Memphis, Little Rock, and Billy Bob! - August 3, 2008

What a Day!...

So on Sunday, August 3, 2008 I wake up and get ready with no set plans for the day, except to meet a few other co-workers from other locations in the world for dinner at around 7pm. So I figured I would just let the day play out as it may until the evening... I thought maybe I would take a cab to Beale St as several tours depart from that area. Some city tour companies did hotel pick up. Or maybe I would have the front desk arrange it for me.

First things first though, I needed come coffee, but I didn't want to make the one in the hotel room. So, as soon as I was ready I went to the lobby area to see about getting some coffee and continental breakfast. The coffee was mediocre but it would do. The continental breakfast was non-traditional in that aside from the normal continental fare, there were biscuits, eggs, sausage and gravy... Must be a southern thing, I thought. I opted for a biscuit with jam.

Since I slept through the evening instead of going out to dinner with Mariah and Robin, I decided to text Robin to see what their plans were. She called me back and said that she was driving Mariah back to Sherwood, Arkansas where she lives. Count me in for the drive. Sherwood is right around the corner from Little Rock, Arkansas, so we would drop Mariah at her house and then do a brief drive into Little Rock and then head back to Memphis.

The drive to Sherwood was awesome!!! It must be because all I see in Phoenix is desert that I loved all the lush green on the highway. I'm sure to the locals green and lush is just meh, the norm. I took another pic of The Pyramid Arena from the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge. While driving to Sherwood there was a truck towing part of a plane. The houses in Sherwood are so pretty with their red bricks. The drive itself was about 2 hours.

After dropping Mariah off at her house in Sherwood, Robin drove to Little Rock, Arkansas. I took a picture of a HUGE Pentecostal Church. It looked neat... :) Once in Little Rock, we drove by the William J Clinton Presidential Library. I would have loved to go inside, but we had to get back to Memphis as we wanted to go to the Civil Rights Museum. We did however stop for a coffee at Andina Cafe loacated in the River Market District right down the street from the library. We then started heading back to Memphis, but Robin was hungry so she stopped by a Wendy's to get 2 baked potatoes. I got a kids meal and it came with a glow bird from the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth. :)

On the drive back from Little Rock to Memphis I saw a sign from TEXACO. Must be one of the last ones.

Once back in Memphis we headed to the Civil Rights Museum. Took some photos of the outside and then checked that we had slightly less than 2 hours before it closed, so we decided we would go back the next day when we would have more time to take the time to go through the museum.

It was still fairly early so we drove around for a bit then right before 5pm we headed to the river where the riverboats were. We got there just in time as rain started to fall. The sightseeing cruise was to depart at 5pm. So we got our tickets and got in the riverboat slightly wet from the rain. The cruise ended at 6:30pm, perfect timing to go meet my co-workers for dinner. Robin decided not to go nor meet them since she had som homework to finish and turn in so she dropped me off at the location we were to meet at. There I met Cheryl our trip coordinator and organizer, Amy from Seoul, Korea and Naomi from Minneapolis, MN.

We headed down to Beale St. and had dinner at Blues City Cafe. As we were headed out there were 2 other co-workers, Shawna and Tony from MN, having dinner there too, super coincidence. So we all headed out after dinner down Beale St stopped at shops, bars, etc. We stopped at the Beale Street Tap Room where Billy Bob Thornton was playing the drums with a local band.

After this Amy, Naomi, Cheryl, and I had a night cap at The Peabody. I slept really good this night.