Dr. Pepper Museum, Waco, TX,
originally uploaded by Rachel Smith.

One of those photos I mentioned… More soon. This is the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas, where we frittered away a delightful and nostalgic 45 minutes or so. For more Waco pix, browse my Flickr entries. I’m new at that, too, so most of them are from this trip :-)

Waco is sprinkled with surprising architecture. The McLennan County Courthouse is lovely, although the main entrance is boarded up and one enters through a door under the stairs. Near where we had lunch we found a delightful building, an opinion evidently shared by many: it has its own website. The crown of the visit, though, was the Dr. Pepper Museum, an unexpected find that tempted us to actually park and go in. While Larry — who lives in Texas, after all — stood far enough away that he could disclaim any association with us two crazy Californians if worse came to worst, Peter and I snapped pictures of the soda fountain (and the actual soda jerk, who was a very nice young woman possessing the patience of several saints), the gift shop, the building’s façade, and each other enjoying our genuine fountain drinks. I had a Dr. Pepper (it seemed appropriate) which she mixed for me right there. Peter, ever adventurous, ordered a hot Dr. Pepper, also mixed at the counter, heated in a coffeepot-like thing and served with lemon. Wild.

I did take photos and will add those, um, let’s just say “later” since my schedule this week is so weird. Thank you, thank you to those of you who are commenting on and linking to my fledgling blog!