Memphis, Tenn

BB King's
see all photos »

We drove over after leaving Little Rock and found a hotel in a suburb of Memphis called Germantown.  We also discovered that Memphis has BW3s now called Buffalo Wild Wings, but it is still BWs.  We had some wings and then went into downtown Memphis.  We were very happy to find Beale Street, which was hopping as it was a Saturday night.  The entire street was blocked off by the police and there was live music coming from all directions.  People were freely walking around with drinks in hand going from the free live concert in the pavilion area to the many pubs that also had live music (for a cover charge though).  It was really a cool place!  We saw BB Kings place and a very interesting Irish pub.  Lars said it reminded him (on a smaller scale) of New Orleans.

Lars on Beale Street in Memphis
see all photos »

On Sunday, we went to Graceland for most of the day.  We did the Platinum pkg, so we toured the mansion, the grounds, the museums, car and airplane museums, etc.  I found out that Lars is a closet Elvis fan!  He seemed to know a lot of the songs and really enjoyed the tour.  We also found some gold and platinum records given to Elvis from Norway in the trophy room.....

I found out that Lars is a closet Elvis fan!

Beale just as the sun is going down
see all photos »

After touring Graceland, we drove over to Sun Records where many of the great - including Elvis recorded.  It was pretty cool to see.  After that we stopped by the National Civil Rights Museum, but it was closing down as it was 6 on a Sunday.  We did get a chance to see some of it though.  The museum is actually in the location of where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.  The location is downtown at the Lorraine Motel.  You can see the balcony and motel room of where he was shot - it is quite eerie.  The location of the museum is near an area of Memphis that looks as though the city is trying to revive with condos and restaurants, so it was great to drive around this historic area.  We toyed with staying another night to come back to the museum, but we decided to start driving to Nashville.  We plan to spend a few days in the area.