For my birthday weekend 2020, we headed down to Memphis for a long weekend. When we left, COVID was just a small blip on the radar in Washington State. It would be the last trip we would go on for over a year…but what a great trip it was!
We stayed in a wonderful two-bedroom VRBO called Pegasus’s Lair that was an apartment on the upper floor of a house on the Historic Register. Since it was a pet-friendly unit we were able to bring the pups.
Our first day, we visited Sun Studio and took their tour. We got a lot of behind the scenes information about some of our favorite singers, and stood exactly where they did when they were making records.
After Sun Studio, we had lunch at Big Bill’s Barbeque, which was a restaurant featured on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (Triple D), and then we went to Graceland. We thought that Graceland was surprisingly homey…it was obviously dated because nothing had changed since Elvis died. We enjoyed it more than we thought we would.
Elmwood Cemetery is an 80-year old cemetery that is on the Register of Historic Places. To enter, you have to cross an “entry bridge”…and the office cottage near the entrance can give you information on the cemetery. We just like to visit the historic cemeteries on our trips because not only are they often the resting places of historic figures, but they usually have really cool architectural elements to them. One of Tim’s favorite history authors, Shelby Foote, is buried there, and a scene from the movie, The Firm, was filmed there.
On my birthday, we went to dinner at The Majestic Grill. We always try to eat at the bar bc it’s comfortable for us and quicker service. This place was awesome! Tim told the bartender that it was my birthday and he gave me a tiramisu shot…not even knowing that tiramisu is my FAVORITE!
On Saturday we had lunch at Alcenia’s. Alcenia’s is another Triple D featured restaurant, where we had a WONDERFUL home-cooked lunch, and the promised hug from the owner Miss BJ…she is the FRIENDLIEST woman and a great cook! (check out her cooking show channel here)
We then spent the rest of the day at Beale Street and had a wonderful time. We loved the music and walking around…walk up bars were a fun thing LOL! So much Blues!!
On our last day we started with lunch at Uncle Lou’s…another Triple D featured restaurant. After that we came back, took a break to relax, and then walked up to the Crosstown brewery with Lupi and Santiago, and we had some great beer and crawfish.
I would say Memphis was the PERFECT small trip and so easy to get to from the St Louis area. We’ll definitely be back!
Small Trips with Tim and Chris 