Last weekend we drove 2 hours outside of Dallas to check out the Dr. Pepper Festival in Dublin, TX. I’m not sure how I learned about the event, but I bookmarked it months ago and wanted to make the long trip out there to see what it was all about. I had no idea what it would be like, as the website really wasn’t very clear, but I gave them a call to find out when things were going on and when we would need to be there by to check out all of the action, and we loaded up T1 and headed out with some friends on a little Texas roadtrip adventure.

Hard to believe, but Dublin is actually smaller than my hometown! Although there are more buildings and shops there, so I think they just have smaller city boundaries than we do (our city boundaries are like 20 miles wide every way!)

The friends who agreed to go with us. J, the husband, works with TH and they are quite possibly the chicest and most fashionable couple we know.

A little family photo.

One of my favorite things about J and L is that they are GREAT posers. They love to pose next to the things they see when they travel, something TH definitely does not get excited about.

The website said they were going to be handing out free Dr. Pepper but apparently we missed that part. We could have tried to slip one of these in our purse but they looked kind of old and unappetizing.

T1 did great!

They had all kinds of Dr. Pepper flavored products to try, including Dr. Pepper jerky. I liked it, and I’m pretty picky about jerky. I didn’t really think it tasted like Dr. Pepper though.

We got there after the sand sculpter finished creating his masterpiece. Who do you think has the honor of knocking it down at the end of the day?

As I said before, I called to find out what time we would be okay to arrive by, because the website was unclear and I wanted to make sure that we wouldn’t be too late. I was told that things don’t shut down until 5, so we figured getting there around 3:30 would work great. We bought some frostys, ate our jerky, and slowly made our way over to the line for the plant tour, the part we were most excited for. A lady in an official looking tshirt turned around and told us that she was the end of the line and no one else was allowed to go on a tour!

Suddenly I became my mother’s daughter and I marched right into the store and told them very firmly that I had done my homework to make sure we had arrived there on time, we had driven 2 hours, and that we came anticipating a tour of the plant. A very nice employee (I believe his name was Kenny) pulled me aside and told me that we could have a special little tour of our own if we came back in 15 minutes after the crowd had gone. We were so grateful and the tour was actually really cool! Very short, but that’s exactly how we liked it to be. The machines they are using to bottle the glass bottles are incredibly old.

This is the lineup of drinks that this plant produces. After visiting this plant I really want to go visit The Soda Gallery in Dallas.

I’m awful with details so I can’t remember much about the tour and the history of the plant, but they take you into this little museum room filled with memorabilia that the original owner collected over time. My favorite part was getting a glimpse of some of the “fail” products that they attempted, as well as the products that have attempted to imitate the taste of Dr. Pepper over time.

We finished our day off with a Big Red and got back in the car for our 2 hour drive home. Wouldn’t have been the same without that extra special private tour that the employees at the factory gave us! A nice little reminder that small town folk are the best. :)

I would love to go to more events like this, but I’m never sure how to find them. Any tips for me for future adventures?

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