Today was the third day of our road trip and we planned to a shorter drive so that we could spend more time visiting the spots we wanted to see. Memphis was only two hours from Little Rock, so we took our time leaving the hotel and arrived in Memphis around 2 o' clock in the after noon.
The first stop on our agenda was a visit to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. Neither Annie or myself were even a little bit tempted to spend the $30 per person to actually go inside, so we just stood at the gate with the other cheapskates and took pictures of Elvis' lawn.
And what visit to Graceland would be complete without the mandatory picture by the gate?
I know that there are some Elvis fans out there that are probably saving every penny so that they can make their pilgrimage to the final resting place of the King, so in that respect I feel like we did a slight injustice to the memory of Elvis Presley by not going inside. But $60 is a lot of money for a couple of people that simply don't care.
However, our next stop was something that Annie and I were more than willing to spend time and money on. We visited the Lorraine Motel where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated.
In 1991, a few years after the Lorraine was foreclosed in, the motel was converted into the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum was very impressive and extremely thorough, giving a full account of the struggle to equality of the African American people over the past 150 years. There were recreations of the bus that Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of, the prison cell that MLK Jr was kept in and story after story that expressed their hardships. Annie and I were glad to have gone and we highly recommend it to anyone traveling through Memphis. Outside of the museum they have maintained the original appearance of the motel from the day the shooting took place, adorned with a wreath on the balcony that has been there for over 40 years.
We ventured to a part of Memphis known as Beale Street,which evidently refers the name of the street that it is located on. It's basically a really big bar with a lot of drunk people walking around drinking beer out of giant buckets (not kidding). But after about 10 minutes of walking around in the rain, Annie and I noticed something really odd: everyone was wearing rain ponchos and galoshes. I am not exaggerating either, literally everyone was dressed this way. To prove that I am not exaggerating I took a picture. How many pairs of galoshes can you count?
Its like everyone planned it, but then purposefully forgot to tell us so that we would look stupid.
For dinner we decided to try this place in downtown Memphis called Rendezvous that came highly recommended by a television program. It boasted original, Memphis style barbecue served out of the same alley since 1948. Something else it boasted? Not being open on Sundays! Oh well, the sign made it look delicious though....
Instead of Rendezvous, we decided to go with our back up eatery called the Cozy Corner which was only a few miles away, which ended up being closed as well. So this time we decided to call #3 on our list instead of driving there. Turns out they are closed on Sundays too! But lucky for us, our 4th option was a delicious Memphis style rib joint run by a bunch of heathens that keep their restaurant open on Sunday. It was called Leonard's and has been open since the 1920's. The sign depicted a lovable cartoon pig named Mr. Brown who is dressed up in a top hat and coat and spinning a neon flashing cane (I guess that's what you are supposed to do when you go "to town").
We ate some very delicious pulled pork shoulder and smoked ribs. Just the kind of meal that we needed to tide us over for our 3 hour drive to Nashville in the pouring rain.
We arrived in Nashville a little after 9pm and after we settled into our hotel, we went back out. Annie was craving a hot fudge sundae so we found a little ice cream shop in downtown Nashville and ate our dessert while it rained out on the streets. Shortly after, we returned to our hotel and called it a night.
I really had fun today and I'm glad that we were able to slow it down a little bit and enjoy some of the great parts of the country.
Brett
4 comments:
Memphis is a cool old southern town. Lots of history and some good eats. It sounds like you made the rounds pretty good. Did you get down to the river walk area?
Seven. I counted seven pairs of galoshes. I think.
You should also Tweet your trip every 10 minutes. Stuff like: "Still sitting car more later." "Still sitting in car. Just passed a tree. More later." "Still in the car. Holla back."
Looks like you guys are having tons of fun.
That Mexican food looked so delish. I am salivating
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