Adventuring in McKinney

The school year ended in mid-June whereupon I instantly got sick with a cold. It’s only been a couple of days that I’ve felt well enough to leave the house so I was ready for an adventure.

My adventure had three parts: a volksmarch, pie, and a geocache. I know. I know. Pie doesn’t seem to fit but I deserve it!

McKinney is some forty-odd miles from home. The last time I was in McKinney was almost a decade ago when I brought my cat to McKinney’s animal shelter for a low-cost spay. McKinney was much, much smaller then.

Historical downtown McKinney dates back to the 1860s. The downtown area is in great shape, full of boutique shops and local interests. We ate breakfast at Snug on the Square because it had been highly recommended on TripAdvisor. The breakfast sandwiches were good; the service was okay.

This historical walk begins at the Grand Hotel. It’s lovely. The lady at the desk told me that it used to be part of the McKinney Opera House. If you go, check out the ceilings and the display of weapons . Their reading library is impressive, too. I was disappointed to see that we were walkers #2 and #3 for 2018.

I had a suspicion that the hotel was haunted. I was right.

The walk takes the pedestrian past many historical homes (marked with placards) with lovely, fragrant, shaded gardens. Because of construction, we got lost and ended up walking a bit more than the 5k we signed up for.

Food Pantry Volunteer

One of our favorite discoveries was a Food Pantry Box. We thought we’d spotted a Little Free Library being filled. Then we noticed that it wasn’t books being loaded into the box–it was food!  It turns out that the city of McKinney, in cooperation with several entities, including Lowe’s, had nine Food Pantry boxes around the town square. Volunteers load the boxes with food items and anyone in need may take food from the boxes. The boxes operate 24/7/365. No paperwork; no shame. Awesome!

After our walk, we headed over to the Pie Emporium, only a couple of blocks from the Grand Hotel. I knew the pies would be expensive ($6 a slice) but I’d also heard it would be worth it. Sweetie had a slice of Mellow Yellow–a citrus chiffon pie. I had a slice of Cherry Bomb a la mode. It was worth it.

Finally, we were ready for step 3: the geocache. I’ve had this one in my sights since the Texas Geocaching Challenge. Nailed it!

Truthfully, it was a great way to celebrate the onset of summer.