Memphis + Music City

 

Howdy Y'all and welcome to God's Country- aka Tennessee 

First stop, Memphis. As usual we strapped on our tennis shoes and wandered down the crick in search of adventure.  We have found that this form of exploring is the most efficient. It kills so many birds with just one stone. Exercise, sight seeing, meeting locals, scoping out the surroundings, winder (window) shopping, tuckering out the dogs.... and the list goes on and on. We walk an outrageous number of miles each day (~8-10/day) and that combined with the inconvenience of not having a shower readily available is son of gun. So we headed downtown for a quick yoga session and a rinse but unfortunately realized too late that the studio did not have a shower. Oh well, what can you do? We ended up down the street at the YMCA, finally had a hot shower and were ready to take in everything that Memphis had to offer.

The Grizzly Riverwalk Trail was really close to the Bass Pro Shop that we were camping at, so it ended up being a place that we frequented. We liked it because it was always busy, and was a great place to meet locals and see the huge Mississippi River. There are river boat tours, families out and about, an ice skating rink and it just seemed like the place to be. If you take the trail far enough it leads to the Harahan Bridge which is the longest pedestrian bridge across the Mississippi and takes you right into Arkansas.

We spent a day taking in the sights in downtown Memphis. The whole area is packed with historic restaurants, recording studios and bars but perhaps the most iconic museum is the Lorainne Motel. This is the home of the Civil Rights Museum and the sight of Martin Luther King Jr's assassination in 1968. After learning more about his efforts and the influence he had politics, equality and his overall legacy I felt empowered - like anything was possible. This moment alone made the trip to Memphis feel worth it. It was very powerful and I recommend seeing it if you're able to.

Just walking downtown you can learn so much about the music scene there all those years ago. There are celebrity "stars" all along the sidewalk in front of the Orpheum Theatre which was used to house big acts as well as off Broadway shows and traveling productions. Beale Street feels a little bit like New Orleans, but in a cleaner, less congested way. There are record stores, Elvis memoribilia, BB Kings restaurant and tons of places claiming to have the best bbq in town. We got several suggestions from people but ended up at Blue's City Cafe after talking with the bar tender on the street. They were known for the Food Network Featured ribs - so we had to try them. They lived up to the hype!
We had pretty good luck with strangers in Memphis because we also ran into a guy that offered us two tickets to the University of Memphis vs UCF Men's Basketball game at the FedEx forum. It's also the Memphis Grizzlies home court. Brit was pretty sure we were going to get arrested for using scalped tickets but we got in just fine and it was a really cool thing to see. I haven't had a chance to watch many sporting events on this trip so it was good to see something live.

Visiting Memphis overall was very cold but I was really satisfied with all of the people we met and the things we saw. After leaving we learned that it was one of the most violent weekends they had in the city in a while and we were glad that we got out of there safely.

Next stop, Nashville.... Or at least thats what we thought. After driving west on highway 40 and not being in any sort of hurry, we decided to make a pit stop at at the states largest vineyard in the small town of Humboldt. After finding the perfect parking spot to setup shop for the night, we let the pups roam the open space before we made our way inside. The winery's very kind and lovely owner (former Miss Tennessee) was very inviting. The combination of the small town feel and Italian architecture was right up our alley. So we ended up spending the evening learning everything about wine culture and enjoyed a wine tasting. We even indulged in some port that went swimmingly with chocolate. To cap it off we ventured through the vineyard and watched the sunset over the hills of Tennessee. Britney probably thinks that I am the most cheesy  romantic guy in the world and hey, I agree. 

After an evening in Humboldt we woke up refreshed. Nashville was only a few hours away and made for just enough time to plan out the next couple of days. With a loose plan in our pocket of activities to do and things to see, Britney was super excited to finally arrive. I on the other hand was less thrilled and I'm not quite sure why. I think that traveling into cities with dogs and finding the right place to park stresses me out and puts me in a weird state of mind. But putting those thoughts on the back burner, we bundled up and hit the cold streets. Seeing everything on Broadway from the Jonny Cash Museum to the iconic Tooties Bar, we quickly toured the city within an afternoon. We stopped into a boot shop to try on some hats and boots and then made our way down the row to some bars to listen to some live music. We stopped into a few places but Brit had forgotten her ID in the van so she had two big black X's on her hands making it harder to stick around for drinks. On our way out of the city we were stopped by a tv producer and were asked to participate in a short segment for Gabriel Iglesias' "Fluffy Breaks Even". It was really awkward and Britney hopes that we don't make it into the final edit. We had plans to continue the site seeing and activities the following day but we woke up and weren't really feeling like heading back into town. I guess that once you've seen two country bars you've seen them all but that might just be us. The way that we are traveling makes it harder to enjoy the bar/ party scene in most places. Its not usually a problem as that isn't our biggest priority anyway but this time Brit was a little bummed.

Next stop....... somewhere in between Nashville and Louisville.

-Blake