Memphis and Nashville Delight

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This was a trip that came together quite quickly. My friend Mike and I discussed this trip back in April and it came together over a month. We were going to Memphis and Nashville. The flight down was uneventful. We arrived to the airport at 8:30PM at night in Memphis and the airport was deserted. It was similar to a ghost town and almost resembled a high school. We took an Uber from the airport to the hotel and pulled up to our hotel. We stayed at the Peabody Hotel which is a historic hotel that has been around for many years. We walked into the lobby from the outside and it was stunning and sort of resembled the Waldorf Astoria. It was as nice of a hotel as I have stayed at in my life. We dropped our bags off at the room and walked a short distance to a BBQ joint called Rendezvous BBQ for dinner. I had a full slab pork ribs that came with slaw and beans. It was such a delightful meal and an excellent way to begin the trip. We went to the famous Beale street afterwards. It was all closed off the street. It wasn't a huge street that went far down like a Bourbon Street, but it was still fun. It was all closed down with motorcycles lining down the street. I saw a bunch of people standing outside, dancing and it was very loud. There was a lot of music and blues clubs all over, in addition there was places you could buy drinks in a cup to go. We stayed out for a little bit and rested up with a busy day coming the next day.

We went the next morning to an excellent breakfast place called Blue Plate cafe. Each order comes with biscuits and gravy. The biscuits was soft and pillowy, in addition to the smooth gravy. I ordered a creamed spinach omelette with grits. It was such a great meal and we decided to come back the next morning for breakfast. The place was very cute with art from the owners wife all over, in addition to the menu in a newspaper form. We left and went to Graceland. We did the tour that came with an iPad and head phones. Uncle Jesse from Full House (John Stamos) narrated the tour. Interestingly enough we found out on the tour that his character on Full House was named after a brother that Elvis had that died at birth. We took a shuttle bus to the mansion. There was a lot of cool artifacts, horses, cars and outfits he wore. There was a section specifically for other artists that Elvis influenced. It was totally worth the price of a regular ticket.

We went to Mud Island River Park next. We took a monorail over and you could see views of Memphis all around. We got to see the bridge that goes into the city. It started to rain hard with thunder and lightening. There was a saw river walk park that you could walk around the wall of the city, however the weather wasn't conducive to do so. We did some kids playing around in the rain outside. We left and headed towards Sun Studios. It was a famous recording studio. It was worth the price of admission seeing old saxophones, guitars and recording equipment. They were used by people such as BB King, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. It was very cool to see such established artists that recorded here. We got to learn that Elvis's contract was sold from Sun Studios to RCA studios in Nashville for a nominal fee. It is stunning to think about that since I am sure in today's world the contract would be worth so much more. We got to see where many of the recordings took place and there was so many countless instruments lying around and the microphone used by the singers when recording their albums.

We headed out to the Civil Rights Museum. There was a piece of history that I wasn't aware that took place in Memphis. We saw the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. Inside the museum, there was a recreation of the room where he was killed. In addition, a recreation of the bus that Rosa Parks boarded and didn't leave the bus when asked to do so because of discrimination. Across the street, there was a display where they showed where the killer stood when shooting Martin Luther King, as well the white car rented, gun used, as well as conspiracy theories if the killer arrested actually committed the murder. It was a very unique site to see and was very happy we got to go. The one thing that is disappointing about the Civil Rights Museum is the magnets and souvenirs at the shop. It commercializes the death of MLK.

We went to dinner at Gus Fried Chicken. It was highly recommended as a great fried chicken place. It was a cheap meal and I ordered the half chicken with baked beans and slaw. We ordered a side of fried green tomatoes. It was the first time I ever tried it and loved it. It was crunchy and crisp. The chicken was very tasty and had a slight spice kick in it. I enjoyed the beans and the slaw was ok. We ordered for desert a chocolate chess pie, which had a similar taste to a brownie in a cake. The meal overall was fantastic and afterwards we left for the Rock and Soul Museum. At this point, I did get pretty tired but pushed through to see as much as we could. The Museum was ok, but at this point I was in music overload after seeing so many music things over the course of the trip. We left and passed by a bar called Silky O' Sullivans. There was goats in the bar which was an odd thing to see. We back to the room and relaxed for a little. We found out about an event on the roof of our hotel where Noah Cyrus (Miley Cyrus sister) was going to perform. It was so picturesque with the sunset going down. The cover band before Noah was decent, but Noah Cyrus wasn't that great of a singer. She performed 5 songs and then left. We saw her rushed out of the hotel with fans taking selfies with her before she left. We made our way back to Beale Street and took in some amazing live music on the street. We stayed out for awhile then heading back to sleep for a busy next day.

We went to our favorite breakfast place the next morning. I would highly recommend the Blue Plate Cafe. Such a warm hospitality and excellent food. This morning I ordered the butter pecan waffle. It had warm syrup and was one of the better waffles I have ever eaten. We had an issue with the bus getting sold to take to Nashville, so we ended up renting a car. Before getting the rental car, we sat down in the lobby of our hotel for 45 minutes for the March of the Ducks. I thought the experience was a little overrated though it was funny seeing ducks marching into a fountain. It was very crowded with people hanging in the lobby to get a good spot an hour in advance. We got a great spot on the 2nd floor that had a nice view of the elevator where the ducks march out. In addition, there is a duck ambassador that leads the ducks into the fountain. We found out from the ambassador that the ducks are replaced every 6 months. There was people trying to steal spots and pushy, in addition to kids sitting on a red carpet where the ducks march in. We stopped in the store in the hotel where they had so much duck items, such as salt shakers, t-shirts, etc. We got a picture with the free Elvis Statue near the hotel and saw street flippers on Beale Street. Overall, we saw a decent amount of shady alleyways in Memphis, but it was such a charming city. We left to get our rental car and headed up to Nashville. It took about 3.5 hours to drive up and stopped at Hardee's for lunch.

We stopped at the Belle Meade Plantation. This was about 30 minutes outside of Nashville. It was a place where slavery had took place. We walked through the plantation and mansion on a tour. We had a very quirky, snarky and funny tour guide. During the tour, someone phone rang and had the Night of the Roxbury Theme Song, so the tour guide did the head movement from the movie, in addition to a Dirty Dancing reference and saying no one puts baby in the corner. We found out that many of the horses breeded here gave some of the most famous horses in racing history, such as Secretariat and Seabiscuit. We did a winery flight on the grounds and saw a wedding. We left and headed towards Nashville.

We get to the Hampton Inn hotel and it was in a great location. The front desk was very helpful and there was free water bottles downstairs at the lobby. it had an excellent breakfast buffet with items such as biscuits and gravy, eggs, waffle machine and grits. In addition, they had a happy hour that featured warm baked cookies and Swedish meatballs. It was similar to a Hampton Inn I had stayed in in Florida. We showered and went out to the famous Broadway. It was a huge party scene with the street closed down and live band playing. It was so well lit up and shined stunning at nighttime. We ended up at Rock Bottom for dinner. I got a Gorgonzola burger that was so juicy with onions and melted cheese. In addition, it had fried onions on it and fresh fruit. We went to HonkeyTonk highway where all the bars are located. We ended up at Acme bar. It had such an amazing presence with live music on the first floor. On the 2nd floor, the restaurant was located in addition to sushi. On the 4th floor, there was a rooftop terrace with a great view of the city seeing sites such as Nissan Stadium (where the Tennessee Titans football team plays), as well as Nashville walking bridge. There was so many rooftop bars in the city with such spectacular views. It was also crowded with a lot of different crowds ranging from bachelorette parties to people attending the Stanley Cup finals with Nashville Predators playing the Pittsburg Penguins, as well as people attending the Country Music Awards that was coming in the following week. We found out that Nashville was the highest bachelorette party place in the country. We walked down the street and saw different bars, such as Legends Corner Bar and it was so jammed packed. There was street performers, even a Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton one where you could take pictures with them for a $1.00 The city had a completely different vibe then Memphis which was a lot more chilled on Beale Street. We had a great night and ended up back at the hotel to get some sleep for another busy day.

We went to the Hermitage the next morning. This was a place where President Andrew Jackson had resided. The property was 1100 acres and a lot bigger than the Belle Meade Plantation. We did the Mansion tour. It had a woman dressed as they did back in the 1800's. It was beautiful mansion, however not as big as the Belle Meade Plantation Mansion. In addition, we weren't allowed to take any pictures at all. We got to see where Andrew Jackson and his family was buried among the houses where slaves that worked on the plantation stayed. We went to the Grand Ole Opry. This place has a lot of country music stars play. We did a backstage tour and would totally recommend this. It was very interactive and got to see so much in the tour. We saw Studio A which was where episodes of the show Yee Haw was filmed. We got to see where famous musicians walked in, as well as a wall that had all different types of famous musicians that played there, such as Johnny Cash and Garth Brooks. There was a mailbox where fans can mail things to the Grand Ole Opry for a specific artist to read or sign. We got to walk on the stage that the performers go on, as well as see equipment set up for a show.

We went to Oprey Mills Mall. It was a huge mall that had an aquarium and Madam Toussads. We left for the Gaylord Opreyland hotel. It was an amazing hotel that had a huge waterfall inside with a dome. The sun peaked through with trees and koi ponds all over. It had different cascade levels with big music notes and guitars hanging up. We got lunch at Martin's Whole Hog. You go inside and place an order at the counter. They assign you a number. We went upstairs to avoid the huge lines downstairs. I got a Whole Hog sandwich with a side of hush puppies and beans with pork in it. The meat was tender, and the hush puppies was crunchy in cornmeal. We went to Centennial Park. It was a replica of the Parthenon in Greece and we found out the Nashville was known as the Greece of the Western Hemisphere. It was a huge park with different statues around, such as woman voting rights. You can take pictures only on the 2nd floor of the tour. There was a huge Athena statue that went so high up to the ceiling.

We left and went to the Tennessee State Museum. This was a great bargain as it is free to get in. They had old artifacts from different time periods, such as the Civil War, Founding of the State of Tennessee, as well as back to the caveman era. We went to the Tennessee State Capitol where Andrew Polk was buried, as well as a big Andrew Jackson Statue. We walked back the Nashville Predators stadium where game 3 was going to take place at night. It was insanely packed. They gave out free stuff, such as Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and pucks. We went back to the room to relax and then to dinner. We ate at a Thai restaurant. It was a nice difference from the BBQ and Fried food we had been eating. I had this Tamarind shrimp dish with a Single beer and chicken satay. I also got to try a Thai iced tea which was very refreshing. The restaurant was called Phooket. After dinner, we headed back past the Bridgestone area. The Predators won the game 5-1. We saw Jeremy Roenick and Aanson Carter doing post game for the NBC Sports channel. We saw kids playing drums on Broadway street. There was so many buses of bachelorette parties with many women from Ohio, St Louis, Iowa and Pennsylvania we got to meet, as opposed to New York. We saw a crazy guy with a flag near the arena, as well as violinists on the street. There was a lot of music artists and people who had dogs to get money. We went out afterwards to a few bars then headed back to the hotel. The one interesting note is that many Nashville bars stamp you on different parts of the hands which differs than NY bars.

The last day we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. There was a lot of Grammys dresses, musical instruments, such as guitars, violins and banjoes, hall of fame plaques, as well as a replica of a Taylor Swift bus. We did the platinum package which also included a tour of the RCA studios We took a shuttle to the studio. Our tour guide Ron was excellent and very passionate about the work he did. It was a culmination of the trip to learn about the sale of Elvis from the Memphis studio to RCA studio. We learned that the Dolly Parton song "I will always love you" was almost recorded by Elvis. There was many famous people that recorded here from different genres. It was overall a good tour. We left and a thunderstorm started. It was pouring heavily as we headed to the Ryman Theatre. It was an interesting venue where many big music stars played here. The tour was so so. It was a church that was converted to a music venue. We walked around and got Stanley Cup souvenirs. We headed to Acme Feed and Seed for lunch. I would totally recommend this place during the day when it wasn't as crowded. There was live Big Band swing band. For lunch, I had a gashouse BLT with fried green tomatoes with bacon, arugula and remoulade on white bread. It came with fries and many different tasty BBQ sauces and hot sauces on the table. It had a limited menu, but the atmosphere was so chilled. We left for the airport and headed home. It was a fantastic trip and learned so much about music and history. There was so many friendly down to earth people in both cities with different atmospheres. It was hot and humid for the most part of the trip, but at night it was warm with crowded bars. We saw so many Elvis and Andrew Jackson statues. It was overall a great learning experience.

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