Memphis in June

Driving to Memphis was slightly terrifying...we definitely drove through one of the biggest downpours of rain that I had ever seen, accompanied by a nice big ol' thunder storm. I guess I was lucky that I wasn't driving. The cars had stopped on the road it was so bad you couldn't really see the lights of the car in front, we just had to wait for it to pass over. We drove straight to our Air bnb where we were greeted by our favourite host of the trip: she was adorable, so kind, and made us feel like her own grandchildren in her home. She apologised because she had been having some trouble with her air conditioning, it was pretty warm in the house but her hospitality made up for it...she made us cookies. 

After a little unpacking we drove into downtown and went to Rendezvous, a barbecue place that Ryan had seen on...you guessed it Man Vs Food. Now none of us had high expectations, especially after the 'hot chicken incident' in Nashville, which the girls had solely blamed on Ryan. If you were a meat lover then you were spoiled for choice, but little ol' veggie me here settled for some beans and rice (we are getting further south for sure) it was one of the strangest meals I had ever had, the beans were sweet and it was served with crackers, pickles and blocks of cheese. The girls told me not to think bad things about rice and beans yet and to hold out for some good food in Louisiana. I think the others all enjoyed their meals but it wasn't anything to write about....even though I am.  

It was still raining by the time we had finished eating, not the most pleasant of welcomes into Memphis. We went for a little walk and ended up eating peach cobbler and a chocolate chip cookie a-la-mode between the four of us in a little Canadian restaurant. All feeling sleepy and far too full from all of the sugar we headed back to the air bnb for the evening where we watched some films: Hush (a horror film about a deaf girl that lives alone in the woods) and A girl who walks alone at night (a modern vampire tale set in Iran) - I would recommend them both.

We had one full day to see what Memphis had to offer and what better way to start than with a huge breakfast. We headed to a place called Brother Junipers, and we were pretty overwhelmed for choice. I was ecstatic to see not only vegetarian options but a vegan tofu scramble...it was hands down my favourite meal of the road trip, and yes I did eat that grossly huge plate full. Next up, as the sun was really shining today, we went for a walk in the woods at Overton Park, it was nice to weave in and out of the shade while it was the hottest point of the day. 

Our next stop (after some coffee/water/ice cream) was to the Stax Museum, the only American Soul museum in the world. It was absolutely incredible, I learnt so much about an era of music and history that I previously knew very little about and although it is a fairly small museum it was so worth the visit. By the time we had finished looking around the museum we were already thinking about our next meal. To shake up our trip and add another state that we had technically been inside of, we drove to Arkansas...for all of 5 minutes, I guess it was worth it just for the state count: currently on 5, 6 if you include New York but we didn't meet the girls until we were in Illinois...I don't know you make your mind up.

We headed to Hueys for dinner, supposedly known for their burgers and we had a tip from a friend of Sydney's that the cheese fries were pretty good too. I had one chip (or one of the fires if you are in the states) but it tasted like bacon so they were a no go for me, the rest of the gang enjoyed them. My veggie burger also left me a little on edge, I was convinced that it was a meat burger and even after I was assured that it wasn't I was still suspicious...what was in this thing? and did I like it? my brain and my stomach were not working well together...but I had some regular chips that were great and plenty of ranch dressing. 

The last thing on our list of to-do for Memphis was to take a walk down Beale Street. The street is full of gift shops, bars, live music and people having a great time. The road is cordoned off by police and there are plenty of stands where you can buy alcohol and walk up and down the street with it...Ryan did just that. He could not have looked more like a tourist with his long island ice tea in his yard style glass and I quote 'didn't even taste like tea'...we explained to him that there is in fact no tea in a long island iced tea...he said he never would have ordered it if he had known that. We sat and watched an R+B band, they were all incredible musicians and the vocalist..she was absolutely killer..it was a total shame that the sound quality was poor. Memphis you have been pretty impressive, thank you for the history into American Soul, some tasty vegan food and an overall feel good day.