Walkin’ in Memphis–part 2

We didn’t have much planned for Sunday; we just figured we’d go to mass in one of the churches in Memphis, and then drive around and see some of the sights.

We ended up at a beautiful old church in downtown Memphis for mass, just a few blocks from Beale Street, and they even had coffee and donuts afterward.  We stayed for a donut, and ended up talking to a local couple who gave us a few tips on things to see in the city.

Their first recommendation was to visit the ducks in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel.

The hotel lobby was stunningly beautiful – decorated for Christmas – and we stopped to visit the ducks in their little fountain pool.

There was an amazing display of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory – all made out of chocolate and candy!

It was really cool – the base was all covered in candy sprinkles, with chocolate Oompa Loompas, candy trees . . . tons of detail!  We looked for a while, but never did find Willy Wonka anywhere.

There were several restaurants and shops on the ground floor of the hotel, including this cool Men’s Store – known as the Clothier to the King.

They had guitars and other memorabilia all over the walls, and claims that every artist represented there have shopped with them at some time.

They had some really nice clothes, very stylish . . . and some really off the wall stuff, too!

Tom found some blue suede shoes . . . and they were on clearance!

How ‘bout those jackets!?!  I told Bryce he needed one!

Next we took the elevator to the Sky Deck,

where we were told we could see the ducks’ penthouse apartment, and have a 360 degree view of the city.

We found the palace!

We walked around the rooftop . . . carefully . . . it was windy up there!

Nice views!

L

Leaving The Peabody, we decided to take a drive down toward Graceland.  We weren’t sure what to expect, but were surprised to see a fairly normal-looking home, mostly hidden behind a tall stone wall that has been completely covered by messages from fans.

We parked in the pull-off in front of the house, and walked to the opening at the driveway for a better view of the house.

Yeah, that was as close as we got!  We enquired about tickets, but at $50 each, plus another $10 for parking, we just couldn’t get excited about seeing the house.

This is good enough for us!

Heading back toward downtown, we decided to take a driving tour of Elmwood Cemetery. 

Their office isn’t open on Sunday, so we couldn’t get a brochure to follow along, so we just took a drive through.

It’s an old cemetery, with the graves of many famous political and civil rights leaders buried here, as well as some Confederate soldiers.

The Confederate grave markers were very old – just blocks of stone, really -  and this tree’s roots were growing right through the graves, with may of the stones embedded right into the tree roots.

There were family plots,

and community plots (this appeared to be all Chinese families),

and some of the older gravestones were very ornate.

This is something we’ve never seen before – a swing in a cemetery!

The Chapel

OK, well that was an interesting little tour, and now we were hungry so we headed back towards the Beale Street and Main Street areas.  I was looking for a place for lunch, and we found a fried chicken place with high reviews.

Turned out it was a famous fried chicken place, and they now have franchises all over the world, including 3 in the Detroit area that we were totally unaware of! 

I doubt if any of them have the atmosphere of the original, though!

It was quite the “hole in the wall”, but it was bustling in there, and the chicken was really good!

Our last stop before heading back to the RV was at the Bass Pro Shop, along the bank of the Mississippi River.

It was quite a place, and we spent some time walking around and doing a little shopping.  They had a pretty Christmas tree, as well,

and a tall elevator to the top of the pyramid – no, we did not take a ride up in that!  Too tall, and it was windy outside on that balcony that it takes you to!

We had a nice couple of days exploring Memphis, and then it was time to take a day off from being tourists and then continue into Arkansas!

Walkin’ in Memphis–part 1

Black Friday – the rest of the world may have been out Christmas shopping, but we were making our way across Kentucky on the Cumberland Parkway (nice drive!),

and into Tennessee.

We needed to get to central Arkansas early on the following Tuesday to get some work done on our Aqua Hot system, so we made the decision to bypass Nashville (we’ve been there a couple of times in the past) and go straight to Memphis for the weekend.  We’d never been there before, so we could do some exploring, and have a fairly short drive on Tuesday.

After a quick overnight stop just about an hour east of Memphis, where Tom had to do a quick repair job on the steps in the morning before we could get on the road,

we crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas.

Woo-Hoo!  A new state to add to our map!

When we were researching campgrounds, there were two main ones that RVers tended to stay in – either the Graceland RV Park, or the Tom Sawyer RV Park across the river in West Memphis, AR.  Tom Sawyer was clearly the favorite, with its views of the Mighty Mississippi,

and close proximity to downtown Memphis, and we weren’t really sure if we would go to Graceland anyway, so we chose Tom Sawyer as our destination.

Even with our little repair job in the morning, we still arrived before noon and had to wait a little while to get on our site.  It wasn’t long, though, as soon enough we were all set up and ready to do some exploring.

We don’t normally plan to do anything on travel days, but it was Saturday, and our reason for arriving early was so that we could experience Beale Street on Saturday night.  So that’s what we did!

We found a place to park just one block off Beale Street, and set out on foot.  While it was still light out, we visited the various touristy gift shops.  There were a few interesting ones,

but for the most part, they all had the same touristy “stuff”.  We did find a nice sticker for the Jeep – our only purchase!

There were street performers and musicians,

photo ops,

music notes in the sidewalk,

horse-drawn carriages,

and painted guitars.

Elvis memorabilia was everywhere, as well as B.B. King.

We were also trying to pick a restaurant for dinner, and after getting a couple of recommendations for the Blues City Cafe, we decided to give it a try.

They definitely didn’t disappoint!  We split the full rack of ribs meal, with an added salad, and it was plenty of food for the two of us!  So good!

They’re keeping the legacy alive!

After dinner, the sun was beginning to set and the neon lights were coming on.

We walked up and down the street again, stopping to listen to the various performers at outdoor stages.

We sat and listened to Cowboy Neal until the end of his show – they were really good!

The outdoor musicians were packing up about the same time our time was running out on our meter, and we were ready to head back to the RV by then . . .

We did manage to catch the last few minutes of the MSU football game in a sushi bar – happy to see them pull off a win!

Walking back to the Jeep, we spotted a pretty Christmas tree in front of one of the hotels,

and back at the RV, we spotted the moon rising over the river while we took Casey out for a walk.

It was a wonderful evening!