Some Pictures and a Side Trip Story

So after publishing my last post about our trip, I realized I left out one of the funniest and craziest parts of our trip. I think for most people, when you hear "Waco, TX", your mind automatically thinks of "Wacko Waco" and David Koresh. Or at least that's what I tend to think about. So on Thursday before our trip, I read up on Wikipedia about David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and the Waco Siege. Crazy stuff!

Mike had it on his mind too and Friday night he spent some time figuring out where the compound was located. We weren't really seriously thinking of visiting, but more just thinking of it as a joke. Well, we ended up getting to Waco a little early, so we first visited the Dr. Pepper museum gift shop (the soda originated in Waco). We still had time left so Mike decided he really wanted to try to find the location. We didn't really have exact directions, mostly a vague explanation, but we had time and thought it would be something funny to do.

So we set out and we're heading east out of Waco on a country road with little traffic. There's lots of houses with big fences and gates, and run down ranches with animals that are way too skinny. Next thing we know, Mike announces the gas light came on! Great! We don't even know where we're going and it's super hot and humid! But if we turned around and got gas first there's no way to get there and back before we needed to meet Lisa and Cini. So Mike promises me that we'll turn around if we don't find it in 10 miles (we know we can get at least 30 miles after the gas light comes on).

We did find it, but when we got there, I was totally freaked out. There is a big sign warning the US government to keep out and gates at the drive. There was a small house and a church-like building on the grounds. There was a mail box with "Branch Davidians, Mount Carmel" written on it and a big stone memorial. Of course, Mike and Marge wanted to get out to take pictures, but I'm just worried we're going to see someone come out of the house at any minute with their guns (it is Texas you know!) We had thought we might eat our picnic lunch there, but on seeing the place, there was no way I was staying there to eat lunch!!! So they quickly took some shots and we headed back to find a gas station. I breathed a sigh of relief as we pulled up to fill up the car. It's funny looking back on it now, but at the moment, I was not laughing so much! :)

Here's some pictures from our adventure:

This is a picture of Mount Carmel with the stone memorial reading "The Branch"

A shot of the mailbox reading "Branch Davidians, Mount Carmel"

Arriving in the great state of Texas!

A shot of the chandelier at Paciugo Gelato- it's made out of gelato spoons! The other light fixture has a printed picture of gelato spoons on the bottom.

Mike and Marge enjoying the gelato.

There's more pictures from our trip on our Picasa site if you're interested.