SPRING AT THE SILOS

On our recent road trip to visit with family in Arkansas and Louisiana, we looped back up through Texas on our way home. We were going to go to Galveston, but changed our minds when we were having a hard time finding accommodations and found out it was Spring Break. Then when we were trying to find accommodations in Austin, our next scheduled stop, we discovered they were having a music festival called SXSW (South by Southwest). We managed to find a place to stay there though and stayed three nights there. (You can read about our experiences in Austin HERE and HERE.)

When I saw a map of Texas just before we left home, I saw that Waco was half way between Austin and Fort Worth. My husband was responsible for planning this trip, but I told him we just had to stop in Waco and maybe I would be lucky enough to see Chip and Joanna. He laughed and said okay.

I follow a page on Facebook called HGTV Fixer Upper Show Followers. It is fun seeing what other people are doing and reading the suggestions made to them. Right after we got to Austin I was checking out my news feed page on Facebook and saw a post from one of the followers about how the streets around the Silos had been closed off due to so much "traffic" for Spring at the Silos. I couldn't believe it. We definitely had picked the wrong week to be "looping" back through Texas. I knew Chip and Joanna would probably not be anywhere close and I was disappointed. But I still wanted to stop and "experience" Spring at the Silos. I read there were going to be over 100 artisans from all over the country there offering their "wares" for sale.

I have been to craft fairs where there were so many people you couldn't stir them with a stick. (You know what I'm saying?) You couldn't see what the people were selling - you were just moving down the street with the crowd.  The Silos are not far off I-35 which was good. We saw lots of people parking down the side streets and then walking. I knew my husband wasn't real excited about the prospect of walking blocks to get back, but he didn't say anything and just kept driving looking for anyplace to park. Finally I saw a fairly good sized parking lot behind a restaurant called the Fortune Cookie. There were lots of open parking places and no signs saying "no event parking". I told him I thought we could park there. He was a little nervous, but I convinced him it was okay.

We started off walking toward the Silos and as we walked by a house by the parking lot, I looked back at it as I got right in front of it and quietly screamed to my husband, "It's the shotgun house." Of course he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

I had read on Facebook that the people who owned the house were renting it out as a vacation rental and sure enough an out-of-state car was parked in the small driveway and the man was bringing out their luggage. (He was just putting his luggage on the corner of the front porch, so I waited until he went back in the house before I took my picture.)

Seeing the house had me excited and even though I wasn't feeling great, I was eager to walk the couple of blocks to get to the Silos.

View from a few blocks away.

The police had closed the roads about a block away in all directions from the Silos.

Finally....the Silos, the Bakery, and the Store.

Down the street on the north...

I thought I might be able to go in the bakery, but the line was out the door and all the way down the street behind the artisans. Maybe next time....

The entrance in... (loved how they incorporated the concrete slabs with the grass....and the flowers were so pretty.)

Lots of space inside for children to run free and play...

The west side of the store. The line to get into the store was forever also. At the door it switched-back a number of times before it headed down the side to the south side of the property and then down the south side to the southwest corner. I knew better than to ask my husband if I could get in the line. (I was really hoping I could come home with "something" I had bought in the store though.) Next time for sure!

On our way out there were artisans lined up on both sides of the street on the east side. 

I was so disappointed that I didn't get to experience the store BUT I know we will be stopping in Waco again the next time we go to Fort Worth. I also would have enjoyed seeing more of Waco, but as I said earlier, I wasn't feeling very well anyway. I did learn that the store isn't in the silos like I thought it was though. 

AND I can brag that I experienced Spring at the Silos and know I can't wait to get back there again and soon.