After the charming Graduate Oxford Hotel in Oxford, MS it was on to the last two nights in Memphis, TN. Foolishly, I opted for a lame airport hotel for those two nights. In retrospect I should have gone all in for a hotel downtown for one night and really explore more of Memphis on foot. But hey, if that's the only regret I have about the trip, it's a small one.
However, I did spend quality time in Memphis. Parking is cheap and walking is free, so that's was the plan. I wandered through the touristy commercial part of Memphis on Tuesday afternoon and again on Wednesday. The Peabody Hotel is one of those Grand Hotels that everyone wants to stay at but not everyone can afford. But the lobby is free to visit and they have a fountain in that lobby where the famous Peabody ducks reside. I expected more than four ducks, but hey, they were cute anyway. The big thing is that they live upstairs and they come down in the morning on the elevator, walk a red carpet (to catch poop, I am guessing) to the fountain and hop in. The show is repeated in the early evening when they walk back to the elevator and are taken to their night lodging. I didn't see the procession, and with just four ducks it would have been a bit anticlimactic to me. The lobby is lovely, however, worth a visit.
The Memphis Civil Rights Museum is incredibly comprehensive, moving, daunting and powerful. The Lorraine Motel is where Martin Luther King Jr was killed in 1968 and part of that building is incorporated into the museum. As was true of the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, MS, you leave the exhibit shocked and sad that such injustice could occur in our country. And you know that justice has still not been served, even today. The incredible amount of material that these museums present to us, the viewer, is enormous and you cannot walk away without feeling overloaded with information and emotion. It is not to be missed if you are ever in the area.
Beale Street is like a little mix of New Orleans French Quarter and Nashville's Broadway: lots of music venues, bars, shops, restaurants, more music, more bars. There is a lot of history in these places, the blues and all the music from the South is contained somehow here. But these locations are also very touristy and the thrill is gone quickly (to use a BB King phrase) at least to me.
The last two weeks were not what I had anticipated when I planned this road trip. I expected there to be more Mississippi River and less countryside but I am so happy that it unfolded as it did. Almost without exception, the people were kind and helpful; the concept of Southern Hospitality was not lost on me for one second. People say "Hi" to you on the street, they greet you as you walk into the gas station shop to use the bathroom, people want to engage and talk and find out why you are there and where you're from. As the only white person many times in a retail store like Walgreens or in a funky gas station shop I never felt awkward or like I was in the wrong place. Cashiers were warm and chatty, wait staff call you "honey," front desk clerks quickly tell you their favorite places to eat in town and everyone made sure I was well taken care of. (As a side note, most gas station stores have hot, fresh fried chicken, biscuit sandwiches, fried other food and it is really good..... probably not a Rocky Free Range chicken but delicious nonetheless. Starting around 11:00 am people pull into gas stations not for gas but to get food to go. You can tell how good the vittles are by how many cars are in front of the store, not at the gas pumps. Seriously, two pieces of delicious fried chicken for about $3.00, you can't beat it.)
There is a lot to say about the South and the disparity between what we imagine about it and what is real there. Therefore, a few more blogs will be necessary to sort it out for myself and to report back to you, my faithful three readers. Not that my thoughts are terribly insightful, but in the end I write here for myself, to help sort out and clarify ideas and responses.
In the meantime, below is me driving into the lightning storm. I tried to capture some of the lightning but driving demanded two hands on the wheel because of the wind, rain and booming of the thunder. But it was certainly dark and it was about noon!
And to prove I was there, here is the Mississippi River from the riverfront park in Memphis.
More to follow......
.
The Memphis Civil Rights Museum is incredibly comprehensive, moving, daunting and powerful. The Lorraine Motel is where Martin Luther King Jr was killed in 1968 and part of that building is incorporated into the museum. As was true of the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, MS, you leave the exhibit shocked and sad that such injustice could occur in our country. And you know that justice has still not been served, even today. The incredible amount of material that these museums present to us, the viewer, is enormous and you cannot walk away without feeling overloaded with information and emotion. It is not to be missed if you are ever in the area.
Beale Street is like a little mix of New Orleans French Quarter and Nashville's Broadway: lots of music venues, bars, shops, restaurants, more music, more bars. There is a lot of history in these places, the blues and all the music from the South is contained somehow here. But these locations are also very touristy and the thrill is gone quickly (to use a BB King phrase) at least to me.
The last two weeks were not what I had anticipated when I planned this road trip. I expected there to be more Mississippi River and less countryside but I am so happy that it unfolded as it did. Almost without exception, the people were kind and helpful; the concept of Southern Hospitality was not lost on me for one second. People say "Hi" to you on the street, they greet you as you walk into the gas station shop to use the bathroom, people want to engage and talk and find out why you are there and where you're from. As the only white person many times in a retail store like Walgreens or in a funky gas station shop I never felt awkward or like I was in the wrong place. Cashiers were warm and chatty, wait staff call you "honey," front desk clerks quickly tell you their favorite places to eat in town and everyone made sure I was well taken care of. (As a side note, most gas station stores have hot, fresh fried chicken, biscuit sandwiches, fried other food and it is really good..... probably not a Rocky Free Range chicken but delicious nonetheless. Starting around 11:00 am people pull into gas stations not for gas but to get food to go. You can tell how good the vittles are by how many cars are in front of the store, not at the gas pumps. Seriously, two pieces of delicious fried chicken for about $3.00, you can't beat it.)
There is a lot to say about the South and the disparity between what we imagine about it and what is real there. Therefore, a few more blogs will be necessary to sort it out for myself and to report back to you, my faithful three readers. Not that my thoughts are terribly insightful, but in the end I write here for myself, to help sort out and clarify ideas and responses.
In the meantime, below is me driving into the lightning storm. I tried to capture some of the lightning but driving demanded two hands on the wheel because of the wind, rain and booming of the thunder. But it was certainly dark and it was about noon!
And to prove I was there, here is the Mississippi River from the riverfront park in Memphis.
More to follow......
.
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