I get lots of eMails letting me know of upcoming events at venues we have attended things at in the past. I received one regarding Alton Brown. He did a cooking show that Claude loved called Good Eats. A couple of years ago, he brought his stage show to Eastern Kentucky University. Claude and I went to that and had such a great time. During that show, Alton prepared wings. It was an enormous cooker and at the end he gave out the wings to the first people as they left the theater. As good fortune would have it, we were seated a few rows from the front and went out the side door at the front. Claude was able to score one of Alton Brown's ribs. He was one happy camper. When this notice came, I asked Claude if he would like to go again. Well, of course he would. This show would be in Memphis at the Orpheum Theater. I purchased tickets and then realized we could add a few days at the front and make a road trip out of it. We have never spent days in Memphis. Time to do that! I researched and found the things we might like to do in the time we had in Memphis. Ran it past Claude and we settled on the things to do. I made the grid and hotel reservations and we were ready to travel...again!
Wednesday, April 30th, we got up and showered and loaded the car. Bojangles was our first stop. It is tradition after all!! Then Claude pointed the car toward Lawrenceburg, Kentucky so we could get on the parkway toward Nashville.
As we approached Lawrenceburg, I commented to Claude how foggy the morning still was. His reply, "If you are into gray and green, you are in good shape!"
Later, Claude stopped for gasoline. Now, we don't pack snacks for a trip. When we stop for gasoline, the question is water or soda, sweet or salty. Claude turns to me and asked if I needed any snacks. I assured him I had just had a biscuit and soda and was in good shape, no snack needed. I explained we could always stop for a snack and stretch our legs if needed later. To which my very witty hubby says, "Will yours get any longer?" Oh My!!
Along the way we passed this cute trailer. I posted it on our family Facebook page with the words, "Don't worry. Be happy!"
We made it to Memphis in good time for a 6 1/2 hour drive plus stops. We checked into the Comfort Inn on Front Street. Now, we had stayed at this hotel once before on a return trip. Spent one night in it and really liked it. When I made the reservation, they only had one room left and it was a city view room. I really wanted a river view room but was a mite late. Imagine my absolute thrill when we got to our room on the 14th floor (they don't even have a 13th floor) and our room was a river view room. I am pretty sure my being a Gold Member with Choice Privileges helped me get this room. It was be an absolutely wonderful room for our stay. There was a window that covered one end of the room and we had a beautiful view of the Mississippi River with the Wolf River Harbor and Mud Island Park between us and the River. We also had a full view of the Hernando de Soto Bridge which has a light show every evening from sunset to 10pm. I was one happy, happy camper.It was time for a real meal. We looked over all we had on hand and picked a possible place to eat. We walked to this restaurant only to find it was closed. Ugh. However, when we spent the one night in Memphis before, we ate at the Bar Dog Bar. We walked there and had a delicious meal again.
I opened the curtains all the way and we enjoyed watching the evening along the Mississippi River. This included the DeSoto Bridge light display. Here are a few pictures of the different colors. A great first day of our trip!Thursday, May 1st, the forecast had been for a rainy day. We were delighted to find that the rain in the night was it. We would have a perfectly lovely day for being tourists. We would spend this day walking. The car would stay in the parking garage.
This is a map of the part of Memphis we would be touring. The asterisk is where our hotel is located. There are numbers for the places we would visit:
- Orpheum Theater, 203 So. Main St. at Beale St.
- Sun Studio, 706 Union Ave.
- Cotton Museum, 65 Union Ave.
- Duck Walk, Peabody Hotel, 149 Union Ave.
- Bass Pro Pyramid, 1 Bass Pro Drive.
- Mudd Island Park
- Mississippi River Model
- Memphis River Boats, 45 Riverside Drive.
First, we walked to the Peabody Hotel. (#4 on the Map) This hotel is beautiful. It was originally located a little further down the block. Then this big, beautiful wood-paneled building was built. We would be in the lobby. The marble feature in the fountain is made of one piece of marble.
The purpose of our visit was to watch the Duck Walk. Our napkin tells a bit of the story. There is a man dressed in a red jacket who is the 'Duck Master'. The original Duck Master came to work as a bellman from the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. He watched the ducks roaming around and went to the owners. He assured them he could train those ducks to live in a house on the roof, then come down the elevator and walk to the fountain each day at 11am and return from the fountain to the elevator and then their roof home at 5pm each day. They agreed and the rest is history. This Duck Master served in that capacity for many years until he retired. There is a special red carpet that runs from the elevator to the fountain. Then there are red carpeted steps from the floor to the top of the fountain. The ducks are herded by the Duck Master and the public is invited to watch at 11am and 5pm each day. This day, the current Duck Master invited four little sisters to help him unroll the red carpet from the fountain to the elevator before the ducks came down the elevator. The Duck Master gives a brief history of the Peabody Hotel and its owners and the Duck Master and Ducks prior to the show. We scored excellent seats (everyone must stay seated as the ducks enter) with a great view from one side of the fountain to the elevator.These pictures are the Duck Master (his cane for shepherding the ducks has a brass duck head on the top, the kids rolling the red carpet to the elevator, the ducks getting into the fountain.After we walked to the picture in the entry of the original Duck Master.On the sidewalk outside the Peabody Hotel are duck footprints with their names on them. The ladies we sat beside stayed in the Peabody Hotel. She said everything is duck themed. They even had little bars of soap in the guest rooms that are shaped like ducks! It was fun to experience this piece of Memphis history.We had not had anything to eat and were feeling a mite peckish. We walked back up Union Street to the Jimmy John's and had ourselves a nice sandwich.
As you walk these streets, look down and up. There are markers in the sidewalk and on the sides of buildings that give you fun bits of history about the spot where you are standing.
We had reservations to ride a riverboat. But, we had time to kill before this happened, so we opted to tour the Cotton Museum. (#3 on the Map) It is at the corner of Union and Front Streets.
This was a well laid our museum housed in the old Cotton Exchange Building. It has a great history of cotton and shares its connection with the music of its time and location. Claude and I were the only two people visiting the museum at this time. Having grown up in Louisiana, I was very well aware of cotton plants. After harvesting, there were always lots of stray cotton bolls blowing in the areas where they grew. Seeing this museum and learning about cotton was something I really wanted to do. A scale for weighing bales of cotton.Cotton Cards for stretching and untangling the cotton so it can be made into thread.
Picking Books to records how much cotton was picked each day.
A small Cotton Gin (Gin is short for engine)
We used these irons at Gramma and Grampa Fisch's home in Louisiana. They had no electricity. These were heated on the old stove and used to iron our clothes. She had several so that some could be heating while she was ironing with the others.
Gramma Fisch saved Feed Sacks and Mimi used them to make clothes for us girls.
I was amazed at what a Boll Weavil looks like. In the late 1800s, boll weevils entered the United States from Mexico. These little bugs caused enormous damage to America’s cotton crop. Even though the boll weevils were terrible pests, an unknown author decided to have a little fun with the problem and write this song. The song is called The Boll Weevil Song. We used to sing it when I was a child.
This is the Million Dollar Quartet and this picture would be found in lots of places in Memphis. The men are Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.
The museum is housed in the old Cotton Exchange building. Chalkboards would have been their 'big screen' view of transactions. Two men on ladders recorded so all could see. That is Claude sitting in the chair watching.
A spinning wheel over the door.
This chair is really tall. It was called the Head Classer chair. He could sit taller than those classifying the grade of the cotton to oversee their work.
Across the hall was a second part of the museum. There were several displays that caught my attention. This was one of the first. It is a bloom on a cotton plant and explains that pollination changes the color of the flower from white to pink to red. The flower will eventually dry up and fall off leaving the boll at the bottom which will become the cotton boll. Learning about this process explained something that happened to Claude and I long ago as we were driving in Louisiana. We passed a very colorful field. We knew it was a cotton field but we're surprised by colored flowers. Claude's quick brain assured me it was a polyester field! This day, I learned why those cotton flowers were white, pink and red.
Okay, this one you really need to stop and read. It share the difference between a cotton fiber and a synthetic fiber. Amazing!
I did not know our paper money is made of so much cotton! 75%!! Wow!
It still wasn't quite time for our riverboat cruise. We walked across Front Street toward the water. We found this very Memphis style bike rack!
We found a nice retaining wall in the shade and sat for spell watching people and traffic. Clearly they had Riverside Drive blocked off at that point and were only letting certain cars through. We would understand why later on. I did not know our paper money is made of so much cotton! 75%!! Wow!
It still wasn't quite time for our riverboat cruise. We walked across Front Street toward the water. We found this very Memphis style bike rack!
When it was time to board the boat, we walked down to the Memphis Riverboat Harbor. (#8 on the Map). They have a daily 90-minute Sightseeing Tour. In the evening, they have a 2-hour Dinner Cruise. We wanted to see Memphis from the Mississippi River during the day.
We would board the Island Queen. They would take the obligatory picture in hopes to sell some. Claude liked ours so we did purchase our picture.As we walked up the gangway to board the boat, it amused us that they had BOW imprinted on it. Guess that assures them which end of the boat to park at that point.Pictures in the order they were taken on the cruise. The boat is docked in the Wolf River Harbor. There is a peninsula running along the Memphis side of the Mississippi. The part on the end we were visiting is called Mud Island. The boat would leave this body of water and go south to enter the Mississippi River. It would go south to the edge of Memphis, then turn around and go north back under the Hernando de Soto Bridge. Then it would turn south until it got to the entry of Wolf River Harbor where it docked. The narrator of the tour was excellent. Very informative. As we started under the de Soto bridge, he went downstairs and played some of the history of music in Memphis for us. Great boat tour.Memphis was named after Memphis is Egypt by its founders: John Overton, Andrew Jackson and James Winchester.
Heading south to the Mississippi. Mud Island Park on the left. The first bridge is a foot bridge over Wolf River from Memphis to get to Mud Island Park. The bridge behind that is the Hernando de Soto Bridge.
The Memphis sign in Mud Island Park.
This was the dock for cruise ships that used to come to Memphis. The city built it with this round walkway to adapt to the levels of the Mississippi. It is no longer used as these ships do not come anymore. Hernando de Soto Bridge
This is why the traffic was blocked on Riverside Drive. That is an enormous stage and screen. There would be three of these in this area. It also had a Ferris wheel food vendors. It seems Memphis was holding it's 2nd Annual Riverbeat Music Festival this weekend. They were setting this area for the performers. We would enjoy some of this from our hotel room window later.
This area is called The Bluffs. It is now where upscale homes are located. Years ago it was the home of Native Americas and forts.
Nestled in these trees is a church built right on the Mississippi so that the members could attend church and look out the big picture window at the Mississippi as they worshipped. The trees need a little trimming for the to be possible now.
See the concrete arch in the center. It is a monument to a man who saved many people when a boat sank in the river.
On the south end are three bridges. The one on the left carries the traffic for I-55. There is also room for pedestrians and bicyclists who want to walk across the Mississippi to Arkansas. It is about a 3-mile walk. The center bridge is strictly a railroad bridge. It is about 30 feet wide. The third bridge on the right is also a railroad bridge. However it has extensions on either side for traffic. The extensions would have had boards for floors and the cars drove over the boards. I took the first picture as we were going south of the Memphis side of the river. The other pictures were taken as we were going north and are the Arkansas side of the river. The last picture is the extensions that would have had boards on them for cars.
Memphis from under the bridge. Look how the pyramid looks like the sky is going through it because of the reflection. Cool.
There is a constant dredging operation to keep the river clear for traffic.
The mighty Mississippi looking south.
We were also told this view of Arkansas shows some of the most fertile soil for farming. The river floods this side most frequently depositing rich farming soil for them.
Now the boat turned and is headed north on the Mississippi.
The next 4 pictures give a panoramic view of the area of Memphis in which we played.
Our hotel from the Mississippi River. We were on the next to top floor. You can see why we had such a beautiful view of the area. Our narrator told us the Hernando de Soto Bridge is sometimes called the Dolly Parton Bridge by the locals!
As the boat turned to head south, it was very clear there could have been more arches in this bridge. Our narrator explained the plan was that Tennessee would pay 60% and Arkansas would pay 40% for these beautiful arches. Tennessee put in there money. Arkansas did not. You have arches on the Tennessee side but not on the Arkansas side.
A boat pushes barges on the Mississippi.
Old fighter planes.
We walked back into Memphis after our boat ride. We found a little restaurant called Sam's and each had a nice cool salad for our dinner. While watching the street, we kept seeing horse-drawn carriages of all kinds on the streets. I looked it up on my cellphone and called to see if we could get a carriage ride. Sure enough, one was called and we met it near our hotel. Renada would be the driver and the horse was Daisy. We purchased a 30-minute ride. Renada took us all the way to Beale Street and around. Then she left us off at the front door of our hotel. How cool is that?!!The Memphis Tigers are all over the city. They are like the horses in Lexington, or the turtles in Morehead, or the mastodons in Muskegon.
This is where Elvis bought his clothes. The actual store has moved from there to another place on Beale Street and again to the Peabody Hotel.
Beale Street.
The Suffragette Monument is located behind the Law School facing the Mississippi River.
I had to share with Hayden that among these trees they were filming a movie this day.
Sunset on the Mississippi River at Memphis.
What a great day. We thought we would have to see things with rain. We ended up walking all day and having an added treat with the carriage tour. The rain forecast now moved to Friday!
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