We've both been wanting to go to Memphis and thought that would make a great getaway. It's only 8 hours away, therefore, totally doable as a road trip.
So, my first thought was to book the whole trip and surprise John with it. But, as I was thinking about it, I couldn't really keep it in. So, when I mentioned it to him, of course he was excited. Then after some discussion, it evolved into a night or two in Memphis and then venturing further east to Lynchburg, home of the Jack Daniel's distillery. Then, after more talking, we added another stop -- his families old farm/homestead/cemetery Palmetto Farm near Shelbyville, TN.
Here's a blow by blow ...
We hit the road on a Wednesday and drove to Little Rock. It's a pretty easy drive, minus the huge number of semis that are all over eastbound I-40 (Mom, you don't know "lots of trucks" until you've driven between OKC and Memphis).We stayed the night in LR and then bright and early Thursday morning we drove into Memphis.
Memphis is super cool, I just wish we had had a couple days to really see more of what the city has to offer. We stayed at the Peabody Hotel and let me tell ya ... that place is amazing! We got there around 11 Thursday morning and just missed the ducks making their way into the lobby fountain. The lobby was packed! People everywhere taking pictures, having a snack or a drink. It was so fun!
the famous Peabody ducks!
The Peabody is super fancy ... people at your beck and call no matter what you may need. They offered free shoe shines, so John took advantage. We put his shoes in the designated sack and put them on our door handle, and off they went to be shined. We called down to the concierge the next morning to request them back -- we got a phone call saying they were on the way and we got a phone call making sure the shine job was to our liking. Talk about service!
The Peabody from the alley across the street (where Rendezvous is located)
Luckily our room was ready when we got there, so we stowed our stuff and headed out to find some lunch. We'd heard Rendezvous had great BBQ and it happend to be basically across the street from the Peabody, so it was perfect. We walked in and they said they didn't open until 4:30, but we could have ribs, cole slaw and beans if we wanted ... and we did. It was so good! I'm not really a rib person, but I couldn't get enough. We got 8 or 9 ribs between the two of us and I ate 4! Mmmm...so good.
After lunch, we had planned a trip out to Chi Omega headquarters, which are in Germantown. As a faithful Chi Omega alum, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to really greek out. And, I had to drag John to Chi O Headquarters (Not really drag, he was kind of excited to go. Now we have to make a trip to Chicago and visit Sigma Chi headquarters in Evanston.) A fellow Epsilon Alpha works there and kindly gave us a tour. We had a great time! We found my aunt and John's mom's bid cards. What's kind of crazy about the HQ is that it really is part office and part sorority house.
searching for bid cards
my aunt's bid card!
Chi O HQ -- Kind of looks like 820 Chautauqua
The lobby was packed for the second march of the ducks
The Duckmaster -- only the 4th one ever. The first Duckmaster held that title for more than 40 years.
1 comment:
What a fun trip! I got to go to convention in 95, which was the 100 anniv and was held in Memphis and we got to tour HQ. I didn't know there was a room with bid card! How neat!
Post a Comment