Memphis Day 1

 

Dec 28 Of course we were up early this morning. Loaded some places of interest in the GPS as we are still not sure what we are doing today and off we go. Had our muffins that we bought in Montreal that we didn't eat yesterday for breakfast because they let us into the lounge in Montreal. It is now about 8:30 and most of the major things we want to do today do not open until 10AM. Outside we go, and what is this, we have to scrape the rear windshield, wow it did get cold last night, and of course the car rentals here do not provide scrapers in their cars. Oh and I forgot to mention that the hotel has now been downgraded to a 1.5 start for us, they are working on the roof and this morning they started warming up tar, what a lovely smell to wake up to ! So on with the day,

I had read about a cemetery tour that was highly recommended so decided to do this. It is called Elmwood Cemetery, reminded us of Elaine at home, but this is many many times the size of Elmwood in Moncton. They have a 1 hour audio tour that drives you around the cemetery and points out some of the more famous people that have been buried here, which really gives you a great history lesson of Memphis. We both really liked the tour. Some interesting facts we found out, there was a steamboat accident here where more people were killed than were on the Titanic. More people died in Memphis from yellow fever than the civil war and a couple of others combined. There is quite a large section that has been used as mass graves, people needed to be buried so quickly that they were put in these graves, very impressive when you see how big the area is. Another interesting thing was they moved cemeteries at one point, dug up the coffins to move them, wrote everyone's names in chalk on the coffins, and it rained that night, so none really knows who is who for sure. There is also a swing set beside one of the markers, this is from many years ago when a 5 year old boy lost his father, the caretaker put up the swing so it would be easier for him when he and his mother came to visit. This would be a beautiful spot to come and visit in the spring and summer, the trees are amazing, they actually have a tree tour as well, but we are really out of season to do this.

Enough of our first stop, it is now 10AM and off we head to Graceland. Last time I was here I parked at a little shopping area 2 minutes from the $10 parking that we are supposed to use, and we did this again. To get into Graceland you first line up for tickets, we got to skip this line as I had bought tickets online, then you line up for a bus to take you across the street to the actual Graceland mansion. From here you have an audio tour that takes you through the downstairs of the home, you are not allowed upstairs. Everything is still as it was in the 70's. The kitchen is funny to see the old appliances, though I am sure they were state of the art back then. You see the jungle room which is very famous, dining and living rooms, and then many of his records and awards are on display. I have done this tour before, but I still enjoyed seeing it again, and this time it was decorated for Christmas so it was a little different. Outside you get to see a racquet ball court he had put in later, the horses were outside as well, and the meditation garden where Elvis, his parents, and Grandmother are laid to rest. Lots of flowers and cards here. From here we went back across the road and toured the car, airplane, and a couple of other exhibits they have set up. It was a good tour, twice is enough for me though, but last time I only saw Graceland home, I didn't do any of the other exhibits.

By now it is 2PM, nothing to eat since our muffin at breakfast so we are off to find another famous BBQ place. This is outside of downtown called Interstate BBQ. You know you have found a good spot when there are lots of people eating at 2PM. Andre decides to order this huge sampler plate, I get a BBQ sandwich which is pulled pork and coleslaw on a bun with BBQ sauce. Andre had brisket, beef and pork ribs, pulled beef and pulled pork, and some sausage thing with bread, beans and coleslaw as sides. My very favourite was the pulled pork sandwich, which I split with Andre and tried everything else as well. Very very yummy. We are so full after this it is crazy, oh and we topped it off with sharing a piece of homemade pecan pie, yum.

From here we decide to go to Sun Record studios, I hadn't planned on this as I had done this before too, but we were kind of in Elvis mode now so we went to see how it all started. This is a really enjoyable tour, you get a lot of history about how this era of music all started, not only Elvis. We heard people on the tour say that they went to Graceland, but the lines were so long just for tickets that they decided to come to this tour today, I guess we got there at the right time, and I'm really glad we had prepaid tickets. From here back to the hotel for a nap because I really want to stay awake for the basketball game we have tickets for tonight.

 

So we are now back from the game. It was about a 10 minute walk to the FedEx stadium from our hotel which was fantastic. The game was really good, it was Memphis vs Oklahoma City. This was their home opener which I am sure made it even have more special things going on during the game. I had about a 12 year old kid sitting next to me, and he fell asleep on my shoulder during the 2^nd quarter, pay back I call it. It was quite funny. I though managed to stay awake for the whole game!! The half time show was an upcoming famous Memphis band called Free Sol. Run the other way if you are invited, not our cup of tea, think gangster, rapper and you've got it.  Forgot our binoculars which Andre was disappointed as the cheerleaders were in cute skimpy outfits. We were close enough to the court that we did not need them. This was so much more entertaining than the last game we saw in San Antonio, the crowd was so into the game, more like Boston. Memphis ended up losing by 4 points in the end I think, but it was really entertaining. After the game we walked along Beale street, fun looking at all the lights at night, then home to call it a night, another fun day planned for tomorrow.