presidential Library

Other places, however, invite interaction.  Doesn’t Bert look a bit presidential in the Oval Office where tourists can have their picture made?

Bert posing as President in the Oval Office at Bush Presidential Library.

And I wondered just how it would be to stand in perpetuity like this Terracotta Warrior that guards part of an international exhibit on Bush’s visit to China.

Asleep on the job?

Of course, if I wanted to, I could just sit and chat with the President. He looks as if he would listen, doesn’t he?

“Now, President Bush, I have a few things to go over with you, if you’ve got a minute.”

One unexpected pleasure for me, a former English teacher, was the emphasis on the accomplishments of  Barbara Pierce Bush who married George H. W. Bush on January 6, 1945.  In addition to serving as First Lady and mother to George W. (Governor of Texas and 43rd U. S. President) and Jeb (Governor of Florida), Mrs. Bush championed her primary cause:  the promotion of literacy for all.

A room dedicated to Mrs. Bush made us feel as if we were sitting in the Bush family den, watching TV, and gazing at books that Barbara has written or loved.  (Profits from two books she co-authored, C. Fred’s Story and Millie’s Book, benefit the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.)

You are invited to take a seat and watch a video on Barbara Bush’s emphasis on literacy in this comfy den setting.

At both of the presidential libraries — Clinton’s and Bush’s — we took time to watch the beautifully produced videos chronicling the childhood, college years, and White House stays of both Bill Clinton and George Bush.  Coincidentally, when we visited in Fall 2015, two other people in those family videos were candidates for President:  Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and Jeb Bush, a Republican.  How interesting to see them in their younger years!

We felt welcome at the Bush Presidential Library and Museum.  And maybe it’s a credit to the volunteers who treated every person we saw that day as special guests. Along with the artifacts, videos, photography, and corners filled with information, there’s a sense that this Bush library — and perhaps all presidential libraries — belong to the people, no matter what party they ascribe to or how they regard the person who occupied the White House during their term.  Presidential libraries are for all of us.

Barbara Bush with U. S. flag at Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

For more information:

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, 1000 George Bush Drive West, College Station, TX 77845; 979-691-4000; www.bush41.org.

Facebook: facebook.com/bush41

Twitter: twitter.com/bush41

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/41President?feature=mhee