MEMPHIS, TN

First, let me say we did not go to Graceland this visit. We both had been there before, so we decided to set our sites elsewhere. One of the most enjoyable restaurants in Memphis is the Flying Fish, across the street from The Hotel Peabody. The restaurant came highly recommended if you like a variety of fresh fish. Sometimes, catfish is used in the same sentence as bar-b-que in Memphis and surrounding areas. However, this informal restaurant proved to also be an adoption center for Billy Bass plaques; that is, if any of you have any of those fish plaques in your attic you'd like to adopt out to a good home. Hundreds of them line the walls. The food is ordered at a counter when you enter from the street. If you want it spicy, you say "make mine snappy" and the kitchen employees go wild. They start yelling, "SNAPPY"; must make their day go by faster. RV had fish and I had a bowl of gumbo, some of the best I've ever had.
One of our best bar-b-que experiences was at Neely's BBQ restaurant, a 17 year old family owned restaurant in Memphis and Nashville (voted #1 ribs in Nashville and Memphis), featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show, Food Network with Bobby Flay, and others.

We spent a little time in downtown Memphis and just happened to be in the Hotel Peabody for the Duck Walk one morning. This has been a tradition in the Hotel since 1933. The ducks are only lucky for 3 months before they are allowed to retire. Maybe this would be a job to check out.

If anyone from the Memphis Chamber of Commerce is reading this blog, I just want to pass on that your city is scary when it starts getting dark. Many other cities are too; however, this one makes it really scary when they start checking you for weapons when you enter Beale Street. This is the reason we decided to check out the city in the daylight. In the sub-culture of RVer's this kind of information keeps us in our parks - no B.B. King, Beale Street, or Graceland except during the day.

Memphis has a beautiful Victorian Village area close to the downtown area as well as a real trolley line. Their arena is called the Pyramid, named and designed since the city's name, Memphis, is derived from the Egyptians.

We are leaving West Memphis, AR and will be on our way to Branson, MO taking a westerly direction on I-40 and will spend the night in North Little Rock, AR. While there are a few things we'd like to see in Little Rock, we'll stay for an overnighter and get up early to drive to Branson. Hopefully on our return trip we'll have a chance to stop to see Clinton's Presidential Center and a few other sites in and around Little Rock, AR.