Just back from Memphis :)

We went to Memphis for the weekend for a change of scenery. I don't have work tomorrow and Justin has an interview at 1pm... so we were able to spend a good amount of time there today.


We spent a few hours on the road yesterday before stopping in Cape Girardieu, MO for lunch. Our friends of McGinty Jewelers are originally from there, and we figured there would decent lunch options. We chose a restaurant called Saffron that's pan-Asian cuisine.

We booked a night's stay at the Westin, a block off of Beale Street. It is definitely a very nice hotel and the location is pretty awesome. While we valeted our car and had free in-and-out privileges, we pretty much walked everywhere until we ventured into Germantown.

Across from the hotel was both the Gibson guitar factory tours and the Smithsonian's Rock and Soul museum. Since you can see them making Gibsons in Nashville... we chose the Rock and Soul museum. I wish they allowed photography, because the stage clothes they had were absolutely amazing. They have this diamond encrusted "piano" watch that belonged to Isaac Hayes that is the ultimate bling. Like, hurt my eyes bling. Like, makes me want to dance on a yacht while a rapper "makes it rain" bling.

We left the museum for some coffee and a walk around the block, along with a quick visit to the Peabody Hotel lobby. It really is a gorgeous hotel. It's a shame that when we tried to book a room, they only had the 117sqf ones left...



Justin and I got hungry and opted for patio dining at Silky O'Sullivan's on Beale St, home of the world's weirdest patio. I had to order a shrimp po'boy since I have yet to find a place in the Lou that serves them (the one at Bar Louie is a shrimp sandwich, it's different) and I of course had to get dry rubbed ribs. Add in some Yazoo Pale Ale which I haven't had since I lived in Nashville... and it was easily a good meal to start off the night.

Now back to the weird patio...



Goats! On the weird structure thing!


We headed to Beale Street for the public intoxication we've missed since moving out of New Orleans.

Along the way, we encountered an awesome Elvis impersonator.



Muck Sticky performed outside of the theater, on the sidewalk. He was amazing. I couldn't get a great picture... so I took one of his name so I could purchase some of his music later. I definitely recommend checking this guy out!

We headed back to the Westin and fell asleep watching the Olympics. Since we thought we booked a deluxe room package that included breakfast, we woke up to eat said included breakfast. We ended up spending $20 for each of us to have a crappy pastry, coffee and orange juice. This is the beginning of "There Will Be Blood--- at a Westin" that I won't go into detail until I call their corporate office tomorrow.

We checked out and decided to walk near the cute boutiques and galleries on Main St. While most of them were closed, the American Apparel has to keep corporate hours and I got some leggings with buttons on the sides. Believe it or not, Saint Louis doesn't have an American Apparel... it's like, the GAP.



The painted graphics are one of my favorite features of Main Street.

From there, we headed towards the Civil Rights Museum... housed next to the motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered.




And apparently, someone is really pissed off that there's gentrification near the Civil Rights Museum.

After our walk, we went to the original Corky's Barbeque in Germantown... to see my old college roommate, Liz!



Poor girl just came back from studying abroad in Australia... completely jet-lagged but came out anyways for love and BBQ. She gave me the cutest key chain and kaola shot glass from her travels... Did you know how inefficient the Internet is in Australia? Given that I'm about to rip out the hearts of man and reign terror on Earth over the fact that the Westin's wifi wouldn't let me opt out and use the Edge that I already pay for on my phone... I think I would just smash stuff. Maybe only ugly stuff, like some of the lizards they have running around.

Upon Liz's suggestion, we ended our tour of Memphis with a visit to the Pink Palace museum for the natural sciences... No, we didn't see the shrunken head. We did catch an IMAX film on sea dinosaurs and I found this:



Oh yes, like that guy on Futurama. But infinitely more awesome! The most interesting thing in the entire museum... is that someone at some point in history thought it was a good idea to wear that. In public. Fucking amazing.

We had an easy drive up, with a stop back in Cape for Culver's.

All in all, a great weekend!