tennessee

I love Memphis.


There are so many things to love about Memphis - the music, the civil rights history, the food…

Its no surprise that within hours of arriving in Memphis we went to go find BBQ. I actually think we had planned on making our own dinner that night, but as Guy was looking up restaurants and reading the menus, I do believe I would have lost my mind if I didn’t indulge immediately. Of course there are a ton of BBQ places to go to in Memphis, but we decided on a place called Interstate BBQ. The man who owns the place is the uncle of the well-known “Neely’s” from the food network. Most of the reviews online talked about how incredible the food was, but also mentioned terrible service and how “ghetto” the place was. We experienced nothing but the best on all fronts. We decided to eat a gigantic sampler platter, which included pork Ribs, beef Ribs, sausage, beef brisket, pork shoulder, B-B-Q spaghetti, beans, potato salad and bread. The waitress mentioned that most of the time two people can’t finish the platter. Not only did we finish it, but we each ordered our own dessert as well! Guy had a sweet “sock-it-to-me cake, and I had sweet potato pie. The whole meal was incredibly delicious, and started our time in Memphis on a fantastic note.

The next morning we went to the Peabody Hotel, a beautiful four-star hotel, to see the famous Peabody Ducks. Apparently its been a tradition since 1933 to march a group of ducks from their rooftop “Royal Duck Palace” to the fountain in the lobby by way of red carpet. The “Duck Master” brings them in at 11:00 and then leads them back upstairs at 5:00 everyday. To see more about the ducks click here: http://www.peabodymemphis.com/peabody_ducks/index.cfm It was fun to watch and yes, they were duckling.

After the ducks we headed over to Beale Street to check out the sights. We popped into a few stores, including A. Schwab - a quirky place that sells everything from voo doo accessories to quirky hats to XXXXL overalls. There are many eateries on Beale St, and we landed on Miss Polly’s Soul City Cafe for lunch where I dined on a delicious fried green tomato BLT. Following our lunch, we went to the Civil Rights Museum. It was incredible. The amount of information packed into this place is a bit overwhelming, but I have a particular interest in Civil Rights history, so I soaked it all up. I think we were there for four hours and could have stayed longer just to read through all of the material. Included in the museum (in fact, its built right into it) is the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It was a very powerful experience to walk by the hotel room where he was staying (they had it staged to look exactly as it did that day) and look onto the balcony to the place where his life was taken. Naturally, the museum emphasized MLK Jr’s role in the civil rights movement, but I was impressed at how comprehensive the material was, from the early beginnings of America, to present day. The museum was definitely one of my favorite things about Memphis. http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/permexhibits.htm

The next day in Memphis was equally packed with Memphis goodness. The day began with a tour of Sun Studio, the “birthplace of rock n roll.” This is where Elvis got his start, and other musicians recorded, such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, BB King, and Carl Perkins. There were several interesting artifacts they had there, including the guitar and jacket Elvis wore when he made his television debut, as well as lots of great photos of many of the early musicians that recorded at Sun Studio. When we went into the actual recording part of the studio, our guide mentioned that the walls, floors, ceilings - were all original to the building - nothing has been changed. The studio itself isn’t very visually impressive or anything spectacular, but…it still was pretty cool to stand where some of the aforementioned artists recorded their music. At the end of the tour, we were allowed to pose with one of the original (of 5) microphones that these musicians undoubtedly used.

After our time of stardom, Guy surprised me by taking me to another fabulous meal of soul food deliciousness at Fourway Restaurant. I had the best fried chicken served with greens, yams, cornbread and sweet tea. And we really toned it down from the BBQ place because we SHARED a dessert this time - lemon meringue pie. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Since never of us were too keen on going to Graceland (not to mention the hefty price of $25 per person just to get in), we decided to just drive by it, take a few pics from afar, and move along.

Later that night, we decided to head back to Beale Street, for a taste of the nightlife. We thought about heading to a club to see a local band play some live blues, but decided just to take in the sights (plus we could kind of hear the music from the streets for free anyways). It was a fun, lively vibe, and since alcoholic beverages are allowed on the streets, lots of people were outside. After enjoying a beverage each, we called it a night - the wild partiers that we are!

One final stop we made before heading out of Memphis was stop at the Juneteenth celebration to see a few acts perform and grab a quick bite. Due to the extreme heat (little did I know that would be nothing compared to what we have since encountered) it was a rather quick encounter, but glad we stopped.

By the way…are you wondering what we’re doing in Memphis after Niagara Falls? Hmmm. Well, let’s just say that we had a bit of “falling out” that led us quietly back to Minnesota for a short period, where we re-evaluated things and decided to give it another go - this time towards the south. As wonderful as our travels have been, life on the road certainly isn’t always easy! So, I’ll leave it at that, and hope to have many more stories to come. :)