It all started when my one of my best friends called and said he wanted to take my other best friend on a trip for their 10th anniversary as a surprise.
Memphis, Tennessee
“Do you all want to go with us?”
“Heck YES!” I replied.
And when he found out I was game he asked me to plan it.
Pity invite in exchange for vacation planning? Eh, it’s not above me. The rules were that the location had to be drivable, somewhere she hadn’t already been (Callie likes going somewhere new) and the trip needed to be a weekend in length since they had a busy summer planned.
Callie has been to Nashville numerous times so that was out. I started looking in a 5-6 hour range. Other options were Omaha, Nebraska; Galena, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or South Haven, Michigan. In the end, the lure of Beale street won me over, as I figured Memphis would have plenty for us to do.
A month in advance, I booked a hotel for two nights, which was the biggest expense of the trip. I also booked a pedal bar on Beale Street for the group and a massage for the two of us girls on Saturday as a present for Callie’s late July birthday. Other than that, I wanted the anniversary celebrating the couple to be able to pick some things to do and places to eat.
My ever-reliable Mother sent me out the door armed with numerous publications listing things to see and places to eat. The happy traveler like me, she keeps maps, magazine articles, or publications for places she wants to go and it’s super useful.
We left on Friday morning and got back on Sunday afternoon. The drive was perfect, all interstate from Bowling Green, Missouri on and the drive hours didn’t seem all that long. We talked about everything under the sun (and no kids were crying, fighting, or saying they had to pee) and the hours flew by.
WHERE TO STAY:
** places mentioned in this blog are hyperlinked: click and find more information! **
I knew we’d be at Beale Street for entertainment and I was interested in staying near there so that we could walk to and from our hotel. There was a hotel one block over from Beale Street, The Hampton Inn. My husband swears by the Hampton Inn beds and pillows and I was hoping they would have a continental breakfast (they did). Rooms were GREAT but pretty pricey for a weekend, $245 a night, but I thought walkability was key, so I booked it. With tax and parking, we paid $618 for two nights.
*In retrospect, if I were to visit Memphis again, I would say that location right next to Beale is not a must. It would be entirely possible to look at other affordable downtown hotels or an Air BnB and just find an electric scooter to get where you need to go downtown. We used Bird Scooters to get around. and got everywhere super-fast without walking or driving. More on this later.
**If you are really living it up, stay at the famous Peabody Hotel. Prices usually reach $300/night in summer. It is spectacular. Callie and I stopped by and checked out the ducks. More on this later. I took some pictures but they do justice to how grand the hotel is.
WHAT TO DO:
King Jerry Lawler’s Hall of Fame Bar: We happened upon this place after dinner on our first night. Jerry Lawler is a former WWF star so Shawn was pretty interested in being a big-time fan back in the day. Also, they had no cover charge and a legit sounding house band. We enjoyed getting to hear some legit blues and having fun meeting some people at the bar. Callie and I talked to Scarlett, from England who teaches in Dubai!
Tin Roof: We decided to go to another place after Jerry Lawler’s and happened upon The Tin Roof. We really enjoyed this spot. The band playing was more of a country cover band with lots of energy. We loved the vibe and that we could sing along to our favorites.
Graceland: How can you go to Memphis and not visit Graceland? It’s not possible. Not everyone in my group was super excited about touring the iconic former home of Elvis Presley, but I enjoyed the tour. I did give our trip partners an out to stay back and do something else (Shawn didn’t get the option) but they said they wanted to go. Tickets were $41.00 for the Mansion and $5 for the tour of the airplanes, but there are MANY options including a VIP tour that costs more an $100. After you buy your tickets, you are assigned a time to come back and go into a screening for a short movie about Elvis. After the movie, you move to the line to get on a shuttle to go across the street to the mansion. The worst part was the wait. Buses ran non stop but I think we waited half an hour. The wait was outside but shaded, and big fans were running to try to keep everyone cool. While you are in line you get headphones and an iPad and you have a guided tour while you work your way through the house. I thought that was a great idea because so many times in a group tour if you aren’t close to the guide, you have a hard time hearing anything.
Peabody Ducks: If you aren’t staying at the Peabody, you can still go and check out their beautiful lobby/ bar area, and the fountain in the lobby with the resident ducks. They employ a duck master, whose only job is to take care of the ducks. (Somehow this appeals to me because it seems stress-free. But maybe ducks are dicks?)
The ducks live on the roof and each morning they come down from the roof in the elevator, march across a red carpet laid out for them (wonder how often they have to clean that from errant duck poop?) and then hop up into their fountain where they stay for the rest of the day until they go back across the red carpet, get in the elevator, and head back up to the roof.
Bird Scooters: You may be thinking that a 36-year-old Mom of three isn’t hip enough to rock a scooter in a new city. But you are dead wrong. I “scooted” in a dang dress (with it tucked between my legs) and we all agreed that embracing the electric scooters was the most fun part of the trip. We downloaded the app, uploaded our payment info, and were scooting in no time…
(well, Shawn wasn’t. Is it any surprise that he went through the safety tips and rules tutorial (in its entirety) on the app? No? Every group has a safety coordinator and I am pretty blessed that mine is cute.)
We used those durable little scooters many times throughout the weekend and it was a great way to see downtown. If you are ever in a new place and need a good way to get around and don’t want to drive and worry about parking, look to see if scooters are available. There were tons in Memphis and not just the Bird brand. Bird is just what we happened to pick up. The app was super easy to use and figure out. When you wanted to unlock a Bird, you scanned a QR code. When done, you tapped “End Ride” and snapped a picture of your safely parked Bird on the street. Easy peasy.
The Loflin Yard: Our pedal bar tour to us to this super cool bar in a different part of the city. The bar and grill had tons of outdoor seating, fire pits, outdoor lights strung up, and open porches on one side of the property. On the other, they had ax throwing, hillbilly golf, the bags game, AND a bounce slide with water for families that were eating/drinking with their children in tow. It was such a neat place that you could tell people just wanted to spend time there and be with friends and family. (Pictures courtesy of Loflin Yard facebook.)
The Lorraine Motel and Civil Rights Museum: Again, you can’t go to Memphis without checking out this landmark. I was glad I got to see the iconic motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. They have kept the motel and even the cars in the parking lot exactly as they were on that fateful day. It is like stepping back in time.
Sprock and Roll Pedal Bar: Hands down, a great experience. If you ever get a chance to try a pedal bar, you should try it. We did not have enough people to rent a whole bar, so we signed up for a mix and mingle option where we would be paired with other people. We reserved our seat on the pedal bar for about $31/person and we had the option to prepay a 20 percent tip, which made the tickets about $39/person with tax.
We really liked this option because it was fun and we loved talking to new people. On our tour was a group of expats who were doctors or researchers at St. Jude and a couple that were newly dating from the area. You can take your own drinks (they provide a cooler and cups) and snacks (which we rocked because that is what Moms do) and hook up your own music to the pedal bar speakers.
WHAT TO EAT:
Rendevous Barbeque: Our Friday night meal. The entrance is in an alley. But the good news is that it’s not a sketchy alley. Shawn had brisket, I had pork shoulder, Bryce the ribs, and Callie, the pulled pork nachos. All were pretty dang good. We enjoyed it and got seated fast and the food came pretty quickly for it being on Diner’s Drive In’s and Dives and being listed in EVERY tourist publication as the place to go for BBQ.
Blues City Cafe: This was our Saturday meal after the pedal bar. The place is on Beale street and is also another great place that people rave about for good food. Our table ordered BBQ pork fries, gumbo fries, fried shrimp and shrimp scampi. It all tasted amazing and we thought the service was fast for it being such a popular place. I didn’t get any pictures here, so these are from their facebook page.
*We had a continental breakfast in our hotel (Thank you Hampton Inn!) so that was taken care of on Saturday and Sunday mornings. We had lunch on Saturday in a pizza place on Main Street and thought it was just okay and not worth mentioning. On Friday, we did stop in the TINY town of Portageville, Missouri and had lunch at “El Señor Tequila.” The food was fresh and delicious! The chips were super thin and crispy and our server was nice and accommodating. Basic decor and ambiance, but the food was worth the stop.
Have you been to Memphis? Tell me about something you loved that we missed! Shawn and Bryce were interested in going to a Memphis Red Birds game since it is a Cardinal farm team, but we didn’t feel like it would fit in the schedule.
Happy Traveling!
Love, Stef