Ya’ll come back and see us.

FRIDAY

Memphis was calling, so we booked a last-minute room at the Graceland Guest House. Because, why wouldn’t we? (It was actually one of the cheaper options around the city.) With less than 24 hours in town, we’re skipping the Graceland tour, but plan on hitting up Beale Street for dinner and blues and Sun Studios for a tour in the morning (oh, and Karl has his heart set on some local BBQ).

We decide to take the scenic route and hop over to the Natchez Trace Parkway. It’s clean, peaceful and…slow. At this rate, we won’t make it to Memphis until 9. So we cut out of the Parkway and manage to roll into Memphis by 6.

Admittedly, I think Karl and I both had a romanticized version of this place in our heads—visions of amazing food, old-school blues bars, and an overall authenticity. When we hop out of our cab we were immediately struck with what felt like a bit of Nashville and New Orleans combined but on a smaller scale—bright neon lights, screaming music coming out of every bar, street performers, and plenty of people watching. Though instead of tourists, the street was mostly filled with locals out on a Friday night.

It’s 8:30 and we’re hungry so we head out of the area and find a gastropub called South of Beale (SOB on the sign). It’s a cool street, much quieter (with the exception of multiple pedal wagons full of screaming women). The menu looks so great we can’t decide. Then, our server announces they are out of a few things—specifically ALL of the things we want. So, we leave. She apologizes and sends us to her favorite place, Local.

Back at Beale Street we decide on Jerry Lee Lewis’ Cafe & Honky Tonk. The band is playing a familiar 50s song and they sound pretty good. They take a break and we wander upstairs where we find a DJ playing hip hop for a room full of local 20-somethings, once again chipping away at our hopes for a “real deal” blues experience.

One of the better parts of the night is finding a small cigar shop called Havana Mix just off the strip. It’s full of people laughing and pouring out onto the street. So we pop in and grab a cigar for the road.

After being approached for money on our walk—once by a couple looking to help homeless veterans and then by a veteran trying to get his poem published, we take note of the creativity. These people didn’t just shout “Hey man, got 50¢?” They spent time engaging us with stories, local history, and a poem about love. So even though we didn’t hear amazing blues or eat terrific food, we did get some entertainment on the way back to our hotel.

SATURDAY

On to Sun Studios—the main drive behind this last-minute excursion. Though the wait is long and the crowds are awful, we really enjoy the tour and finally snag a bit of that Memphis history we’d been hoping for.

We seek out some local BBQ only to find a line out the door and into the parking lot. So we grab sandwiches at a cute little cafe / antique shop instead (and say “yes” to the coconut cake). It’s the antithesis of the down and dirty BBQ joint and Karl is working hard to swallow his disappointment and enjoy his club sandwich. But it seems the BBQ Gods are with us. At our first highway pit stop, I spy Rochelle’s Bar None BBQ in Hurricane Mills, TN and insist that Karl scratch that itch. He ate so fast we didn’t even get a picture.