Day 10 marked the start of our wee roadtrip to Nashville. We started off getting our of Dallas and the crazy players of highways. It definitely competes with LA! Once we were out of the city we stopped off in Royse City for some cheeky McDs for breakkie. Deciding to be adventurous we ordered Bacon and Egg McGriddles....not realising that meant instead of muffins you get maple syrup pancakes instead of the McMuffin! 🤢
After tracking down the highways for a while we decided to go on the back highways in the hope of seeing more scenery. We weren't disappointed! Instead of being on massive, straight highways 2-4 lanes a side and a speed limit of 70 miles per hour (113km) we went to small 1 lane each side with no passing allowed that went through little townships, RV parks and derelict buildings. It's funny, no matter how small a town was...and some seemed to consist of 5 houses, there was always a church and a donut shop!!
When we got to Texarkana we did the only thing there is to do in town - stand on the state line that runs down the middle of it. It is more than just that.....its 2 towns that are both called Texarkana, one in Texas and one in Arkansas that are right next to each other. They each have their own town hall...however the town feels abandoned when you drive through it. We stopped and a little dive pub and had a drink and a game of pool before deciding to drive a bit further before retiring for the night.
We ended up finding a Super 8 on the side of the highway in Hope to stay the night which would shorten the next days drive.
Day 11 we continued our journey east towards Memphis from Hope. With another three and a half hour drive ahead Logan needed a trip to the tobacconist to stock up. Hope is a pretty small place, however their Tobacco Superstore has a drive thru! As I have said previously, there is literally a drive thru for everything!
The flash flood warnings they were giving several days earlier for Little Rock thankfully didn't come to anything and the weather had cleared over those parts by the time we went through. New York and Dallas were getting the brunt of the storms and flooding so we got out of Dallas just in time. Instead Little Rock was a stinking hot 34 degrees and extremely humid. It's a lot bigger than expected....the name is deceptive! They have reserved names for Bill Clinton as he is from Arkansas and they have some cut trams/trains but there is not really much else there!
We arrived in Memphis at around half three in the afternoon and it was pretty striking to drive into. After 2 days of tiny towns Memphis seemed like a huge metropolis springing out of the Mississippi River. The bridge you cross getting into the city gives it a bit of a grand entrance and the state line between Arkansas and Tennessee sits half way across.
It took two goes to find our accommodation as the first time we found it we decided it was a mistake and kept looking around. After realising we were actually in the right place we stood out the front and took in the beautiful old historic building in front of us. The building had been split into 3 separate apartments that are all rented as holiday homes. They have been beautifully renovated to be modern but including plenty of elements from the original house to keep its historic feel. Every window had views over the city from different perspectives and a cute little balcony off the bedroom.
We didn't want to waste any time as our Memphis visit was short so we headed straight to Beale Street for the evening. Google took us a slightly dodgy way into town but we made in in one piece via a nice local brewery (it was so hot it would be rude not to).
Beale Street was not quite what I expected, it was a lot like my expectations of Broadway in Nashville. The main part of Beale Street with all of the music clubs was blocked off to traffic and had a fairly heavy Police presence. We got there is daylight, and as it got dark the street came to life! Neon lights adorn the front of all of the clubs, horse and carriages with full Cinderella coaches covered in lights line the side streets, people selling glowing lights to wear, buskers sing somersaults down the middle of the street and people with bubble blowing machines all add to the vibe down the street. Add to that the smell of cajun cooking and bbq, and a cacophony of various live bands spilling out onto the street, and you have a pretty awesome vibe! We didn't realise we had also stumbled on the Annual Elvis Week....so there were people dressed as Elvis everywhere and loads of impersonators performing in various places.
The sidewalk of Beale Street plays homage to some of the great Memphis artists in a little walk of fame in the shape of music notes rather than stars. There were various parks in between the bars that had bands playing and some bars that just had an old building facade held up by big steel beams - the rest of the building was gone but the bar was set behind the facade forming a garden bar.
The whole feel of the street was reminiscent of New Orleans on Bourbon St, and as the night amped up so did the Police presence. But the time we left there was a massive line waiting to be security checked just to get in to the street.
Day 12 we were off to Graceland. It was an early start as we had already booked the first tour of the day. This turned out to be a good call considering it was Elvis week! This tour was everything you would expect. We started at the Graceland Mansion(originally a cattle ranch 10 miles out of town called Graceland Farms) and took an audio tour around the house and grounds. The living areas are generally smaller than you would expect and generally quite understated, but there is something special about the feeling you get from being in the house Elvis Iived in for so many years. He made a lot of extensions including the crazy Jungle Room (with green shagpile carpet on the floor and ceilings), a private racquetball court, pianos and TVs everywhere and loads of custom made furniture. They have kept everything as original as possible and most of the furniture and accessories throughout the house were original.
The kitchen had some very 70s carpet (Elvis completely redecorated it in the 70s and it is as he left it), the pool room has walls and ceilings made of ruched fabric that took 3 days to hang, and there is multimedia room in the basement (the yellow room) to preview his movies and recordings.
Elvis and his parents and grandmother are all buried beside each othe out the back of the house as where he was originally buried in the public cemetery created massive security risk.
After the mansion tour was done we headed back across the road to the exhibits. This is where we viewed his personal car collection, artifacts exhibit which is artifacts from Graceland, and the career museum where all of his jumpsuits and gold/platinum records are on display.
I was quite taken with getting to see the jumpsuits up close and realising they are made out of suiting fabric. No stretch fabric in sight and fully tailored to fit. The decoration on the Aloha suit must have been so heavy, particularly the Cape as there weren't the lightweight sequins you have these days.
After absorbing Graceland and everything we had learned we headed to Sun Studio....another amazing place to be in. This is where Elvis cut tracks for a year before being invited to cut a record by the producer. We got to stand in the actual recording studio where Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, BB King, Carl Perkins and many more have recorded. Everything is original, even the rickety acoustic panels in the ceiling and walls.
Sun Studio still records at night using a mix of analogue and digital recording techniques and it's open to tourists during the day. A lot of gear has been left there from people who have recorded over the years (including modern artists) and we got to play with Elvis' original recording mic. The room we stood in was where Elvis invented Rock'n'Roll with a version of 'That's Alright' during a test recording session.
A change of scene was in order so we headed towards the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks do their March down the red carpet (which was pretty cute) and then headed back to Beale Street for our last fix of blues before heading to the Country Music Capitol tomorrow.
We leave Memphis with full hearts and happy souls!
No comments:
Post a Comment