December 15, 2011—A Very Historically Diverse Day

With all the sickness and crummy weather we’ve had lately, we decided to take a break and visit the city of Waco, Texas.

The drive to Waco was really quite beautiful. For much of the trip, trees that still had not lost their leaves lined both sides of the road. The leaves were a kind of orange/pink/yellowish color. It was very welcome against the tan colored brush and the gray skies.

Our first stop was the Dr. Pepper Museum. I’m not a huge fan of soda but I have to admit that while it was a bit overpriced, it was interesting. The girls laughed at the tabs that were once used to open pop cans but laughed even harder when they found out that Barry and I remembered using them. They also loved the advertising posters that were from the 80s. All I cold say was, “Yes, I used to dress just like that!” Eva got a bit confused when Barry told her that Dr. Pepper was a fountain drink. She thought there was a bubbler (drinking fountain for those of you not from Wisconsin) somewhere in the museum with soda instead of water! Before we left, we stopped by the real Soda Fountain for small Dr. Pepper floats. We wondered if Dr. Pepper from a fountain would taste different than it does from a can. It does!

Next, we went to the Waco Mammoth Site where the bones of several Columbian Mammoths have been found. Some bones have been taken to Baylor University to be studied and preserved but many are left exposed at the excavation site for visitors to see. Our guide was very knowledgeable and patiently answered the many questions we had. The terrain around the site is very interesting. Thankfully, she pointed out a lot of things to us that we would have missed. We really enjoyed this stop! It was the perfect compliment to the time we spent at Dinosaur Valley State Park about a week ago and to the paleontology badge Eva is working on through the National Parks Service. The site is currently pending approval to become a National Monument.

We drove by Baylor University and were very impressed by it’s beautiful, well kept campus. We all agreed that it is one of the most beautiful college campuses that we’ve ever seen. If it had been a nicer day, we may have walked around a bit.

Barry and I well remember all the media coverage of the Waco Massacre (The Branch Davidians, David Koresh) that took place nearly 20 years ago. He found the coordinates somewhere on Google so we drove by the site. There isn’t much there but it sparked enough curiosity amongst us that I turned on the computer and read some articles aloud on the way back to our campground.

It was certainly a very diverse day as we covered different time periods and very different aspects of history. We learned a lot, got away from the camper, saw more of beautiful Texas, and even got in a full day of school when we returned home.

Dr. Pepper Museum: http://www.drpeppermuseum.com/

Waco Mammoth Site: http://www.wacomammoth.org/