Day 1 in Memphis.....the conclusion

Let's see.....we left off at touring Graceland. 

Since I didn't get any good pictures of the TV room and the pool room of Graceland....I had to search the World Wide Web and of course there were hundreds of excellent photos to choose from.

And since I want to look back at this blog and remember this fabulous trip.....I need to have these photos included in this journal.

So here they are:  the fabulous TV room and the very strange pool room!

Below is another place we toured.  The Raquetball court which has been turned into a place to display those infamous jumpsuits and gold records.   One interesting fact we learned was the Elvis paid $100,000 for Graceland in 1954 and paid $200,000 to have the racquetball court installed.  We saw LOTS of gold records and jumpsuits when visiting all the museums and house.

Ok.....after finally getting the whole grand VIP tour of Graceland it was definitely time to get something to eat.  Mr. Smarty Pants Paul did a google search on the best BBQ pulled pork in Memphis and I was left to the driving.

It was determined that Central BBQ was the best.  So we made our way over there and had the most AMAZING pulled pork sandwiches ever!

After eating we headed for the next stop which would be the National Civil Rights Museum and the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was shot in 1968.

We took a lot of pictures here......so here's just a few of the things that we saw.

The view from the bathroom window where James Earl Ray shot him

 

This is the view from the balcony towards the boarding house. 

Cars left where they were that day

 

 

 

It's really quite an experience to stand where such a tragic historic event took place. 

 

Now it was getting around 6pm and of course Paul was going to have a full agenda planned for our evening entertainment.......so it was off to check into our new hotel.

 

That's right.....our NEW hotel.  We decided that we wanted to spend the last 2 nights downtown so that we didn't have to worry about driving (translation:  we wanted to be able to drink and party hard and not worry about getting arrested).  So off to the downtown hotel we went.

 

We were staying at the Residence Inn Marriott downtown and couldn't have made a better choice.  It was approximately 3 blocks from Beale St. and was located right on the trolley line.  The parking was not great (but very typical of staying in downtown hotels)....and we had to park our car in a parking lot 1/2 block down.....but it ended up being a great thing because we did not drive our car the entire time we were there.  We just walked everywhere......and the weather was AWESOME!

 

 Love staying at downtown hotels!

 

Even our room was unique and different.  We had a small living room, fully equipped kitchen, dining room, and the bedroom was an elevated alcove.....that was nice except when you want to get away from a snoring husband!

 

 

Once we checked in we took about an hour power nap so that we could get ready for all the adventures that we would be having that night.

 

And since these adventures require a whole post to themselves......we will continue this story tomorrow!

Where the girls are is where we were

No time to catch you up on all the exciting details of the Memphis journey.

Last night was Where the Girls Are.  So that's where we were.  (that sentence is a mouthful).

And since we were there, I couldn't be here. 

Maybe tomorrow will allow me to be creative again.

Until then.....here's a couple of pictures from the last time we were Where the Girls Are!

Visiting Graceland

I should be working.....but I was so smart and got my dinner all prepared that I don't have to take the time to make dinner tonight.  I've got BBQ ribs in the crockpot and I made a big Pasta Salad yesterday.  Yummy......yummy......can't wait until dinner.  So since I've got a few extra minutes on my hand....I'll begin telling the tale of our journey.

Day 1 in Memphis.  A full day planned of sightseeing.

Top of the list would be Graceland.....so this is our first stop of the day.  Well actually, our second stop.  Paul needed some more coffee so we stopped at a Krispy Kreme donut shop on Elvis Presley Blvd.  Not only did we get a delicious donut for breakfast.....but this location happened to be a donut factory, so we were entertained watching the donut production machines while we ate our breakfast.

Onto Graceland we go. 

We opted for the VIP tour since the lines were long and we would have had to wait for over an hour for the tour.  VIP status allowed us to take a tour bus immediately to the house and we could go in and out of the house as much as we liked.  We also had perks such as wearing really cool badges around our neck that said VIP.  We also had admission to all the museums on the property and view a special room at Graceland.  LOL.....really impressive huh??

Here's our pictures that we took while we were there.  Paul's camera turned out to take really awesome shots inside the house.....so most of these are his.  You'll be able to tell the difference between his shots and mine :-)

This is the front of the house (obviously)

The formal living room and music room in the background

This is the formal dining room just across from the living room

This is the kitchen.  Everything was left in it's place.

 

This is the famous Jungle Room.  Looked like a really cozy den to me......

although shag carpet on the ceiling might be a little odd.

 

 

The rest of our visit was touring the museums which also gained

us access to this airplane and a private jet.

 

 

And of course, it's always nice to be able to get a picture of both us to commemmorate the event.

Although, now I am getting a clearer picture of how much we really are tourist nerds.

Do I care.......nope.  We are having a marvelous time!

 

One thing I want to point out was how friendly the people were that we rode on our tour bus with.  We met a young couple from the middle of Missouri and an older couple from California on their second visit there.  It was really fun spending the time meeting people from another part of the country and hearing their stories of why they were there.

 

Well this was only 1/2 of what we did that first tourist day in Memphis. 

The day was so filled with fun......that Part 2 of this day will be published tomorrow (hopefully).

 

 

Travelling through Mississippi

After a short night sleep of almost 6 hours....it was time to head out on the road.

We headed east on I-10 and managed to hit a huge traffic jam after only being on the road less than an hour.  Apparently, there was an LSU game in Baton Rouge and traffic was bumper to bumper for almost 20 miles.  Once we got past that mess......it was clear sailing to the Mississippi border. 

Since Paul's attempts at getting a Welcome to Mississippi sign were a little difficult to do at 70 mph....we decided to stop at the Vistor's Center for some good pictures and take a potty break.

 

You can see the weather was absolutely beautiful for a Road Trip!

Had to get a little proof that we had made it to Mississippi.  Our first time through this state.

The largest city in Mississippi that we would drive through was Jackson.  Paul got on his phone and started looking for the best pizza in Jackson.  He found The Pizza Shack and after reviewing their menu.....the GPS was programmed to head towards that destination.

The place might not have been very much.............

 

But the pizza that we got from there was pretty darn good.

 

We opted for the Chicken Cordon Blue which had Honey Mustard dressing mixed in with the sauce, Chicken, Swiss Cheese, Ham, and Tomatoes.

 

But lunch time was soon over and it was time to hit the road again.  We still had at least a 4 hour drive ahead of us before Memphis.

 

 

We were happy to see this sign.

 

Pulled into the Hotel Memphis at around 7pm to check in.  The view from the 12th floor was fantastic.  A short nap later and it was time to get ready to go out and see what Beale St. was all about.

 

We made the decision to take a cab to and from Beale St. since we wanted the ability to have a little fun and not have to worry about driving.  The hotel shuttle offered to drive us over there......what a sight it was.

 

 

Lots of places to pop in and hear live music.

 

Or just find it out on the side of the street in lots of cases.

 

Lots of cold beverages to help move you up and down the street.  We discovered these icy pina coladas in a very tall glass.  Problem was......they got drank too fast!

We decided to call it a night around 1am since the crowd was changing a little bit.  We wanted to get a good nights sleep since we would be out sight seeing all day long! 

 

Road Trip :-)

I seriously should be getting some work done right now......but I am so not in the mood for working.

Some people would say...."you just got back from vacation".  But as you all know, our vacation never contains any REST in it.

So let's take that trip down memory lane and start revisiting our ROAD TRIP!

The plan was to leave on Friday night when Paul got off.  He was going to try and get off a little earlier so that we could head out.

I had the car all ready to go loaded down with suitcases, pillows, ice chest full of cold beverages, snacks, and all the electronic devices you need for the perfect road trip.

He got home around 9pm and we were off.

The goal was to try and get as far as we could so that we wouldn't have to have so far to drive the next day.

We hit lots of fog in Louisiana.....but we kept plugging along.  It was very weird to drive by the casinos in Lake Charles and not stop.  That doesn't happen very often.

We finally decided to call it a night at 2am and spent the night in Lafayette, Louisiana.  We were looking for a hotel on our phones before we got there.....so there wasn't much chance for research or choices at that time of the evening.

Here's the way it looks on the internet:

In real life, it looked a little run down.  But at 2am on a foggy night -- who cares?

So day one of the Road Trip has been put in the books.   Tomorrow is when the real adventure begins!

This will be just your appetizer

Wow!  We had a fantastic time in Memphis, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

We took so many pictures that it's going to take a long time to go through everything.

But......here's just a little pictorial tidbit of some of the fun that we had!

Hope these pictures reflect how much fun we had.  I'll be giving you all the details in the next coming days.  It will be fun to relive the adventure by writing about it!

Stay tuned..............................................

A much better day and a recipe keeper

Well thankfully by the end of the day I felt better about things than I did at the beginning of my day.

My youngest son called me while I was preparing dinner and was updating me about his life.  This boy has been bitten by the love bug really bad.  It was fun to hear him gush on and on about what he's been doing and how great his new love interest is.  She must be special -- he's declared that he's in no hurry to move back to Houston.  Funny how those things work out. 

Paul came home early and had an opportunity to sit down and finalize some plans for our upcoming adventure.  Looks like we'll be driving since United didn't cooperate with us and have discount tickets to either Memphis or Little Rock.  No big deal........our road trips are always so much fun.

Our plan is to try and get him out of work early on Friday night so we can hit the road.  We'd like to get 3-4 hours under our belt the first night so we can get into Memphis early enough on Saturday to get in some sightseeing.  We plotted our trip on a map and we have two routes we can take.  One is to go north to Texarkana and then head east going through Little Rock.  Our other option is to head east on I-10 through Louisiana to Baton Rouge and then head north.  This route would take us all the way (North to South) through Mississippi into Memphis.  Both routes are about the same length of time (9 hours).  I think we've decided to go one way going and one way coming back.  We'll get to see more stuff that way.  Never been to Mississippi before.......so that will be fun!

So now that the decision to drive is taken care of......it added a few more things to my "to do" list for the week.  Since payroll is this week - that's my top priority.  We are taking the mustang so now I can add oil change, adjusting headlights, car detail, haircut, and shopping for snacks and drinks to take in the car.  And because we are driving.....I'm sure there will be lots more stuff that we'll want to haul with us since we'll be in our own little personal space: laptop, pillows, etc.

I'm excited!  Plans are to meet Greg in downtown Memphis on Monday and cruise Beale Street and enjoy a lunch together.  We haven't seen each other in 33 years.....holy crap!

Okay......don't want to completely bore you with all our trip details.  Now it's a different subject.....the AMAZING dinner I made last night!

I wanted broccoli cheese and rice and I wanted chicken.  But I wanted it all cooked together.  Did my Google search and found a great recipe.  The husband walks in and didn't act like he was too excited about my choice.......but after he ate it he declared it was one of the best things I've tried.  It was so delicious and we'll definitely be making it again.

 

Very easy to put together:  shredded chicken, uncooked rice, broccoli,

 cream of mushroom soup, velveeta cheese.

I am so glad that there are leftovers for me to eat today.

Well now the time has come to get my butt in gear.  I have a lot to get accomplished this week!