Day 6 - Walking In Memphis

First of all, it is very hard to walk in Memphis for two reasons. One, it is a pretty spread out city, and two, it was like a bazillion degrees out today. That was up from the gazillion degrees it was yesterday. Nevertheless, we spent the day around town.

This was the reading on our car at 1:00 today

First stop was Graceland. No explanation needed for what this is. The house itself was not that big, but the decorations were very 70's. Shag carpet everywhere, including on the ceilings and walls of many rooms. And the hallways are pretty narrow, so I can't imagine what that place is like when it's busy. You are not allowed upstairs, so that has to be left to the imagination. Elvis was obviously mostly before my time, but I do remember that my parents had tickets for his show in Portland on August 17, 1977. One problem. He died on August 16, so he couldn't make it to the show. They had a lot of videos, interviews, clothing, gold records, etc. all around the place, and for someone that didn't live through the Elvis phenomenon, it was amazing how prolific and decorated he was.

After the tour of the mansion, we went back across the street to a series of other Elvis exhibits, including an exhibit of his movie career, his two airplanes and his automobiles.

Here is Amanda with her favorite car:

We skipped a few of the exhibits in the interests of getting to other places we wanted to see, but before we left we had lunch at Graceland. And to honor The King, we had a lunch that he would have appreciated (in his later years anyway) - ice cream. Yup, that's it, ice cream. Although, to be fair, the boys went for the more well-rounded banana split.

After that nutritious meal, we headed to the National Civil Rights Museum. This is located at the hotel (The Lorraine) where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. You can see the balcony he was standing on when he was shot. The hotel was converted into a museum a little over 20 years ago. And evidently, there is a woman who has been protesting the museum every day since. She even has a sign that counts the days of her protest (22 years, 215 days). The reason for her protest is the secondary part of the museum which is built where James Earl Ray was when he shot King. She evidently doesn't like the fact that he is given so much attention at the museum. First thought was she's nuts. Second thought was that maybe she had a point - why give any attention to the man who committed the crime (if he did commit it - they allude to the possibility that he didn't do it). Third thought was she's wrong. It's part of the history, and people like our kids, who really don't know the story should at least be aware of it.

The museum itself is not all about King. It's mostly about the entire Civil Rights movement. Frankly, being (a) my age, (b) from Maine and (c) pretty much not black, it was a little hard to comprehend all of the exhibits. I was aware, at least on a basic level, about many of the events that were depicted, but not all. And they just had so much info it really was hard to get it all, unless we wanted to spend an entire day there reading everything. Not sure the kids got anything out of it, other than the King stuff, as I don't believe they have studied any of these things in school.

After exiting the museum (and back into the scorching heat of Memphis) we headed to a lighter place - Sun Studio. This is where Elvis made his first recordings and got started, as well as where other legends of music recorded (Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc.). It's a pretty small place, and the tour guide was very animated. The tour is all of two rooms. One a display room and the other the actual studio. The studio is still in use today at night by bands that want to record. And coming soon to a radio near you will be Sun's latest find:

Since we really didn't have much of a lunch, we decided to head for an early dinner and make it an early night (for the 1st time). We had a recommendation for dinner from someone we met in Nashville, so we tried to go there. Problem was this restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays. So, we then tried to go to Corky's, which is owned by Elaine Volk's (my uncle Roger's wife) cousin. The tour book said it was around the corner from where we were. Problem #2 was that it is no longer there. We then asked the security guard at a parking lot where to eat, and he suggested a rib place around the corner, right off Beale Street. So we headed there for another delicious ribs meal.

We are only 6 days into the trip, and I think I have gained 237 pounds. Good thing we only have 13 days left. Tomorrow we are driving to St. Louis and will be atop the Arch at 5 pm.