We visited Waco in March 2016 as part of Big Trip #1.
No offense to Waco, but we didn’t seek it out as a specific destination, rather as a stopover to break up the drive from Hot Springs to Fredericksburg, TX. We didn’t expect to do much there, but we had a good time!
Camping
We stayed at Midway Park, on Waco Lake. Nice wooded sites, no wifi, easy drive to stores and food. The nicer campsites are lake-front, with covered picnic tables, but from the looks of the trailers parked there those spots fill up with long-term residents.
Running
We were on day 3 of pouring rain, and we didn’t want to run on the roads (so B could have some off-leash time), so the Cotton Belt Trail was perfect: it’s a 2.5 mile paved former railroad bed, with only one road crossing. Bugsy got to chase some fun Texas wildlife–her new favorite is grackles–and we didn’t have to run in the mud. A few other runners and biking families were out taking advantage of a lull in the rain on this lovely trail.
Beer
What else do we do when we hit a town? We seek out local breweries. Bare Arms Brewing is the only brewery in Waco; it’s fabulously low-key, and their success will hopefully pave the way for others. J describes the brewery here.
At 6:00 we had a date with ESPN for the UVA-Georgia Tech game, and as we couldn’t get the DirecTV dish working at the campsite (due to weather? trees? or the fact that it fell over in Hot Springs and has a dent?) we watched the game at Salty Dog Sports Bar, just a few minutes from the campground. They have some local beers on tap–I had a Revolver Brewing Blood and Honey, from Dallas, which was decent–and a zillion TVs scattered around. The food was also decent, although if you like fried food you’d be in heaven. My meal was served in a dog bowl, which entertained me. It was a fine place to watch our team win.