Jan 11, Day 3: Memphis!

[Ce post en français]

Greetings from downtown Memphis, TN! This afternoon we drove from Nashville to Memphis. We saw 5 Cracker Barrel restaurants, ate 1 bag of chips, and Benoit practiced his Southern accent (it's still awful). Highlights from Memphis: Mississippi River (!), Graceland, BBQ, live music, motel where MLK Jr. was shot, and alcoholic slushies.

Graceland was our first stop, and while neither Benoit nor I know a whole lot about Elvis, we still found the audio tour enjoyable and very well done. The house is interesting and decorated in such crazy ways.

Living room and music room

Dining room - so over the top!

Kitchen!

On the mirror-lined stairs to the basement...

Bar in the basement

TV room. Mirrors on the ceiling, coffee table, fireplace, etc.

Pool room. Headache-inducing.

The infamous Jungle room.

Complete with indoor waterfall!

Back of house

His grave.

Stork from Alsace!! 

Meditation garden

"She means we're bouncing into Graceland."

After Graceland, we came back to Memphis and walked south along the Mississippi to our BBQ spot for dinner. 

View from the hotel

Mississippi! First time ever for both of us.

The I40 Bridge. Arkansas is the other side!

 We ate at Central BBQ, which was recommended to us over Rendezvous by someone who lives in Memphis. The ribs were amazing, coleslaw crunchy and not drowning in mayo, and the chicken was not dry. Everyone was super friendly and we both had a beer from Memphis.

Ribs + Coleslaw

Combo Platter of: pulled pork + chicken, brisket, mac & cheese, bbq chips.

 Right outside the BBQ restaurant was a motel that was blocked off and seemed strange and I stopped and said, "is this where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot?" We looked it up and indeed it was. Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel. Even the cars out front haven't been moved!

To end our evening we took the trolley to Beale St to explore and look for live music. We sat at Alfred's on Beale for an hour and listened to a trio play covers from Van Morrison, the Allman Brothers, the Stones, etc. We then went to Wet Willies to try the boozy slushies. The music was impossibly loud and I ordered a blue lemonade-y drink to try but didn't drink much because it was very sweet. We took the drink outside and found a band playing in a courtyard. We took the trolley back to the hotel at 8:45 because we're exhausted and have to get up early to drive to Oklahoma! 

I think this is famous but I'm not sure why...

Goodnight from the banks for the mighty Mississippi!