Memphis in 18 Hours

Talk about a whirl wind! When we were invited to Memphis to celebrate Craig's birthday, Jonathan and I were both thinking, "sure! We've never been". We had no idea the adventure we were in for.
When we left Friday night after a long day of work we were all starving. After driving mile after mile with no food options in sight, we finally saw our first stop; the Loretta Lynn Kitchen & Gift Shop. In the community of Buffalo and the town of Hurricane Mills (Her a cun), it offers a buffet, truck parking and free wi-fi; we knew it was the perfect place to start our story. Basically a shrine to the women her self complete with a stage and manikin that really freaked us out.

After we finally arrived in Memphis and checked into our hotel, our tour guide for the weekend instructed us to our first stop, Harriet & Ernestine's. The building was originally a hotel & sundry... or at least that was what the sign said. In reality, it was a brothel until 1990! Legend has it the place is also haunted but we didn't need to be told that when we walked in. Upstairs, in the back room is Nate the ghostly old man who has seen his share of the "goings on" in the building. He shared with us a little about the two ladies who ran it backed by the sounds of the out-of-tune piano which added to the ire feelings we all had.

It wasn't long before we were all ready to get out of that place and the next stop on the agenda. No trip to Memphis would be complete without a trip to Beal Street. The last thing I expected to see in downtown Memphis however were goats. Silky O'Sullivans, an Irish Pub/Piano Bar/Patio and home of the Diver and a couple goats. The goats were originally feed beer and given empty cans to chew on. Evidently, Animal Rights came in and said that wasn't the best idea and put a stop to it so now the goats just hang out.

Before calling it a night, we had to stop for some good fried food including a Skillet Fried Pie at Ike & Tina's table. This was the first time any of us had seen 3am in ages!
The next morning, we were off to the Peabody to see the Duck March. Word of advice, if you plan to actually SEE the ducks, get there two our prior and stake out your spot. We could hear the music but never saw the ducks until the March was over, ducks were in the water, and the crowds begin to move away. But, we were there.

Our next stop was the most controversial to all who we've talked to since. WE DID NOT GO TO RENDEZOUS. The ghost of Nate AND our tour guide Tyler BOTH recommended Corkey's over Rendezous! So, that's were we went. The food was great and we were all miserable for about a hour afterwards.

The five of us rolled our stuffed tummies into "Ernestine the Gumball Machine" as Tyler directed our tour of the city. Ernestine, as she was named after our visit the night before, is Steph's bright red Honda Fit - we looked like a bunch of clowns!

Tyler isn't really a tour guide. He is a friend of Steph and Craig's who has been living in Memphis for the last year but he did an excellent job showing us around. His tour was only briefly interrupted by the occasional Broadway singer in the car beside us.

This wasn't necessary the tour most people would pay to take. We saw downtown, the campus of U of M, Mud Island, and some of the rougher areas of town including. We saw wheel chair gangs, homeless people passed out all over the place, and one particular house with an old fruit basket hanging on a power pole as a basketball goal. This was the kind of tour that made you thankful for what you had.

Before leaving town we had to head out to Graceland. The last tour had already left so although we didn't get to see in the inside of the house we at least got to go through the gift shops and take some pictures of the outside. I've heard some stories about the interior decor of Graceland so I was surprised at how elegant the outside appeared.

We saw what we thought was a family reunion outside the E.H. Ford Mercury Dealership but then realized it was actually the E.H. Ford Mortuary!

As we get back on the interstate out of town, we had one last stop to make to see Steph's uncle. After getting some pretty crappy directions, we pulled a U-turn right in front of a cop. Neat. So, we had a run in the the Memphis Police to complete our trip! Luckily, the guy was really nice and let us go since it was Craig's birthday.