Walkin' in Memphis

Hey hey,

Sorry that I did not follow through with my desire to consistently post about my travels, but Tuesday and Wednesday were not very eventful. I did not want to make you read a pointless rambling of my thoughts, so I saved all of the goodies for today. I was also too tired, as I have been going to bed at the hour of 11PM. I mean, when in the back country, rise with the sun, right? Let me just give you a sneak peek of what you are about to experience: kisses! Talk about heated plots. Stay tuned to find out all about Solomon's life.

As a disclaimer, I know that many of you will ask, "Why are you wearing the exact same jeans and vest in all your pictures?" I will reply to you, "I am in God's great low country, and I am not trying to earn anyone's approval. I am merely trying to enjoy all that He has made for us." If you still find reason to argue with my clothing choice, then fight me. My jeans are indestructible.

May 17th

The 2nd day started with a little breakfast at Boulevard Bakery in downtown Little Rock, and I'll tell you, there is not much to do out in Little Rock, Arkansas. It just screams "retire here." We made our way over to Memphis, and as soon as we crossed that border (AR-->TN), we knew we were no longer in Arkansas, whose motto is "Regnat Populus." That means the People Rule. Arkansas is chock-full of Southern democrats... in fact, many streets were called Democrat Ln., St., Rd. That was way more political fiber than you wanted. Anyway, Memphis was pretty modern when you crossed that beautiful Mississippi River bridge.



I will say that there is one pretty pyramid when you come into Memphis. That is all I will say about the skyline. Above to the left: pyramid. There.

My mother and I had lunch at Alcenia's, which is a recently-popularized little soul food joint in the run-down district of Memphis. The owner gives everyone a kiss on the head. Nice; my mother and I felt loved. The food was pretty dang salty, but hey a little sodium never hurt anyone.. who did not show signs of heart complications. After lunch, we got an oil change for my automobile. Then, we checked into our ghetto hotel. They had 2 plugs for the entire room, no blow-dryer (my mom blow-drys her hair), and no facial tissue. That's whack.

We headed over to the Memphis Botanical Garden, and there were some cool flowers and trees and such. There is my mom inside one of the houses in the "Big Backyard" portion of the Gardens. Apparently, the MBG is a pretty cool venue; the Goo Goo Dolls, ZZ Topp, and many other artists are going to perform there.

Then, we walked around the downtown area and down Beale Street for a little while. Beale Street is a lot like 6th street, but a tad smaller, and I am sure that it is more music-oriented at night. There was this guy doing back flips. Also, music was blaring from 10 different bars at like 5PM. Oh, and there was this little public park with a band covering "Stand By Me." See to the right. That was awesome. We had a nice dinner at Restaurant Iris, this little house restaurant. Then back to to hotel to watch the Mavericks stomp the Thunder. Nice.

May 18th
Breakfast was had this morning at Brother Juniper's, sort of a local institution. We spent the mid-morning at the National Civil Rights Museum and learned about civil acts and what not. We saw the Lorraine Motel, where MLK was shot (see left). Martin Luther King Jr. did some historical things. After that, we walked down the street to Gus's Fried Chicken, which is apparently world famous. We had an hour long wait. Someone eating had a driver that left the car on the entire time to keep the inside cool. Talk about royal treatment with great American fried chicken and A/C.

After we waited, we dug into a slice of warm sweet potato pie. It was awesome. Then... the most delicious fried chicken ever. Perfect crust. Read my Yelp if you really want details. I am not using this blog to write about fodder. I even forgot to take a picture before I dug in because it was so good. Note the already-bitten wing.

We headed on over to Birmingham afterwards. Sadly, I never got to properly use "Roll Tide" while in 'Bama, but I figured it was not terribly appropriate, as we were not in Tuscaloosa? We checked in a little later, around 6PM. We rested up and then headed out to the 5 points neighborhood. This reminded me a lot of Berkeley, California and Highland Park in Dallas. The neighborhood surrounded a medical school/complex, and there was definitely some uppity shopping centers around. We had dinner at Chez FonFon where everyone was super fratty. Just picture Alabama, and you can probably get a good idea of the culture. Nice and Southern. To the left is us in Birmingham, Alabama. We walked around the area for a bit, then headed back for the night.