On Thursday morning, after a little walk to get some much-needed exercise, we left Atlanta for Memphis, passing through Mississippi before arriving in Memphis mid-afternoon. We had thought we'd reserved a room at a DoubleTree in downtown Memphis, but as we got close to Memphis, it became clear that our Garmin was taking us to somewhere other than downtown. Alas, we were at a suburban DoubleTree instead. Our whole reason for wanting to be downtown was to be close to the action of the infamous Beale Street and to the iconic Rendezvous rib place recommended highly by brother-in-law, Steve. So we went to the front desk and explained that we weren't where we thought we were going to be, and we were able to switch our reservation to the DoubleTree Downtown. Without any trouble, we found our downtown hotel and got settled in. We were hungry thinking about the dry-rub ribs Steve had told us about, so we went across the street to the Rendezvous and the ribs were as good as advertised. Bev stuck with her new pattern of having a beer, having converted to drinking beer while in Europe. After dinner we went for a walk to Beale Street, only about 3-4 blocks away. It was early Thursday evening, and though Beale was blocked off, the crowds were just starting to arrive. A number of blues bands had already started up, but we were both tired and Bev was suffering the effects of sinus congestion, so we didn't stick around, but instead went back to our hotel and I watched the NBA Playoffs between the Celics and the Lakers.
Friday morning, we got up, had breakfast and went to see the National Civil Rights Museum, which is located at the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The museum was extremely well done, and very interesting. It was amazingly sobering to actually see, through glass, the room that MLK stayed in, and the very spot on the balcony where he was assassinated. The museum also includes the building across the street, where James Earl Ray stayed and from where he shot Reverend King. Of course, we remember so well that tragic day, and the aftermath. It was almost surreal to actually see this scene in person!
After about 2 ½ hours at the museum, we grabbed a fast-food lunch and headed out to spend the next couple of nights with our good friends, Denny and Cynthia Holter, in St. Louis. We are really looking forward to seeing them again!
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