On our last full day in Memphis, we got an early start due to our lengthy to-do list for the day. We started at Otherlands Coffee Bar, in Midtown. I had a latte and their “Best Cinnamon Toast in the South”. The sun-filled coffee bar was the perfect place to get caffeinated and make a plan for the day. The coffee and toast were great, and the atmosphere was even better. They had unique artwork on the walls, mismatched tables and chairs and board games on the shelves. It was my kind of place.
After breakfast, we drove to Graceland, which we both had mixed feelings about. We paid $10.00 to park and went in to
check out the ticket situation. The cheapest tour was $36 a person and the prices went up to $72 a person for the VIP tour. I read somewhere online that you could go up to the gate and peak at the mansion for free, but they shot that idea down real quick. The woman at the guest relations counter told us that we were only allowed to do that from 7:30am to 8:30am. So we didn’t see the house. But! We did look around the overpriced gift shops for a bit. The area was starting to get crowded with tourists, so we bypassed the additional Elvis Museums and themed diners and moved on.
Our next stop was The Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Admission was $13 and the tour started with a 20 minute film on the history of the recording studio.
The museum itself was filled with artifacts from soul music superstars like Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Aretha Franklin, Booker T and The MGs, Carla Thomas, and many more. The old recording equipment was preserved and in the same studio they used to record the greats. The number of artists and albums associated with Stax Records is staggering, and you can feel the full affect of it as you walk through the hall lined with all such records. You exit through the gift shop, I’m a sucker for a good gift shop, and this one’s filled with unique gifts, records and miscellaneous music memorabilia. The museum is definitely a must-see in Memphis.
We went to back to Midtown to The Beauty Shop for lunch. The hip restaurant used to be a beauty parlor (pretty obvious) and held onto the dryer chairs which they recycled into seats at the dining tables. The food was out-of-control good. We had the lemon zest olives to start and then I had the BLTA and Mike had the Salmon Gravalax sandwich, both of which came with homemade chips. We both completely devoured our lunches. The staff were wonderful, and happy to suggest any of their many delicious offerings if you’re having trouble deciding.
Afterwards, we drove to the National Civil Rights Museum, at the Lorraine Motel. The museum is set at the motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and occupies the building across the street as well.
The entry fee is $15.00. It was a very emotional experience, being there, as well as being very educational. It is a lot of information to take in, so be sure to set aside enough time to fully appreciate it. Each exhibit is beautifully made and mostly interactive.
We walked down Main Street afterwards, and stopped into Bluff City Coffee. We took the well-made beverages to go so we could wander around a bit more. We popped into Red Velvet, a great shop filled with vintage and vintage inspired clothing and accessories. The woman manning the store was amazing and gave us a ton of great suggestions on bars and shops to check out. Across the street, we went into a thrift store called The Broken Arrow that was very cool.
It had an eclectic collection of goods ranging from teacups to CCR albums to cowboy boots. We checked into our new hotel, The Sheraton (thank you, Mike!) and decided to go jump into the pool. We had it to ourselves, so we swam around for a while before going back to the room to get ready for our last night out on the town. Our first stop was The Peabody Hotel to have a Jack Daniels cocktail in their Corner Bar.
I had the Presbyterian, which was basically a whiskey ginger, but with delicious single barrel Jack. The Peabody is regal inside and reminded me of The Drake back in Chicago.
We went to Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous for dinner, which was just across the street and down an alley from The Peabody. We got seated right away in their main dining room. We started with the sausage and cheese plate, which seemed to be a staple on menus in Memphis. It was served with a heap of saltine crackers and it was AMAZING.
For our entrees, I had the beef brisket and Mike had the pork ribs, both served with beans and cole slaw. We sat in silence as we ate, attacking everything on our plates and sneaking bites of each other’s food without asking. The meal was so good, we had to sit there for a minute after to get ourselves out of the food coma.
After dinner, we went to the Absinthe Room above King’s Palace Café. While Mike partook in the namesake drink, I ordered a gin and tonic. Just the smell of the absinthe (black licorice) made me feel sick to my stomach. It was more of a dive bar, with three pool tables, each in their own little room. There was a jukebox in the bar that the patrons kept playing The Eagles on, and a couple at the bar that paid for their drinks all in quarters. It was an interesting and lively crowd that we enjoyed being a part of, even if it was only for the one drink.
When we finished our drinks, we went to Wet Willie’s to sample their boozy slushies. The slushies were just alright, but the two man band that was performing while we drank them was fantastic. We had planned to take our mediocre slushies and walk, but changed our minds when they started playing. From there we went to BB King’s to pay tribute to the blues legend with a beer. They had a soul cover band playing and everybody danced.
From that point on, things became a little hazy. I know we had a few more drinks, and I know we made a stop into a couple of souvenir shops and bought a few things that we didn’t really need (I’m looking at you, Elvis clock!).
And then the inevitable happened. We heard karaoke singing coming out of Flynn’s 
Restaurant and wandered in. Somehow I wound up onstage singing Sam Cooke (“Another Saturday Night ”) and doing the twist. After the song ended, I promptly tripped and fell off the stage and onto the floor. Mike rushed to scoop me up, he’s used to my clumsiness, and we were about to make a quick exit, when his name was called to sing. He did his best Elvis impression as he sang “Hound Dog” and I hid in our booth hoping everyone was too busy ignoring my bad singing to see me fall. We called it a night after that, and stumbled back to the hotel.
Before we left the next day, we stopped at Blues City Café for lunch. I had some scrumptious chicken fingers and Mike had the catfish. It was a good last meal in Memphis where we had so many other great meals, listened to some amazing music and were lucky enough to get a glimpse into the rich history of this musically- inclined city.
Thanks for having us, Memphis!
brush fires as we drove through Southern Illinois. Some were small and would probably put themselves out, but some we passed were scary big and had firetrucks rushing toward them. I had never seen anything like it, the smoke was clouding up both sides of the highway. As we approached Memphis, we passed over the Mississippi River, with the huge glass pyramid Bass Pro Shop looming to our left. When we reached our hotel, we checked into our room, only to 
discover we were put into a room with double beds. This was one of the few reasons I was a little underwhelmed with the hotel. But, that’s what you get when you book budget I guess! We took solace in the fact that it was simply a place to sleep and we wouldn’t be spending much time there. Mike and I headed out to explore pretty quickly after checking in. We could see the river from right outside our hotel, and we passed some beautiful buildings and parks on our way to Main Street. We had dinner at The Majestic Grille, a restaurant fashioned to look like an outdoor movie theater with palm trees and twinkly lights.
Sabrina (the original with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart) played in the background as we waited 20 minutes for our beers to arrive. However, the trouble was soon 
forgotten when they brought over a basket of delicious,
They played a good mix of old and new tunes, and even did a couple covers. Halfway through, Dave Grohl invited an old Battle of the Bands foe to join him on stage, and they sang “Under Pressure”.
We went to Club 152, enchanted by the music coming from inside and happy about the no cover. After a while, we called it a night and wandered back to the hotel. The next morning, we went down to enjoy our free breakfast only to discover that it had already closed… at 9am. What?? So we walked over to Café Keough on Main Street for some coffee.
While the service wasn’t full of Southern Hospitality, the café was gorgeous, their menu was unique and my latte was superb. We walked through Memphis Park and over to the pedestrian walkway bridge that leads to Mud Island.
of a mini Bourbon Street in NOLA (check out the New Orleans blog 
over the guitars in the gift shop. We went to the
Our tour guide was knowledgeable and charismatic and punctuated each music fun fact with a song that was recorded in the studio. In the same building is a café and gift shop which was fun to browse.
Later that evening, we went to Flight Wine Bar for dinner. We each got a wine flight with dinner, I had the Sibling Rivalry, all white wines. For dinner we got a few small plates to share, including: veal scallopini, chicken and waffles, and shrimp and grits. The food was so flavorful and had me wishing we had ordered more than small plates.
After dinner, we walked back to Beale Street and sat down at King’s Palace Café Blues Patio to listen to some good music and enjoy a Beale Big Ass Beer.
We sat by the window and waited for a waitress that never came. When we went to the bar to get a drink, we were told we would just have to keep waiting at the table. We didn’t mind waiting because the music was so good, but it did take an awfully long time for two measly drinks. After the band finished, we ended our night back at the hotel with a game of rummy and a bottle of wine.
To Be Continued…
Earlier in the year, Mr. Grohl broke his leg, but instead of cancelling the tour, he had an amazing Rock ’n’ Roll throne made to play from. It was adorned with guitar necks and strobe lights, and had the Foo Fighter Logo emblazoned on the chair back. After the show, we hopped back over to Beale Street for some cheap drinks and Blues.
While the service wasn’t full of Southern Hospitality, the café was gorgeous, their menu was unique and my latte was superb. We walked through Memphis Park and over to the pedestrian walkway bridge that leads to Mud Island.
Venturing a little further down Beale Street, we ended up at Jerry Lee Lewis’s Café for a night cap. There was an amazing rockabilly band playing when we arrived, called Smooth and the Bully Boys.
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 
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.
They patio and small shop next to the smokehouse were dotted with batches of pumpkins, squash and gourds. I am a sucker for tiny pumpkins, so I bought one for a dollar, such a bargain.
Before leaving, we stopped at the cider barn, for a half gallon of the juice they make from the not so perfect apples. We couldn’t pass up the cider milkshakes they were selling, they were amazing. Like creamy apple pie. I would definitely drive up again solely for another cider shake.
Once we had our share of Harvest Time, we went back to my parent’s house to feast on apples, cheese and charcuterie. We parted ways at the end of the evening, all toting our bags of apples and leftovers home with us.
The donut shop is next door, with a line that stretches past the patio and into the grass. The wait for the delectable fried dough was almost an hour, but oh so worth it. They make them to order and cover them in cinnamon sugar, coconut, frosting or sprinkles.
Once we had our share of Harvest Time, we went back to my parent’s house to feast on apples, cheese and charcuterie. We parted ways at the end of the evening, all toting our bags of apples and leftovers home with us.
rebeccawanderlusting 