Our Trip to Magnolia!

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

This past December, Donnie and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. First of all, how am I old enough to have been married for 10 years?! (In my defense, I was 22 when we got married. 🙂 ) And second, wow, how time flies!

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

Babies!

When you get married two days before Christmas, it doesn’t take many years to realize that it will be hard to find time to celebrate your anniversary. With all of the craziness of that time of year, it’s hard to find a night to go out to dinner, let alone get away for a few days. (And if the Steelers are playing, forget it. One year our anniversary date was getting Chinese takeout and watching the game on the couch after the boys went to bed, lol!)

Since this was a milestone year though, we wanted to make sure we did something, even if it was just a quick trip (and even if it was a few months belated). It was Donnie who originally had the idea to visit Austin and Waco, Texas, and I was on board immediately! We lined up both sets of grandparents to switch off with watching the Cs, and we headed south!

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

I didn’t used to be a nervous flyer, but ever since I’ve had kids, I get more and more anxiety about traveling separately from them. Fortunately, our flights went as smoothly as possible, and we arrived in Austin without a hitch.

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

These guitars greeted us at baggage claim at the Austin Airport. Apparently they’re very committed to “Keep Austin weird.” That slogan was everywhere! 🙂

We had some fantastic barbecue from the little Salt Lick stand in the airport and headed out to find our hotel. We stayed at the Kimpton Hotel Van Zandt, which was beautiful, and our room had an awesome view.

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

We arrived in Austin on Thursday afternoon, and on Friday we made the 2-ish hour trek to Waco! I think Donnie found the longest, most scenic route to get there, but it was fun to get to see some of Texas along the way!

When we arrived in Waco, I was a little nervous about parking. Magnolia doesn’t have a dedicated parking lot, but we were able to find on-street parking close by, and even if we had ended up parking further away, there is a cute (and free!) trolley that drives all around Waco to pick people up and bring them to the Magnolia area.

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

We arrived around 10:30 in the morning, and the line for the bakery was already wrapped around the side of the building and down the sidewalk!

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

We decided to head into the main market first, and I immediately wanted to take home one of everything. 🙂

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

Just like on the show Joanna’s eye is flawless, and every item in the store was not only beautiful by itself, but also beautifully staged to sell. I found a few items that were too big to fit in my suitcase, but they have a FedEx ship station right in the market, so we were able to send them home with no problem!

The market was absolutely packed. We were there on a Friday, and apparently Thursday through Saturday are the busiest days, so if you’re planning a trip, the beginning of the week might be a little less crazy. Even with the amount of visitors, there were tons of employees working and I was so impressed by how efficiently everything was run.

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

After we visited the market and stowed our smaller purchases in the car, we braved the bakery line to snag one of Jo’s famous cupcakes!

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

The bakery was adorable, of course, and it was fun to get to see one of their projects from the show in real life!

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

After we paid for our goodies, we headed outside to the little seating area beside the silos to eat them.

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

I almost didn’t want to because they were so cutely wrapped, but we dug in anyway! I had a chocolate peanut butter cupcake, and Donnie went for the “Cup of Jo” (coffee flavored)– delicious!

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

We headed over to the other side of the silos to visit the little Magnolia Seed + Supply store and gardens. There were people busy working away in the gardens and little greenhouse!

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

We headed back out to the square area where we saw the food trucks, this cute little green truck, and of course…

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

…we had to be all touristy and get our photo taken in front of the silos!

Travel- Magnolia, Fixer Upper, Waco, Texas, Austin, Texas, Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Market

Donnie put together some little video snippets of our time at Magnolia as well, and you can catch them in the quick video below!

In addition to visiting the “Silo District,” we also drove around Waco, which is a cool town. It has plenty of “stuff,” but it is still small enough to have a hometown feel. We stopped by Spice Village, which is another little shopping area with some fun home decor pieces (apparently Joanna used to sell some homemade signs there back in the day?), and we also drove down 3rd street, which is where Chip and Jo flipped a bunch of houses in their pre- Fixer Upper days.

It was a super quick getaway, but it was SO fun to be able to experience Waco and Magnolia in “real life”– I would love to go back again for another trip when we have time to stay longer and explore even more of the area!

See recaps of some of our other trips in these posts:

Jekyll Island, Georgia

Chicago

Puerto Rico

Blue Mountains, Ontario

Have you ever visited Waco? What was your favorite part? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

xo, Abby

34 Comments

  1. Amy @ The Quiet Homemaker says:

    Oh my gosh, you two are so cute! How fun to be able to go there and see all of that! I love the show and they are also an adorable couple. I love their faith and how open they are with it. The book is also on Mt to read list.
    So happy for you that you were able to do this. I have always wanted to go to Texas.

    Blessings,
    Amy

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Amy! It was such a great trip. One to add to the bucket list for sure! Have a wonderful weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  2. What a fun place to visit! It sounds like you had a lovely time!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It was a great trip! Thanks, Randi! <3

      ~Abby =)

  3. I live in Texas and have yet to visit all the Magnolia shops! I’m a huge Fixer Upper fan and am dying to get down to Waco to see everything up close and personal! Thanks for sharing your trip! It makes me want to go even more now, lol.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      You would love it! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  4. That looks like a very fun time..I watch fixer upper all the time to get great ideas from Chip and Joanna Gaines.We are currently in a fixer upper and I know you are doing some gorgeous decorating of your new home..I’ve mentioned to my significant other that would be a great trip for a short weekend. Thanks for the lovely photos and post

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It was wonderful! Highly recommended! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  5. OMG, I’m so envious (in the good way, of course). What a great travel you had! And it seems that you had a great weather. 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      We did! Such a fabulous trip! Happy Friday, Esther!

      ~Abby =)

  6. Holly Conway says:

    Austin is so much fun! I want to go to Magnolia so bad, looks awesome!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Definitely one to put on the bucket list! It was wonderful! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  7. Loved everything about the Silos and Spice Village! Thank you for sharing your experience with me so that I could plan my trip there a couple of weeks ago!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Wasn’t it the best? Glad you enjoyed your trip! <3

      ~Abby =)

  8. Brittany Wise says:

    Of course there would be a FedEx service inside! That made me giggle because it makes sense when you think about it 🙂 🙂 It looks like a nice break from this Midwest winter.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It really was! They really did think of everything! LOL

      ~Abby =)

  9. Katie Jones says:

    Happy (belated) Anniversary! So nice to have a get away, even if flying post-kiddos gives you anxiety… ME TOO. The cupcakes look amaaaazing. How incredible what the Gaines fam has done for that town. I bet it was so cool to experience – thanks for sharing!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Katie! It really was such a wonderful trip! Happy Friday! <3

      ~Abby =)

  10. Sounds like an amazing trip! My husband and I talk about going to Waco all the time to go to Magnolia. We are addicted to Fixer Upper! Thanks for giving us the virtual tour.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      You would love it! Definitely one to add to the bucket list! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  11. Abby, This post is so funny because just last week I was looking online at the real estate there.
    We live in the Chicago area and it’s getting way too cold for me here.I am so glad you enjoyed your trip.
    Happy Anniversary!

  12. I’m from the Central Texas area, and Austin is one of my FAVORITE places in the world….to visit. (LOL – traffic is CA-RAZY in Austin, I wouldn’t want to live there…..altho, I live near Dallas, so I don’t guess I can talk too much!) You MUST come back, there’s something new to discover every single time you visit, trust me. I’ve lived in TX all my life, have spent SO much time in Austin, and I still discover new stuff!

    My daughter and I went to the Silos last fall…..SO COOL! We had cupcakes, ate lunch at the food trucks and shopped till we dropped. It was awesome! Also stopped by Clint the carpenter’s shop, SO cute! Waco is full of beautiful turn-of-the-century homes (as are many towns in the area…hold overs from our King Cotton days), I wish I could buy them all. If you ever have occasion to visit again, stop in Belton and Salado, both have cute “courthouse square” areas for shopping and food. I’m glad you had a great trip, and we welcome you back any time! Texas is my first love and a place I’m proud to call my home.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It really was wonderful, Brigitte! So glad we got to check it off our bucket list! Hope you have a wonderful week! <3

      ~Abby =)

  13. Patricia Hidalgo says:

    Hi sweet girl! First, great post – a perfect destination to chronicle on the blog! Your style dovetails so well with Jo’s that it almost seems like you designed the subjects yourself. The trolley really takes the (cup)cake! Just beautiful.

    Quick note, though – I think the FB share link is broken, it gave me a 404 error when I tried. No worries, I shared the link directly but I thought you might want to know =)

    Thanks for posting beautiful things for us! Looooove your blog!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Patricia! (And thanks for the heads up about the FB link– I’ll double check it!) Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  14. Welcome to Texas!! Sorry we missed you ?but glad to hear you had fun!!

    As new residents to Austin, we were curious about its slogan and we’re surprised about just how it got started.

    “Keep Austin Weird is the slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to promote small businesses in Austin, Texas. It is intended to promote local businesses and is inspired by comments made by Red Wassenich in 2000 while giving a pledge to an Austin radio station.” Apparently they used to issue cards to be stamped at all participating local businesses. And it has worked…lots of growing businesses all over Austin, TX.

    So there you have it, a bit of trivia for today. 🙂

    You are welcome back anytime!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much for the info, Cheryl! 🙂 You are fortunate to live in such an incredible place! Hope you have a great night!

      ~Abby =)

  15. Maria @ Leisurely Does It says:

    Congratulations on your ten year anniversary. What a fun trip! I absolutely LOVE Fixer Upper and it’s so cool that you got to visit Chip and Joanna’s store. I’m glad you enjoyed your trip.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It was wonderful. Thanks so much, Maria! <3

      ~Abby =)

  16. Lauren @ Life as a Wife says:

    Looks like such a neat experience!! My Mom has gone a few times & loved it – she’s found some neat pieces!! I definitely want to go eventually 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Definitely one for the bucket list! We loved it! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  17. Hope you had a wonderful trip

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It was fabulous! Thank you! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  18. pool builders austin says:

    Congrats on your Anniversary!

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