Way back last year when we went to Canada our flights were messed up and Delta issued us each a voucher to use towards a later flight. We used Zach’s voucher towards his ticket cost for Cozumel (I got my ticket free using credit card thank you points). My voucher would be expiring and I hated to see $200 wasted! I talked to Casey and told her I’d be down to fly somewhere as long as we could find a place that would cost right around the value of my voucher. Why not use it for a fun girls trip?!?!
I did a little research and sent her a list of places that we could fly to on the cheap. Memphis was one of the places both of us wanted to visit! My dad is a HUGE Elvis fan and I have always wanted to visit Graceland with him. It’s def been on my bucket list for sure and this was a perfect opportunity to go and do that. It’s not something Zach would ever want to do and it’s unlikely Dad and I will get to make the trip together (and he’s been many times) so why not do it now? Especially with a free flight!
Casey and I were both SUPER pumped for the trip! We have gotten a lot closer over the years and it was our first big adventure together 🙂 I love that we both value girl time, creating fun experiences, and taking lots of pictures haha.
We left early in the morning on Wed June 19th. I’m all about doing stuff on the cheap so I planned it out where we’d fly out early on Wed and late on Fri. Staying only two nights but maximizing our vacation time! Casey drove us up to Atlanta and we did a park and ride thing for the flight. Which was pretty hilarious as we got there and no one gave us any instructions on how to park or how to be picked up or anything?!?! We ended up calling them and saying “we’re on your lot and need a ride!”
We both packed super light in order to avoid checking any luggage. We fit everything into one carry-on each! Travel ballers for sure 😉 I did the same thing when Katie and I went to Vegas and it makes travel SO MUCH easier not to mess with a lot of big suitcases or having to wait at baggage claim. It was nice not being pregnant as I could actually carry my own stuff 😉
Getting some pre-flight lunch!
Booking the hotel stay was pretty stressful. I read a ton of reviews and tried to find somewhere affordable yet also SAFE. I may be a tad paranoid but I’m hardcore about safety when I’m without my man to protect me haha. Especially in a city where I’ve never traveled, I think it’s so important to make sure we’re safe. Even Zach agreed that he’d rather me spend more to insure our safety. In order to save taxi costs to and from everywhere (including the airport) we actually ended up deciding to stay in two different hotel rooms. The first night we stayed in the Beale Street area of town and the second night we stayed by Graceland. I was SUPER impressed with the Comfort Inn! The location ended up being PERFECT and we both felt safe the entire time!
First thing we did after getting checked in? Went through tons of brochures and decided what we wanted to do on the trip! It’s very unlike me not to have everything planned out but in my research about Memphis I could tell there wasn’t a TON of things to do and just wanted to relax with my sister and have fun! No pressure or rushing around. Just enjoying life and taking it easy! Casey really wanted to do a murder tour but I was pretty thankful it didn’t work out. I would have been FREAKING OUT! haha! And since neither of us brought a rape whistle we could have been in trouble 😉
Be jealous of my cool look haha. I wore my tennis shoes for the flight there and the flight home. Up until that point I’d been wearing them all day every day at home (and wearing cuter shoes when going out and about). During this trip though I wore regular shoes the entire time (other than the flights) and it went GREAT!!!! NO PAIN issues AT ALL and we did a LOT of walking!!! Huge huge progress for my foot 🙂
We decided to go to the pool and saw this sign in our room so we went all the way to the lobby to ask for towels and the lady behind the counter acted like we were total MORONS and said the towels were at the pool. I mean we were just following instructions!
The pool was on the roof of the hotel and had some great views of the surrounding city!
This huge pyramid is actually being turned into a Bass Pro Shop! So, so random!?!?!
Our hotel was very close to Mud Island River Park. We never went to check it out but the little tram to get there seemed kinda awesome huh?
Confession: we didn’t really get into the pool. And we didn’t stay too long either. The crowd was a little on the shady side. Like it’s nice to have guys check you out…but sometimes they give you that ugh-oh feeling haha When the dude asked if we wanted a picture together I totally turned him down. So you KNOW he had to be pretty shady for me to say no to that offer 😉
We headed back to the room and got dressed for our evening out on the town! The area around our hotel was SO cute! It was like a ghost town there though. Legit, we hardly saw ANYONE. It was very pretty and would be a romantic area for sure. We did say the boys would like it because everyone you meet is obsessed with BBQ haha. Like seriously we heard from SO MANY strangers about how good such and such place is for BBQ. And everyone says they have THE BEST BBQ. Hilarious! Who cares that much about dang BBQ?!?!?!
I LOVED the trolley! It was so cool and old school and just fit the vibe of the area so well! One of the trolleys only goes straight back and forth down the same road. It def helped minimize my walking and it was only $1 per ride. Much cheaper than taking a tax for sure!
Our first stop was to the original Peabody Hotel. I cannot BELIEVE we went there. After watching the ducks in Orlando with the kids I totally decided it was something I never desired to witness again…but yet we went there to watch the ducks. Everything we read kept saying it was a top thing to do in Memphis! I thought maybe it was a better show or something was special about it?!?!? And Casey hadn’t ever seen it and it was FREE so why not?
We did hear the Peabody duck story like 50 times while we were in Memphis. Basically these guys were staying at the hotel and went hunting and got really drunk (on Jack Daniels of course) and thought it’d be funny to put their live decoy ducks in the pond. They passed out and forgot about the ducks and the next morning a crowd had gathered to watch them and it became a HUGE hit!
We got there a few minutes before the “big show” so we watched the ducks waddle around the pond and listened to everyone standing around waiting talk about the show. They had the whole fountain area roped off but let us go under it for a couple pictures 🙂
It may have been the original Peabody Hotel. It may have been a beautiful fountain. But that show? Still not that cool. When it was done we decided to check out more of the hotel since it was so beautiful and very historic! I had several people suggest for us to stay there…I wish! It was so FANCY (and the cost per night reflected that as well!).
Making a wish 😉
New School VS Old School
Elvis’ signing contract
Other famous people who have visited the hotel! We are like borderline celeb status now that we’ve been there, right?
When packing for the trip I wanted to make sure to pack my Blue Suede Shoes. I mean if I’m going to visit The King’s home, I gotta rock out in his favorite style! I was pretty crunk about my shoes but struggled getting a decent picture of them!
Being a duck? Or a squirrel??? 😉
My duck…I think I win 🙂
Turns out all these blue suede shoes I kept getting pictures with were actually at the shop where Elvis did his clothes shopping! It’s actually where he bought his blue suede shoes! So awesome!
Since the duck show took like 5 minutes we had some time to kill before dinner and decided just to walk around a bit and take our time! We were excited to see this random baseball field as Jordan loves baseball 🙂 Casey always has him on her mind! Such a sweet wife!
I know it’s a VERY debatable topic but from MY research it seems like Rendezvous is known to allegedly have the BEST BBQ. So that’s where we ate 🙂
Us Christians love us a good Bible reference 😉 “Not since Adam as a rib been this famous” haha love it!
It was odd to me that this place was SO famous. I mean the server wasn’t that amazing and kinda made us feel stupid. The menu said their side options were bean, slaw, pickles, or peppers. Maybe I’m dumb to ask but I don’t like any of those things so I asked if there was another choice and he said they have had the same sides since 1946 and will probably always only have those sides. Sorry buddy!
Ready to get our grub on!
We aren’t the best two people to ask about BBQ because neither of us love it. This was good though! Personally I think my husband makes the world’s best BBQ (I know, I’m a sweet wife too huh?) so it wasn’t my favorite ever, but I liked it. The tea however? A-MAZING. I probably downed 13 glasses. No joke! It was LEGIT! And no, I didn’t eat the beans or slaw 😉 They did, however, have some slammin’ dinner rolls so I loaded up on those. Tea and rolls and a little BBQ on the side 😉
After we decided to just take our time and walk back to the hotel. Our goal every night was to be back at the room by dark. Again, I’m a paranoid freak haha but I heard a lot about muggings and stuff in Memphis?!?! Casey loves to get her sleep on too so it worked out fine both nights to get back early! We stopped and got some froyo (duh, was there any doubt that I’d get some froyo at some point?!?!) and it was really yummy!
While we were eating this elderly couple walked by and the man stopped and told us a joke. “What did the father buffalo say to his son when he left for college?” Of course we’re thinking who the heck is this dude but still asked “what?” He responded “bison!” hahahaha. Then they just walked off! SO funny!!!
Pretty views on our walk through Memphis!
This statue of Jefferson Davis was pretty random to me. I mean I get that Tennessee was a Confederate State but it’s still odd to say “he was a true American patriot”? Obviously he was hardcore pro-slavery! I’m sure the locals don’t feel comfortable about this?!?! Maybe people in Memphis are all about “the south rising again”?
We’ve both lived in the south our entire lives but neither of us had ever seen the Mississippi River!
We got back to the room and showered and talked and talked some more before getting a good nights sleep! We may not be some wild party animals but we had a great first day 🙂 More from Memphis on the way!
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Your girls trip is my idea of a girls trip! Looks like so much fun. Mephis can be dicey so glad y'all were safe. All of the pics of The Peabody and Mud Island makes me think of the Tom Cruise movie The Firm!
I can just picture y'all in park n ride. Hahahaha. Casey's faces are hilarious. The joke cracked me up but I'm not sure I would have understood it right away if I heard it in person. Hahaha