Memphis. The Last Day.

We started out our last full day in Memphis with the ducks. In downtown Memphis there is a famous old hotel called The Peabody. Since 1940 they have had this whole fancy ceremony where the ducks ride down an elevator at 11am, march to the fountain in the lobby and swim around there all day. Then at 5pm they go back up the elevator to their penthouse. Seriously. Go check out this link for more details.

There is a "Duckmaster" who tells about the tradition and the history of the hotel and rolls out a red carpet for the ducks to walk on from the elevator to the fountain. We got to the hotel about 40 minutes before the ceremony and it was already filling up. 

At 11 o'clock, the music started and then came the ducks. We were not able to see them get off the elevator because of all the people, but Hubby managed to capture some pretty good pictures of the grand fountain entrance.

The whole thing lasted about two minutes. Kind of silly, but kind of fun at the same time.

One other thing about The Peabody Hotel. My aunt and uncle honeymooned there in 1945. I had fun trying to imagine them as young newlyweds.


After lunch we switched gears and went a lot more serious. We had recommended to us to visit The National Civil Rights Museum. This museum is located at The Lorraine Hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr was staying when he was assassinated in 1968.

We spent close to three hours in this museum. I told Hubby that I felt like I shouldn't be there because I have not had to deal with the prejudices that the African-American people in this country have had to deal with. But I was thankful for the opportunity to learn so much.

I found the experience to be incredibly interesting and incredibly disturbing.

This is a replica of the bus that Rosa Parks got on and refused to give up her seat.

We watched a 30 minute movie about Martin Luther King, Jr mostly narrated by a friend of his who was on the balcony when Martin was shot. So moving.

If you ever get to Memphis make time to go through this museum. So worth it.

We sat in the car a while after this and talked about what we had seen.

The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping. We looked at pretty jewelry, bought a box of chocolates (that we shared very nicely), and found a Williams-Sonoma outlet store. (Yikes!) I texted my daughter-in-law that I might be in serious trouble. Grin. I loved wandering through there and found the prices much more reasonable. And let's just say that I'm glad we drove on this trip and didn't fly. It would have been impossible to get all that stuffed into a suitcase. :)

That evening we ate at a BBQ place that the driver of the carriage the night before had recommended. It was a very popular place with swarms of people. Hubby dropped me at the restaurant and parked the car at our hotel and walked the four blocks back. We enjoyed some scrumptious ribs, complete with coleslaw with a mustard based sauce. That was a little odd. I had never tasted that before. As we were leaving the restaurant we realized it was pouring outside.  What did we do? We walked through the rain! The downside (besides getting soaked) was that when the rain came, the temperature had dropped dramatically. My teeth were chattering less than a block from the restaurant.

We thought we should document our drowned-rat look. 
This is our attempt at the self-portrait. Hubby was holding the camera on these two.

 

I held the camera for this one. I can't seem to hold the camera and think about having a pleasant look on my face at the same time.

You're welcome.