21 thoughts on “APRIL 15, 2017: WILD FINISH(ed)”

  1. Memphis Recap:

    Thanks for all the advice before my Memphis trip. It worked out really well! I appreciate it.

    We started with the Underground Railroad Museum. It was interesting but amateurish. It is at an old house that was used to hide those on the run. They took you down in the basement where you could see how people would move the loose bricks under the stairs to crawl into the house. I'm glad we did it but it didn't compare to some of the other museums.

    Sun Studios was really well done. Nice guided tour that gave you the history on Johnny Cash, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, etc. I didn't know that Ike Turner was part of the early story at Sun. I was surprised that the kids liked this one so much.

    The highlight was the National Civil Rights Museum. I heard a lot of positive reviews but I still wasn't prepared. We allocated 3 hours and it should have been a full day. My 14-year old took 1.5 hours covering the first 3 exhibits. There are 33 exhibits in all. We finally had to explain to her that it would take us two full days to go through the museum at her pace. They covered everything from the start of slavery in the U.S. to current day. Really impressive and overwhelming.

    Stax Records was the kids' least favorite. The tour was self-guided and they didn't really know many of the artists outside of Otis Redding. I enjoyed it but Sun was just done better.

    I would have been fine with skipping Graceland. I know it is one of those things that you HAVE to do, but it was really just a lot of standing in lines and getting pushed to get through the house as fast as possible. Also, they didn't do a good job of talking up Elvis's career. The focus was on the house and excess.

    Food:
    Gus's Fried Chicken for lunch. Interestingly, the chicken strips didn't use the same breading as the fried chicken. The strips had almost no spice.
    Central BBQ for pulled pork.
    Ribs at a suburban restaurant to meet friends.
    Salad place because we were all sick of meat. (No offense, Meat.)

    Again, thanks for all the recommendations!

    1. Sounds like a good trip. Issac Hayes' Cadillac was a highlight of stax, but you're right about the quality differences between museums.

    2. I was on a mission with a bunch of Japanese VIPs for a few days. On the last day, one of them pulled me aside and said wherever we went to eat next, it HAD to include rice.

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