On Sunday, we drove about 90 minutes north of Austin to a city called Waco. Waco probably wouldn't be known by anyone outside of Texas were it not for the "Waco Siege" in 1993, where the US government raided the compound of David Koresh, a religious fanatic who thought he was the "final prophet." Around 74 people died in the raid, including 21 children.
We didn't go there to see the site of the massacre. I wasn't even sure where it was, but I had read somewhere that nothing was left but a plaque in remembrance of the dead. We went to check out the famous "Dr Pepper Museum" and the "Cameron Park Zoo"
As we drove through downtown to the museum, I was surprised at how completely dead it was. I think we saw one person on a street corner, and that was it. It was a ghost town. I was kind of surprised to read that rock star Ted Nugent resides in Waco. This was by no means a bustling city. I think the thing I'll remember most about my trip to Waco is that for some odd, unexplainable reason, I was bitten by fire ants as I was walking to a Bank of America to take out some money from an ATM machine. Where the hell these fire ants came from, I have no idea, but they bit my toes and it hurt like hell.
The museum was okay (I'll have pictures and a brief story about that in the next blog). Cameron Park Zoo was really nice. It totally blows away the Austin Zoo. It wasn't too big and crowded like the LA or San Diego Zoo, and it wasn't too small like Austin's. Why the capital of Texas can't have a decent zoo, I have no idea. Still, unlike Ted Nugent, I have no desire to reside in Waco. It was fun while we were there (except for the ants), but would I go back? Probably not.
(Pictures: 1. The Waco county courthouse. 2. The Dr Pepper building next to the museum. 3. The street in downtown Waco where I was bitten by fire ants. 4. The "Alico" building. 5. Sara at the Cameron Park Zoo. 6. Giraffes at the zoo.)
We didn't go there to see the site of the massacre. I wasn't even sure where it was, but I had read somewhere that nothing was left but a plaque in remembrance of the dead. We went to check out the famous "Dr Pepper Museum" and the "Cameron Park Zoo"
As we drove through downtown to the museum, I was surprised at how completely dead it was. I think we saw one person on a street corner, and that was it. It was a ghost town. I was kind of surprised to read that rock star Ted Nugent resides in Waco. This was by no means a bustling city. I think the thing I'll remember most about my trip to Waco is that for some odd, unexplainable reason, I was bitten by fire ants as I was walking to a Bank of America to take out some money from an ATM machine. Where the hell these fire ants came from, I have no idea, but they bit my toes and it hurt like hell.
The museum was okay (I'll have pictures and a brief story about that in the next blog). Cameron Park Zoo was really nice. It totally blows away the Austin Zoo. It wasn't too big and crowded like the LA or San Diego Zoo, and it wasn't too small like Austin's. Why the capital of Texas can't have a decent zoo, I have no idea. Still, unlike Ted Nugent, I have no desire to reside in Waco. It was fun while we were there (except for the ants), but would I go back? Probably not.
(Pictures: 1. The Waco county courthouse. 2. The Dr Pepper building next to the museum. 3. The street in downtown Waco where I was bitten by fire ants. 4. The "Alico" building. 5. Sara at the Cameron Park Zoo. 6. Giraffes at the zoo.)
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