Day 3 - Memphis

We got an early start and left Chattanooga heading up I-24 toward Nashville.  This was beautiful horse country with many large pastures and picturesque barns and farm buildings visible from the highway.  Just outside Nashville we took a highway that would take us southwest of Nashville around to I-40 and on to Memphis.  We stopped in Jackson, TN for lunch at a place called Rafferty's and then arrived in Memphis around 3 p.m.  We stayed at a really cool hotel, one that had been a Kress's Department Store and was converted into hotel suites.  Ours was the top left in the photo below. From our window we could see the trolleys go past, in fact, the stop was in front of our building.

We had a nap and then walked around the waterfront area of the city on the river walk.  Our hotel was in the area of the courthouse and it was surprising how little traffic there was on the streets.  There was also little foot traffic, just an occasional office worker or panhandler.  There was an elevated walkway over to a river park island in the Mississippi River but it had already closed for the day by the time we got there.  It seemed that the town all but rolls up the sidewalks at 5 pm.

 We went into the Memphis Welcome Center where we saw a bronze statue of B.B. King as well as one of Elvis Presley.  I was not a huge fan of Elvis when he was living. My older sister's generation was probably his largest fan base (those born in the 1940s to early 1950s).

We continued along the riverside where we sat on a bench to find a restaurant for dinner.  While sitting there, we were passed by a group of nuns.  We headed down the riverwalk and as we got further along, we saw that the nuns had chosen a spot and were eating their dinner from brown bags.  We see so few nuns at home in Winston-Salem and it was a treat to see a group of them on an outing.  We turned left onto Beale Street and walked a few blocks to B.B. King's Blues Club.

The street was blocked off for a motorcycle rally and after we ate our BBQ dinner we walked along looking at the riders and their bikes.

We walked around town a little more and took some photos before heading back to our room for the night.  Memphis is a very clean and beautiful city with a really cool streetcar system and many old historic buildings alongside newer buildings. There seem to be several music venues related to the blues.  It would be great to go back for a long weekend sometime.