Memphis

While in Nashville, we'd heard from local bartenders that we were going to be killed in Memphis. Not exactly a comforting thought to go on, but we drove to Memphis anyway.

The first thing we did was go down to our hotel bar and have a few pre-drinks before moving on to Beale Street. We also asked the bartender how safe it was to walk around Memphis and he gave us a four square block radius where we would be fine.

The only way to describe Beale Street, when I first turned the corner and looked down is it's like Bourbon Street in New Orleans, only it's cleaner and smells better.

We must've been there on a special day because there were Harley's parked all the way up and down the street, which also meant there were a lot more people, and that was great!

We started off at the Rum Boogie Cafe. The atmosphere in this place was amazing. There were guitars hanging from the roof around the entire bar, with labels naming the various musicians who owned them, or so I assumed. And the blues band that was playing was brilliant!

I didn't think they could be topped, and then we venture a few doors down to Beale St Tap Room. In there we found my kind of blues/funk; play half a song, do improv for 15 minutes, play the other half of the song. We also had the friendliest, funniest bartender than anywhere up to that point. And for that, he got a great tip from us.

Memphis is particularly famous for its BBQ, so that's what I wanted to eat more than anything.

My cousin's wife, Carla, recommended the ribs at BB King's. Given that I'm a BB King fan as it is, I had no problems taking her up on that recommendation, and it didn't disappoint! The meat practically fell off the bone and it was very juicy! We washed that down with a 54oz Long Island Iced Tea, which is to say we left the bar a lot drunker than when we entered.

I should also mention that the guy out front of BB King's was not a happy man. The look on his face was like his spirits had been broken. After we'd tried to change from sitting outside to inside, he was a bit short with us and after we apologised to him, he just tried to keep his head down, told us it was fine and moved on, as if he was scared he was going to blow up from, what seemed like, a stressful night. I actually felt sad for the guy when I saw the defeated look on his face.

I can't mention Memphis BBQ without mentioning Rendezvous. Cherie and I had seen the place mentioned on a TV show about a week or so earlier, so we just had to try the open pit BBQ ribs.

We all had ribs and either brisket or pork shoulder. The ribs came without any sauce on it, giving us the choice of two or three BBQ sauces on our table, which was a nice, as many restaurants put more BBQ sauce on than I personally want.

The surprising part was how fast they got us in and out; thirty minutes from when we walked in the door to when we stepped back out into the alley. The security guard outside joked about it being time to go back to the hotel to sleep. And that's exactly what we did! A short nap in the afternoon seems to be good for the soul.

We stopped into the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was assassinated. I was amazed by how much I didn't know about his death; the conspiracy theories surrounding who may have wanted him dead, the assassin shooting from a hotel window across the street. But it did make me smile to know that he had a pillow fight the day he died.

To keep with the famous deaths theme, we just happened to be in Memphis during Elvis week, and with the last day being the day before Elvis's death, we just had to go to Graceland.

Although our tickets allowed us to see six or seven exhibits, we only had enough time to see Graceland, Elvis's cars and do some souvenir shopping.

Graceland was fantastic! The really retro designs and the colors and patterns of the house were exactly what I imagined the 70s to be, and more! I mean, what other era would lend itself to having a room called The Jungle Room, covered in green and brown with a water feature at one end, and mirrors on the roof?

There was also plenty of that quintessential mission brown and orange. And a room with a bright yellow bar top. And of course, more rooms with mirrors on the roof!

We had to cut our Graceland visit short to take off to Mississippi and then New Orleans, so off we went down the interstate!