Monday, April 5, 2010

Elvis, Memphis, and Ribs

I wrote yesterday about our trip in Nashville. We also spent 3 days in Memphis. Memphis is very different from Nashville and has its own sense of charm.

We arrived pretty late so of course the first thing we did after checking into the hotel was to grab some dinner. We walked down to Beale Street and went to Blues City Cafe - known for their ribs. It has a great atmosphere, full of life. I have to say I LOVED the apple cobbler. We walked around Beale Street for a little bit before heading back.

We found a few other restaurants we really liked...

We accidentally stumbled onto Pearls Oyster House and decided to check it out. The Oysters that are char-grilled in a chipotle tabasco sauce are amazing!!!














Texas de Brazil is a brazilian steak house with an amazing salad bar. Delicious!

The Rendezvous is an institution in Memphis, known for its dry ribs. We had to go! The ribs were great, but completely different than the ribs we had in Nashville. You would think by now we were done with ribs, but nope! We just kept going to more rib places! Since there is no dessert at the Rendezvous, we went to the Kooky Canuck. We wanted to go there because we had seen this restaurant on the show "Man vs. Food." My girls got the "make your own smores" and couldn't be happier.


































We also saw many things while in Memphis.

First, we had to see the ducks at the Peabody Hotel. That's right, they live in the hotel and show up in the lobby at 11:00 and 5:00. We found them in the lobby fountain.

We tried to get into the Gibson Guitar factory tour, but if you don't make a reservation ahead of time (and you also can't make it too far in advance, it needs to be just right), you can't get into the tour.

We got to see the Lorraine Motel and a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. (connected to the Civil Rights Museum).
















We also went back to the Rock and Soul Museum. What a great history of music in Memphis.

Graceland is a site to see. It was amazing to me that the house is actually right on the highway, but then I realized the area must have been built up after Elvis had died. I loved walking through the house. It is amazing how creative Elvis must have been. You see it in all parts of the house, from decor to fashion. My favorite sections were the Trophy Room and the Racket Ball Court. To see this all in one place really shows how much this man accomplished in such a short time. Wow. I have a new admiration for Elvis.













We spent alot of time on Beale Street, just walking around and listening to music. There's lots of music to listen to!

Out of town, and out of the way (about an hour or two), we went to Corinth and Shiloh to see the Civil War memorials. I didn't know the story of these two places in depth and both museums were full of information. Especially in Shiloh, where after the movie about the battle there is a driving tour and you see all the places that are discussed in the movie. It was really informative and well done!

Memphis is totally different than Nashville, but just as much worthwhile.

1 comment:

  1. Some great stuff came out of Memphis...like ME! Yup, born there, done that ;0)
    Don't tell me that you went there and didn't visit Vikki, though!
    Miss you on SparkPeople :(
    Love, Deb

    ReplyDelete