Experience the best of Waco

The Waco Suspension Bridge, opened in 1870 and now used only by walkers, crosses the Brazos River beside the downtown. Dr Pepper was first mixed in a Waco drugstore in 1885, and the Dr Pepper Museum fills a bottling plant of the early twentieth century. The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, close to the river, tells the story of the state's mounted lawmen.

Cameron Park spreads along the cliffs where the Bosque and Brazos rivers meet, with trails, a zoo and views over the town. Waco Mammoth National Monument preserves a herd of Columbian mammoths where their bones were found, and Baylor University's campus holds the Armstrong Browning Library, whose stained-glass windows illustrate the poems of Robert Browning.

Brisket and sausage from the smokers, kolaches from the Czech bakeries of the surrounding towns, pecan pie and a cold Dr Pepper make up the local table. Summer is very hot, spring brings wildflowers to the roadsides, and the crisp days of autumn bring football weekends to the river.