Memphis!

There's more to Memphis than memories of Elvis, so after our tour we headed downtown. After checking in, we asked the hotel concierge for his recommendations. As he was showing us the map of the area, a fellow guest spoke up and suggested we head over to the Peabody Hotel and grab a seat at the lobby bar.  We might have a bit of a wait ,he said , but that would give us the perfect vantage point for viewing the Peabody Ducks. The Peabody Hotel is not just one of the oldest and most elegant hotels in the mid-South, it is also home to 5 ducks ( one male, four females) who live in a palace on the roof and spend their days floating in the lobby fountain.

It seems that back in the 1930's the General Manager of the Peabody and his friend went hunting in Arkansas one weekend, Upon their return, and after sippin' some whiskey (to chase away the chill, no doubt) they decided to place some of their live duck decoys in the hotel fountain. The guests were thrilled and a tradition was born. The original 3 English "call ducks" were soon replaced with 5 North American Mallards. In the 40's a Bellman offered to c=bring the ducks to the fountain each day and tecah them the now famous Peabody Duck March.  He retired in 1991, but another DuckMaster oversees the ducks daily 11AM entrance and 5PM retreat.

So, we hustled down the street and snagged the last seat and standing spot at the bar -- a good hour before the Duck March was to begin. To our right was a couple from Philadelphia, and to our left was an American wife and her Australian husband who live in Sweden. We passed the time in conversation. Before long the DuckMaster appeared, told the story of the ducks and the march was on!

Then it was on to Rendezvous Barbecue, located in an alleyway near the Peabody,  for their famous ribs. ( They were good, but so far, after all the BBQ we have eaten in the south, nothing compares to HomeTeam BBQ in Charleston). Later we walked down Beale Street as music poured out of the bars,

According to to Rolling Stone:

The heart of music in Memphis -- and arguably of delta blues, jazz, R&B, and gospel as we know it - was born along this three block strip downtown. But its significance as an entertainment district stretches all the way back to the 1860's when the street (once known as Beale Avenue) became a popular pit stop for musicians, traders, and merchants. For blues fans however, W.C.Handy, now revered as the Father of the Blues, crafted the genre's definitive statements in the early 1900's thanks to singles like "Blues on Beale Street" and "Memphis Blues."

We found an open air venue we liked the sound of, sat down and enjoyed the McDaniel Band for an hour or so. The lead singer took a liking to me after I complimented his Hoya's shirt and he responded with a couple of table side serenades. At one point the band asked where everyone was from and we were surprised to learn that most of the audience was from Europe.

Our Hoya fan singer serenading a guest

The following morning we walked through downtown past a few building restoration projects to the National Civil Rights Museum located at the Lorraine Motel -- the site of Martin Luther King Jr's 1968 assassination. It is a comprehensive telling of the fight for civil rights since the earliest days of our nation. We watched numerous newsreels of students being pulled from lunch stool, MLK orating on the National Mall, small children being escorted into school buildings by federal marshalls. We stood in Dr, King's motel room and looked across the street at the boarding house window where James Earl Ray lay in wait. The voices of Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Walter Conkrite, and Presidents Kennedy and Johnson told the story via the evening news. Interactive, hands-on exhibits told the story through the voices of small town southern residents, Freedom Riders, those who sat at the counters, boycotted buses and marched on Washington.  At times it was overwhelming -- and yet inspirational.

When it faced with demolition, a local group raised funds to save the Lorraine Hotel and turn it into a museum

A wreath is hung outside of Dr, King's room

The inspiration for Brown vs Board of Education

The striking Memphis sanitation workers wore I am A Man placards

The view from the Lorraine Motel to the Ray's boarding house.
A balcony has been installed outside of the bathroom window where Ray waited to give the visitor  his perspective.
(the green girder marks the spot)

That afternoon we drove over the Mississippi on the I-55 bridge (known to Memphians as the "Old Bridge") to Arkansas and back across the I-40 bridge ( aka the "New Bridge", even though it is over 300 years old) just so we can say we have been to Arkansas -- The Natural State!  The next day we heard that the Dept. of Transportation wants to close the Old Bridge before its replacement is completed due to safety concerns. We were happy to hear this after we traveled over it.

All in all it was a great trip to Memphis --lots to see, do, hear and eat. A perfect Loop side trip adventure, and a nice break from the boat life........