Memphis, Day Two.
See how happy we were to be in Memphis?
Clearly we recovered nicely from the previous evening.
Not to be outdone by the festivities of Day 1, we awoke early on Day 2 to visit the National Civil Rights Museum, located in the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. It was eerie to be visiting when we did -- he was shot April 4, 1968, and we visited on April 6.
Memphis has a really nice little trolley system downtown which allowed us to hop the trolley right outside our hotel and ride down Main Street, alighting directly in front of the Museum. The trolleys are absolutely gorgeous, especially inside:
Due to copyright issues, the Civil Rights Museum does not allow any photography indoors, but I took what is probably the best photo of the entire trip outside the museum:
It was more than a little sad to see the location where one of the greatest men of the Civil Rights movement died. Very somber. Really very tragic.
But!
We weren't in Memphis to dwell on tragedy, and Greg and I have never even been to the St. Louis casinos, so we sallied forth to Tunica, Mississippi:
Tunica, well, it's got a lot of casinos. We thought we'd give the Horseshoe a shot:
And you know what? We will never return.
[begin tangential tirade] We don't get it. What is the purpose of slot machines? Greg and I went and wrassled the one-arm bandits, blowing about $15 each before finally deciding it was just plain stupid. Such mindless action! I mean, c'mon, where is the fun in putting your money in a machine, hitting a button, and watching it go away? I mean, yipee, right? We are not morally against slot machines -- do whatever blows your hair back -- but we are societally against it. Slot machines are nothing but a stupid person's tax. You've got to be a real knuckle-dragger to get a charge out of them. And don't even get me started on the lottery. [end tangential tirade]
After leaving the casino, I remarked to Greg how absolutely awful it would be if one of us had fallen in love with casinos and the other hated it. See, there's yet another reason I'm glad I married him.
So, seeing as how we were less than enamored by the casinos, we did what every red-blooded American does. WE WENT SHOPPING. Just across Hwy 61 from the casinos is a big old factory outlet mall, and we totally scored on clothes for Ethan and Greg -- so I guess Tunica wasn't a complete bust. Still, we were thrilled to head back north and couldn't get to Memphis fast enough.
After returning from Tunica we had dinner at Huey's, known in Memphis for having the best burgers in town. And you know, they were pretty damn good. I don't know if they can measure up to Greg's burgers, though. I really don't.
That evening we decided to just get a bunch of chocolate from Walgreen's near the hotel and take it easy. I'm too old these days for several successive nights of partying in a row. Whew!
One more day in Memphis -- just keep the dial right here.
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