Road Trip to Memphis

I’m going on another road trip! And this time I won’t be going alone.  While I love solo travel, I am so happy my boyfriend, Mike, is joining me on this one.  We are headed to Memphis, TN tomorrow, bright and early.  This trip was planned so long ago, that I almost forgot it was happening.  In fact, I had a very panicky moment where I thought I misplaced the Foo Fighter’s tickets in the time between booking them (6 months ago) and now, which would be unfortunate as they are the whole reason for this trip.  We planned this trip around the Foo Fighters concert on Wednesday, October 7, and decided to make a little vacation out of it.  We are staying in Memphis for four days and three nights.  It’s only a seven hour drive from Chicago, so it will be a perfect long weekend trip.  Memphis is a new city for both of us, so I did some scouting on the best attractions in the area, mostly using Pinterest and taking some tips from some fellow bloggers (thanks Nomadic Matt and The Blond Abroad!).  There are so many intriguing things to do there that I had absolutely no idea about, which makes this all the more exciting.  It’s going to be a very music-centered trip with the concert and Memphis being the heart of Soul and Blues music (as well as being the birthplace of one of my all-time-favorites, Aretha Franklin).  The top attractions on our must-see list so far include: Sun Studios, Graceland, Stax Museum of American Soul Music and of course, the Blues Bars on Beale Street.  Plus, I am super excited for some delicious southern barbecue and fried chicken.  We will be staying downtown at the Comfort Inn for two nights (chosen for the price and the location) and our last night is still a mystery to me, because Mike insisted on booking the hotel and won’t tell me which one he picked.  It’ll be good though, I bet.  Today, in the last minute scramble to get ready to leave, I had to pack, choose an audiobook (“The Wind Through the Keyhole” by Stephen King), buy snacks and bottled water for the car, and pick up some other last minute items for the trip.  This crazy Chicago weather has me really craving the sunshine and warm weather we’ll be encountering in Memphis, but it also means I’ll have to round up all my warm weather gear that I’d shoved to the back of my closet.  My only concern for this trip is that I may have too many items on our Memphis To-Do List.  I don’t want it to be so scheduled that we don’t have time to enjoy the vacation we both so desperately need.  It will be interesting to see if we can find a good balance of exploring the city and relaxing.  I’ll keep you posted.  In the meantime, I’m just looking forward to hitting the road with my main man and enjoying this beautiful city.  Feel free to leave any Tennessee Travel Tips in the comment section.