Memphis in May

Day 3

Heading out of Nashville, we still had breakfast at the Loveless even though we had more than 200 miles to go to get to Memphis. The drive out there was as eventful as any afternoon spent on an interstate but soon enough we found ourselves in the parking lot of the Heartbreak Hotel for the almost required visit to Graceland. The house itself is small for today's rich and famous folk and the interior has a few rooms left the way it was but for the most part it's a museum. Headed out of Graceland with a hearty appetite for some of the famous barbecue the city is known for. Our first stop was A & R. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and the place was closed! (You'll find almost everywhere in Tennessee good food is hard to find outside of a residential kitchen; you will find more banks and churches than anything else.) Other famous BBQ joints, Interstate BBQ and Rendezvous were again both closed. Not giving up on the quest for food we headed far east out of downtown on Poplar Avenue and hit Corky's an equally renowned smoke-pit that serves on Sundays. Here I was awarded that famous smoked pulled pork topped with a little sauce and cole slaw. Delicious! Back downtown after driving into R-Kansas for kicks we checked into the Radisson Memphis. Someday this will be a real nice hotel but when we were there the lobby was under construction and ramshackly. H passed out from the pace we set so far but without hesitation I strolled over to the Peabody Hotel to see the famous Ducks get escorted from the lobby fountain to the rooftop penthouse. Back on the street outside carriages lined up like it was Central Park South. Went back to our hotel and at the bar downstairs sipped on a JD Single Barrel waiting out the nap H was taking. Once refreshed we headed out onto Beale Street to check out the famous Memphis music scene. All we really saw was people drinking hurricanes and REALLY BIG BEERS (in 32-oz plastic cups) served right out on the street. There is always some room for some good Southern cooking so we had supper at Isaac Hayes's soul food restaurant for catfish bites, gumbo, fried chicken, and turkey meatloaf. Food was fine but typical among the big corporate eateries. One more lap on Beale for some pictures, but my camera died and would not read the SD card. Almost-tragic loss of 200+ photos, but thanks to Wal-Mart I was able to save those memories to CD.