Our BEST Waco Texas TRAVEL TIPS!

Our Trip to Texas: TIPS for Waco, Austin, and Dallas  |   Phillip + Tiffany   |   March 11-15

You may wonder how I convinced Phillip (a guy who H.A.T.E.S. shopping) to spend a whole weekend with me in Waco, Texas – and the reason is that all his favorite artists were playing concerts for Magnolia’s Spring at the Silos Event! We were so excited to see Ben Rector for the 6th time, Dave Barnes, Matt Wertz, and Jon McLaughlin! BUTTTT…. sadly once we flew into Texas all the concerts, vendor fair, and food trucks were cancelled due to the coronavirus. Phillip was a good sport anyways, and let me take control of planning the next few days and did everything I wanted to do – haha!

If you’re planning a future trip to Waco, we are so excited for you! “Magnolia” has been created to absolute PERFECTION by Chip and Joanna, and it was an amazing experience. Everything from the décor, designs, food, gorgeous packaging, to even the sweet employees were TOP NOTCH. I was really impressed and see why they have such an empire. They’re constantly adding NEW things – we got to enjoy Magnolia Press, their brand-new coffee shop, and next door to that they have a Magolia Home (furniture) store being created.

Soooooo after experiencing it all, we have some tips for you! I hope they’ll be helpful for you and your friends! Enjoy!

P.S. Tip #1 is to FLY SOUTHWEST so you can pack LOTS of bags, so you have space to bring all your shopping back home! We were allowed to bring 2 carry-on bags, AND 2 checked bags per person for FREE!!!!

 

MAGNOLIA + FIXER-UPPER RELATED TIPS:

TIP #1 – Realize that ALL of Magnolia is CLOSED ON SUNDAYS, and plan accordingly! Also, check their hours of each of their businesses, because they all open at different times, and close at very reasonable hours.

TIP #2 – Start your trip off at Magnolia Table, their breakfast restaurant. It’s NOT within walking distance from the silos, so plan ahead to drive between. The food was freaking INCREDIBLE – we got the $9 biscuits with strawberry butter, and the $13 buttermilk pancakes with eggs, peppered bacon, and hash browns. Ya’ll…the presentation was amazing, the food was the BEST breakfast I’ve EVER HAD. It was super cute in there, (I loved all the black +white of course) and the waitress was really sweet! Be sure to check out their To-Go section when you’re done eating too!

TIP #3 – Take a driving tour. If you search hard enough, you can find lots of Fixer Upper homes all within a short distance to Magnolia Market. (The “Shotgun House” is within walking distance from the Silos – so impressive in person!!!) We also found the new property Chip + Joanna just bought “Cottonland Castle” and it was cool to see it still boarded up so we’ll appreciate the renovation when they start! If you want to fork out some cash and save the research time, Waco Tours has vans and a guide that will drive you around and tell you all the history!

TIP #4 – When planning where to STAY… note that Chip + Joanna’s bed and breakfasts are both NOT near the Silos. Hillcrest Estate is only about 10-15 minutes from the Silos, but their Magnolia House is 30 minutes away! Do your research before you stay. We stayed at the CUTEST tiny home (there are 6 of them all together near a brand new wedding venue!) only 10-15 minutes from the Silos. It was peaceful + quiet, comfy bed, snacks included, AND you could SEE a bit of the “Barndimonium” Fixer Upper from our tiny house property! (I FREAKED OUT in excitement and surprise that we were THAT CLOSE to it, because I had based our WHOLE kitchen design on that house!!!! See our kitchen renovated inspired by the Barndimonium HERE!) If you’d like the link to our tiny house, you can check it out HERE.

TIP #5 – Visit Clint Harp’s cute shop nearby (you’ll need to drive), buy some candlesticks or a t-shirt, and be sure to check out his house that was on Fixer Upper to the right of it! (It’s now an Airbnb!) We didn’t see Clint at his shop, but we DID drive past him running while we were driving around neighborhoods, haha! (and he even waved at us first!!!)

TIP #6 – Be sure to do ALL the Magnolia things: cupcakes at the Silos Baking Co. (we got the blueberry muffin, a chocolate croissant, a “prized pig” biscuit, a strawberry cupcake, a shiplap cupcake, a cute water bottle & Elderflower lemonade!) get coffee at Magnolia Press and relax with the chill vibes inside, buy seeds at Seed + Supply, buy lots of fun things at Magnolia Market, and experience the food trucks and definitely play lawn games at the Silos.

TIP #7 – Don’t go to the ORIGINAL “Magnolia” (now called the Little Shop on Bosque) UNTIL you’ve shopped at the Market first!!! At purchase, they’ll give you a 10% off coupon to use on all the already discounted items at the Bosque shop!

 

S C R O L L    D O W N     F O R :

1. More things to do / eat / stay / see in Waco BESIDES Magnolia!
2. Austin, Texas ideas for eating / doing in the capitol city!
3. Dallas, Texas ideas of things to do before you fly back home!

We also went to Austin, Texas to visit Phillip’s friend Joey. If you want to take a day trip to Austin (it’s only 1.5 hours from Waco!)

OUR BEST TIPS FOR AUSTIN, TEXAS:

1. Go to Jo’s Cofffee downtown on Congress, and get a “Turbo Iced Coffee” and sit outside. Be sure to take your photo at their “I love you so much” wall mural!
2. Then, walk down Congress and pop into all their super cute boutiques, (I could have spent lotssss of money there!) and step inside Kendra Scott’s flagship store!
3. Check out Texas’ state capitol, and go inside (for free). Check out the amazing rotunda, staircases, ceilings, doorknobs, and door hinges. It was pretty cool (and there was air conditioning!)
4. If you get there early enough, go to Franklin’s for BBQ. If you’re like us and eating lunch late (Franklin’s always has a wait and sells out FAST!) check out Black’s BBQ for some amazing brisket, burnt ends, and beef ribs. (We accidentally spent $30 on ONE beef rib, haha!)
5. If you want to listen to live music and get a drink, walk down the super cute Rainey Street – a historical street with homes converted into bars! We went to Unbarlievable to listen to Joey’s friend play. (It had a SLIDE and lots of fun games to play at the bar too.)

OTHER THINGS TO SEE / EAT / DO WHILE YOU’RE IN WACO, TEXAS:

1. Eat at Torchy’s Tacos! I loved their guacamole, and the unique tacos (but they were $4/a taco!)
2. Go on a hike at Cameron Park! There are lots of easy trails, and a gorgeous overlook viewing point!
3. Play Frisbee golf at Bosque Park!
4. Experience their new food hall, Union Hall! We got asian food for lunch, and a liege waffle at “Press” (not to be confused by Magnolia Press!)
5. Check out all the antique shopping! (There’s some within walking downtown, but you can also drive all over and find some!)
6. Experience Spice Market – a collection of 60+ shops with lots of cool things to see.
7. Walk around Baylor’s campus and be sure to see their two live bears!
8. Get ice cream at the super cute Heritage Creamery (near Baylor)
9. OR get coffee next door at Common Grounds!
10. Go to Texas Hall of Fame sports museum, it was only about $5/pp using a Groupon! Phillip loved it!

 

^ our little tiny house, it’s one of SIX! Scroll back up for the link!

Before our flight back home, we hung out in Dallas for a bit! (It’s also 1.5 hours from Waco, if you want to check it out!) It’s worth it to spend some time if you don’t fly out until later in the evening like we did.

THINGS WE DID IN DALLAS, TEXAS:

1. Walk around SMU’s campus, the tree-lined street was INCREDIBLE. (Also, President Bush’s library and museum is there – but we didn’t pay $20/pp to go in!)
2. Drove down the Design District – but it was a Sunday and everything was closed sadly!
3. JAW-DROPPED and stared at all the MANSIONS inside the Highland Park neighborhoods. They were INCREDIBLE, and we drove around for a long time just taking in all the beauty! (If you’re a RHOD reality show fan, this is the neighborhood Kameron Westcott lives in!) There’s also Highland Park Village, if you want to window shop at Chanel, Fendi, Cartier, etc.!!! :)
4. Walked around the AT&T Stadium (where the Cowboys play!) and the brand new Texas Rangers indoor stadium!
5. Ate In-and-Out Burger for me to have that west-coast experience! It was a great burger, but I secretly still love McDonald’s fries better!

 

I hope this little blog is helpful for your next trip to Texas!!! Let me know if you have any suggestions I should add for other people, or if this helped you! I’d love to know!