Monday, December 19, 2016

Epic Fall Road Trip - Part XVI: Tennessee, Ohio and Home

Friday, November 25th:


After leaving Oak Alley Plantation, Louisiana we headed north through Mississippi and ended for the night in Memphis, Tennessee.

We checked into the hotel and then walked down to The Peabody Hotel to get something sweet from their Deli, but it was closed for the night. We then walked to Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous to get some BBQ.

[The Peabody Hotel]

[The Peabody]

At the restaurant Josh ordered a full slab of ribs with their famous dry rub and I got a pulled chicken sandwich. OMG! It was all delicious!

[Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous]


[Josh LOVED the ribs]

Saturday, November 26th:

Do you know who the "Peabody Ducks" are? Let me tell you! Back in the 1930s the General Manager of the hotel, Frank Schutt, thought it would be amusing to leave three of his live decoy ducks in the hotel fountain one night. When we awoke the next morning he found that not only the guest liked it but the hotel staff did too! So everyday at 11:00 AM the "Duckmaster" rolls out the red carpet, the five ducks enter the elevator from their penthouse suite, come down the elevator to the lobby, and then run along the red carpet to the fountain. They spend all day at the fountain and then at 5:00 PM the whole ceremony is done in reverse!

I really wanted to see the Peabody Ducks so at 9:30 AM we left our hotel, walked to The Peabody, got some sweets from the Deli, and then found some prime spots on the second floor to watch the Ducks.

At 10:30 AM the Duckmaster came out and told the story of the ducks and rolled out the red carpet.






At 11:00 AM the elevator opened and the five ducks RAN down the carpet to the fountain! It was over in 8 seconds! It was hilarious!


[Running full speed]






After they got into the fountain everyone clapped and the crowed dispersed.

We then left The Peabody Hotel and started our scenic walk around town. Our first stop was the Elvis Statue.



Next, we went to Gus's Fried Chicken for lunch.


I got the two piece white chicken with mac n cheese and slaw and Josh got the three piece white chicken with beans and slaw. Wow! Another amazing find! The chicken is fried in peanut oil and it is done perfectly! We will be back!


Next, we walked to the Rock n Soul Museum and went on the audio tour through the exhibits.











Then we walked across the street to the Gibson Guitar Factory. All the tours for the day were sold out so we just walked around the store and looked for Josh's next guitar.






We then walked down Beale Street to the famous Sun Studio where Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and other greats from rock and roll and country recorded some of their hits.


We then walked back to The Peabody Hotel to get some more sweets and have a drink with the Ducks.






We then walked back to our hotel where we got ready to go out for the night. First, we caught an Uber to the Central BBQ.


We got a homemade chips appetizer and Josh got a full slab of ribs (half dry rub, half with sauce) and I got a pulled BBQ chicken sandwich with slaw! Dang! Everything was AMAZING!





We then walked to Beale Street to see if there was some live music. Of course there was! There was live music at almost every venue along the street.



Due to high cover charges and the fact that you can smoke in bars in Memphis (YUCK!), we decided to bail on Beale Street and go back to the hotel (I know, total party poopers).

Sunday, November 27th:

We slept in, checked out of the hotel, and went back to Gus's Fried Chicken for an early lunch (see, told you we'd be back!). I just can't get over how great the food is!

We then drove east to Nashville. Before we got into the city we stopped and got doughnuts at Five Daughters Bakery (recommended to us by Tiersha). These doughnuts are HUGE! They are tall, fluffy, and full of yummy fillings!



After enjoying a few sweets we drove into Nashville and found our hotel. From there we walked to the Capitol Building and then to 2nd Street. 


[Nissan Stadium - where the Titans play]

We then walked to the George Jones Museum and went to the rooftop bar to have a few drinks (thanks Dad for the recommendation).

[Pano from the rooftop bar]

We then left the bar and headed towards Broadway to see all the honky-tonks!

As we were walking down the street we walked pass this group of guys and one of them looked at Josh and yelled, "Everyone! Give it up for the man with the beard!" *Cheering and clapping from his group of friends* Seriously guys, I have a trophy husband.

We then went to Margaritaville to get some nachos and a few drinks before continuing our stroll down Broadway.



[View of Broadway from our hotel room]

Monday, November 28th:

We checked out of our hotel and drove to the Grand Ole Opry where we went on a "Backstage Tour."














To be honest, I'm not a huge country music fan but this tour was actually pretty awesome. We were able to go backstage to see all the dressing rooms, the mail boxes, and we even got to go on stage!

After we finished our tour we drove to my parents house in Cincinnati, Ohio. We stayed there for a couple of days, ate left over Thanksgiving food, played with our nephews, gave my mom back her SUV (after getting another oil changed), and then we took our truck home.

[Home Sweet Home]


After being on the road for 40 days, driving 7592 miles, seeing 26 states (plus DC), listening to five Harry Potter books, staying in 18 hotels (plus staying with Tiersha and Josh in Atlanta), I can't believe we are finally home!

We had some amazing food (lobster and clam chowder in New England; pizza pie and cheesecake in New York; Philly cheesesteaks in Philly; crabcakes in Maryland; biscuits and gravy with fried chicken in Atlanta; French beignets, gumbo, fried alligator, po' boys, and jambalaya in New Orleans; and fried chicken and ribs in Memphis), saw some of the most beautiful places in the United States (Niagara Falls, New England in the Fall, Acadia National Park, and the Blue Mountains), experienced so many great cities (Boston, New York, DC, and New Orleans) and had a great time! I don't know about you, but spending 40 days on the road with one person can be hard, but we had so much fun and everything went to smoothly that we are already planning our next adventure!

Thanks everyone for following us on our Epic Fall Road Trip!