Memphis Edition
So maybe we didn't get off to as early a start on the 17th as we'd thought. And while Mississippi claims "It's like coming home", the four hour drive along Hwy 78 didn't seem to offer much in the way of homeyness. The highway did pass Tupelo, the city of Elvis's birth. We didn't stop because we had a mission - to make it to the National Civil Rights Museum with enough time to tour before it closed for the evening. The National Civil Rights Museum was amazing. The museum was actually constructed around the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr was shot. The museum did a great job with the exhibits - preserving the rooms at the Lorraine as part of the museum. It was especially powerful to be able to visit over MLK weekend and so close to Obama's inaguration. I was watching CNN coverage of the inaguration the following Tuesday and they had a field reporter at a watch party being hosted at the Civil Rights Museum. I was so excited thinking to myself "Courtney and I were just there!" If you make it to Memphis, this is a mandatory place to visit.
The quote on the gate reads, "I may not get there with
you but I want you to know that we as a people will
get to the promised land"
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
After we left the Civil Rights Museum we checked into our hotel on Beale Street, threw our bags in the room and hit the streets to make it to the Peabody Hotel in time to see the 5:00pm duck parade! The Peabody Ducks are the famous residents of the fountain in the Peabody Hotel. 
They have a home on the roof and every morning they're ushered from their home, into the elevator and out across the red carpet into the fountain where they splash and play all day. Then in the evening the ducks are marched back across the red carpet and up the elevator to rest for the night. I couldn't get any good pictures from our vantage point overlooking the lobby, but check out their website for some more thoughts on the ducks. SO CUTE! Their story of the ducks becoming fountain residents involves a couple of southern gentlemen enjoying their Jack Daniels a little too much and thinking it'd be hilarious to put some ducks in the lobby of this fancy hotel. Sort of a comical story to start such a staple of Memphis culture.
They have a home on the roof and every morning they're ushered from their home, into the elevator and out across the red carpet into the fountain where they splash and play all day. Then in the evening the ducks are marched back across the red carpet and up the elevator to rest for the night. I couldn't get any good pictures from our vantage point overlooking the lobby, but check out their website for some more thoughts on the ducks. SO CUTE! Their story of the ducks becoming fountain residents involves a couple of southern gentlemen enjoying their Jack Daniels a little too much and thinking it'd be hilarious to put some ducks in the lobby of this fancy hotel. Sort of a comical story to start such a staple of Memphis culture. Courtney and I had skipped lunch and by this point were famished - Skittles and Peanut Butter M&M's don't sustain you like you'd think they would. We must have stopped at 5 restaurants looking for a place to grab a quick glass of wine and an appetizer to get us through until dinner. We passed a Canadian restaurant (Canadian cuisine - in Memphis no less - who knew?), a Brazilian steakhouse (turns out the cheapest thing on the menu was a $28 salad bar), a sushi bar or two, before finally spotting a place called The Majestic. What a surprise! The building was built in 1913 as a movie theature. It's since been renovated into a fancyish restaurant but they kept all the old decor... and still play black and white movies! The place was so sweet... and Courtney loved it, which made the discovery even better.
Thankfully our stomachs were quieted enough to go back to the hotel, rest for a few minutes, and get ready 
to go head out to Beale Street. Court and I left our cameras in the room, but tried to take some self portraits before heading out. Beale Street is sort of famous for it's sordid past. Lots of gambling, voodoo, ladies of questionable character, and most importantly - blues music. We started at B.B. King's Blues club and strolled our way down the street. We mostly skipped places with cover charges - partially because we're a little cheap, but also because we wanted to see everything. In the end, one of the few places that didn't charge us to come in was Wet Willie's where we got our grown-up slurpees on (they have inventive names such as Call-a-Cab and Attitude Improvement) and met my new favorite bartender... at least my Memphis favorite. The only other Wet Willie's I've been to was the one Carmen took me to on our Charleston adventure... it got me excited to see Carmen over President's Weekend! While finishing our slurpees we discussed the next morning's stop on our road trip... GRACELAND!!!
to go head out to Beale Street. Court and I left our cameras in the room, but tried to take some self portraits before heading out. Beale Street is sort of famous for it's sordid past. Lots of gambling, voodoo, ladies of questionable character, and most importantly - blues music. We started at B.B. King's Blues club and strolled our way down the street. We mostly skipped places with cover charges - partially because we're a little cheap, but also because we wanted to see everything. In the end, one of the few places that didn't charge us to come in was Wet Willie's where we got our grown-up slurpees on (they have inventive names such as Call-a-Cab and Attitude Improvement) and met my new favorite bartender... at least my Memphis favorite. The only other Wet Willie's I've been to was the one Carmen took me to on our Charleston adventure... it got me excited to see Carmen over President's Weekend! While finishing our slurpees we discussed the next morning's stop on our road trip... GRACELAND!!!
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