I rounded up the spare change I've been saving, got some friends together and we drove down to Memphis from October 20th-22nd (Sunday-Tuesday). 3 Days & 2 nights - the perfect amount of time to escape reality for a bit.
The cruise down 57 through Illinois is typical flat land, Illinois, at least till you get around the Carbondale area, then it gets pretty but then pretty boring again through Missouri and Arkansas. I will say there are plenty of rest stops along the way so the 8+ hours in the car didn't seem that bad. Also, there are LOTS of wineries in Southern Illinois so that made for a stop as well....on the way back.
For more detailed reviews of the places I mention, be sure to visit my yelp page at http://janinek77.yelp.com
I've never been to a waffle house and having visited Tennessee before I just wanted to go to one. A co-worker told me it's not a big deal but I had to see for myself. This route does not pass a Waffle House, until you're basically crossing over from Arkansas to Tennessee in a town called West Memphis, Arkansas but of course we stopped there. After our Waffle House stop we made our way to our hotel which was pretty much off the first exit into Memphis, and the state of Tennessee. We stayed at the Comfort Inn in downtown Memphis.
Our first night we hit up Beale Street right away - grabbed a pre-dinner drink at Coyote Ugly. Apparently "happy hour" last HOURS so we grabbed a $3 happy hour margarita and then headed over to Gus' Fried Chicken which was AMAZING! Move over KFC & Popeyes because Chicago needs one of these! For a Sunday night I'd say Beale Street had an older crowd - nothing wild & crazy and that was fine. Oh, if you're looking for something wild and crazy...Silky O'Sullivans has "The Diver" - a drink made up of wine, beer, and shots, perhaps the kitchen sink too, I'm not sure but look this up, it's for real!
The next morning after having a pretty decent breakfast in our hotel we headed out to Graceland which was a hop, skip, & a jump from downtown Memphis. Before Graceland we went to The Peabody to see the ducks. http://www.peabodymemphis.com/peabody-ducks/ that is their story. If you plan this into your agenda and want a good spot because it goes fast, meaning those duck come running in...get there early for this experience. We spent pretty much the entire day there doing the Platinum tour. Yeah, I like Elvis and all but I think my parents would dig this place a lot more than I did. There is something for every Elvis lover in your life in the many gift shops on the property too. After Graceland we were famished and hit up Automatic Slim's for appetizers and killer $5 martinis. After resting up at our hotel we hit up Beale Street for drinks and dinner one last time. We had to try BBQ for dinner as this area is well known for BBQ and http://www.hogsfly.com/TheRestaurant.php was recommended to me by a few people here and down there but they were closed during our visit (closed Sundays & Mondays) so we opted for "The Pig on Beale". We were not disappointed. After dinner we grabbed a drink, did our souvenir shopping and made our way back to the hotel. Again, not exactly happening on a Monday night but we still had our fun.
The next day we were thinking of going to the Memphis Zoo but decided to just head back and make a few stops on the way. On the way home we visited Carbondale, and hit up a winery, being Star View Vineyards. Lucky for us it was free tasting day (and every week day) so we pretty much tried everything they had to offer. We picked one of the bunch and it happened to be a good one! I didn't realize there is an entire wine trail down in Southern Illinois - might have to make a separate trip out of that spot.
I was told all sorts of things about Memphis before visiting - good & bad. I'm from Chicago so if you look up the crime statistics, we're way up there so you just need to use common sense when visiting whether it's here or any city, or anywhere in which you're a tourist. The one thing while visiting Beale Street that got annoying was the people asking for money. Here in Chicago I'm used to it...I keep walking but it seems the tourists stick out down there like a sore thumb and they're hit up, a LOT. Of course it all starts out as casual conversation leading into asking for money, a donation, something or other and well...handle it as you'd like. That was the only downfall to the trip, that got a little old but we were only there 3 days. Walking around downtown it didn't happen, only in the Beale Street area.
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