King of the BBQ

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Day 5:
We woke up early anticipating our journey ahead, bags mostly packed the evening prior, and excited for some big city culture. Dad woke up early and made us his delicious and world famous hearty omelets to tide us over for the trip. We enjoyed our time in the Ozarks visiting Dad, Martha, Neil, and the farm, we will miss the breathtaking beauty and bear hugs.

We packed up our gear and headed towards the “King” of BBQ, Memphis TN! On our way we encountered ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ in a low speed chase through Jonesboro Arkansas, of course we took pictures! We planned on a visit to Graceland, admittedly we are not Elvis’s biggest fans, we do appreciate rock n roll history and classic cars. When we arrived, the parking lot was filling up with license plates from across the states, people excitedly walking towards the box office and waiting in long lines to visit the past. The lobby of this building was crawling with visitors anticipating a glimpse into the life of this legend. After a long wait and some people watching, it was our turn to buy tickets to the show. Unfortunately, we did not anticipate the time commitment that this visit would require and made a collective decision to do the free drive by version of the tour... I imagine our tour was similar to how people visited his homestead while he was still alive. Graceland is interesting, Elvis’s Airplanes parked right outside the ticket master that beckon you in, ice cream shops, restaurants, gift shops, and an attached theatre featuring well known performers scheduled to honor the “King”. Directly across the street beyond a brick wall and gate is where his home and garage are found, I’m not sure what I was expecting but, this was not it. For exactly 1 hour each day you can visit his grave for free, otherwise there is a fee involved. I kept wondering if Elvis would have wanted to visit this place.

On to the famous Sun Studio, where many of the greats recorded and famous stories unfolded. The studio is now a popular storefront, with a light pole just outside adorning musical stickers and autographs, we took some fun pictures and decided on a BBQ lunch.

On to Central BBQ, if you ever find yourself in Memphis TN, make sure you hit up this very popular spot. This is a small BBQ joint that serves up big taste and generous portions in a picnic style atmosphere. We shared a rack of ribs, brisket sandwiches, and pulled pork nachos.. amazing (it’s a good thing this place is not in Rochester). After lunch we packed up our souvenir cups and started towards Nashville.

Our Airbnb apartment is beautiful, with a wrap around balcony on the 5th floor, and views of downtown Nashville. We settled in for the evening and took a break from dining out, making fresh salads before retiring to the balcony for some conversation, sight seeing, and fireworks watching. We took a stroll to check out the roof top pool and decided that would be one of our first stops in the morning. We are happy to be here and enjoying each others company, my heart is full.

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Comments

[Joe Momma]

Graceland
That is not at all what I expected Graceland to be either. I thought old southern mansion, winding driveway, big porch. More like Forest Gump! Haha! Thanks once again for sharing!