Memphis, TN – Beale Street and Around
If you’re crossing through three southern states in 20 minutes and hear Elvis out your window, it’s likely you’re in Memphis. The city houses an extensive, and even unmatched southern American history of recording deals, big artist names (such as Presley and Cash, you may have heard of them), and cultural music identity. It’s hard to visit Memphis without taking in at least a small dose of the historical blues presence. Not that you would ever want to avoid it anyway.
So let me talk about the most obvious first….
Beale Street
You may have heard about it before, through any sort of mixed review. Truth be told, I don’t care if Beale is super touristy, the live music here on any given day is solid, and on certain days, amazing. These guys are good. It’s a breath of fresh air to see so much of the live music industry supported, and it’s a gift to have it all in one compact street. I was blown away by every bar with musicians that I passed by or went into, regardless of genre.
While some places are more tourist priced than others, when it comes to entertainment, you cant go wrong. If you’re not interested in the type of music being played, just go to the next bar over and try something else that fits your taste. Beale had a variety of music options to choose from, even on a Tuesday night in the off season, when I was there.
All i’m saying is this: There are some places that are just tourist traps and that’s it, the attraction can’t overcome the crowd it draws. Then there are some places that are touristy, and touristy for good reason. In my opinion, Beale street is one of the good ones.
Also, the artistic integrity of the area would impress any graphic designer.
Now onto the more obscure….
The Peabody Memphis
Catch the 11 am daily duck march at the Peabody hotel, which includes a red carpet, a ‘duckmaster’, and 5 sophisticated feathered friends. Don’t be late! It’s one of the most extra things you’ll ever see. The Peabody ducks have been living a lavish life since the tradition began in the early 20th century. You can watch the march on the ground floor, outside of the elevators. You’ll definitely see the carpet, and you might see some duck paparazzi as well.
Furthermore, you’ll be treated with a magical christmas ambience if you happen to stop by in the holiday season, as I was fortunate enough to do. The atmosphere included a two story tree, extensive lighting & wreath wrapping, and some well practiced carolers!
A quick 10 minute drive from that is the Mud Island River Park.
Mud Island River Park
This park is an impressive feat of public art space. Over the course of five blocks, the park displays a to-scale model of the Mississippi river, which is unbelievably accurate. It includes bridges, city streets, state borders, and more, all the way from the southern tip of Louisiana, to about St Louis, branching off from there.
You can actually open up google maps, take a look at a town, and see the scale on the river. It winds around and (to some degree) varies in depth to incredible precision. The gift shop and common area are located as you pass the accurate representation of “Memphis” on the model, which gives you a light satisfied feeling of public-art-installment inception.
I unfortunately was here on a weekday in the middle of Winter, so the water was actually drained at the time. On most days, the water collects in the pool to the south and fills the crevices for a beautiful depth perspective.
Not so much this time around though.
This being said, it was still magnificent to walk along the (both real and sculpted) Mississippi. If you have time, the onsite museum also has a plethora of historical information and artifacts from the ten thousand year river history.
As always, thanks for reading!