Nathan and Laurisa recently tied the knot in Laurisa's hometown of Mobile, Alabama. Justin and I drove the fourteen hundred miles to the wedding, stopping along the way at Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas, and enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way.
Our first state to enter...
As you drive into the west side of El Paso there is a huge statute of a roadrunner on the hill.
We spotted this armadillo statute in the middle of a little Texas town.
In Waco we went and found my favorite fixer upper house.
After seeing the Harp House we drove over to Magnolia Market at the Silos in downtown Waco.
Of course we had to sample the sweet treats available at the Magnolia Flour bakery.
...inside a corner of the market...
If you don't know exactly what the story behind the Magnolia Market is, I'll try to briefly explain...
Chip and Joanna Gains are a couple from Waco that own a construction company called Magnolia Homes. Chip does the demolition and remodeling of the homes and Joanna does the designing part before they hand it off to their clients. They have their own TV show now called "Fixer Upper" and Magnolia Market is where they sell decor for homes, t-shirts and hats, garden supplies, Joanna's paint line, and so much more. They used to have a smaller shop but just recently renovated "the silos" in downtown Waco where their market is located now. They also have a B&B, the bakery, a small garden supply shop called "Magnolia Seed and Supply", as well as their construction business. They are a very inspiring couple who work well together and create beautiful homes!
Louisiana was a pretty state to drive through. We took a little detour around some road work on the main road and passed fields and fields of sugar cane. I've never seen sugar cane fields before so that was pretty cool!
We also spotted a message.com sign while driving in Louisiana!
We drove for miles and miles on these bridge type roads above the swamps and small bodies of water.
When we entered Mississippi it was raining really hard so this is the only picture I have of the Mississippi state sign. I tried to get a picture of every state sign as we entered but you know the one sign I missed was Alabama's :-/
The wedding was a grand event held in a gorgeous ball room.
Happily married couples :)
Joanna and I
On our way home we stopped at a Bass Pro Shop and walked around for a bit. This is the biggest snapping turtle I've ever seen! Thankfully I didn't come face to face with it back in PA in our neighbor's pond!
