Holiday Road.....Family Road Trip 2K14 - Memphis

Last summer, we trekked to Niagara Falls, stopping along at every single "Largest Ball of Twine" type place available to us. We were back at it again this summer, channeling the Grizwalds and their "Pig in a Poke" itinerary.

We chose the Deep South as our road trip. One night Memphis, two nights in New Orleans, three nights in Orange Beach, AL and one night in Nashville. We put almost 2,500 miles on the family truckster and honestly had the BEST time! 

Day One

Our first stop as we got into Memphis was Lunchbox Eats. The place has this old school elementary school feel. We sat in school chairs, there were textbooks on the wall and the tables were kind of like lab tables.  I heart Yelp!  Lots of fun reviews for this place and it was close to the National Civil Rights Museum, which was our next stop.

The menu was on notebook paper and we ordered on these orange sheets.  The pencils were those thick kindergarten-type pencils.  So cute!

Every day there is a different type of fresh-squeezed lemonade.  Blueberry Lemonade was the flavor of the day.

The boys played Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots!!  

My youngest, Nick, ordered the Scooby Snack, which was just chicken fingers and fries, but holy smokes...so fresh and yummy!

Jack ordered Mac & Cheese.

I ordered fresh pickles and kale chips.  Now I've got to tell you...I've been wanting to try kale chips for some time now. Seriously, I wanted to like them.  I really did. One word...Earthy. The pickles were bread & butter style. So incredibly good!

Brian ordered Chicken & Grids. Same awesome chicken strips inside a cheddar waffle with a honey mustard dipping sauce. Again...awesome!

National Civil Rights Museum

Next on our agenda was to to check out the National Civil Rights Museum.  The Lorraine Motel. This is the location of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The wreath marks the location of his death.  The hotel and property has been kept the same since 1968.  It's very eerie.

The top right window is where the shots were fired from.  This is directly across the street.

Sun Studio, often labeled the birthplace of rock-n-roll, and home to the "Million Dollar Quartet".

The Peabody Hotel in Downtown Memphis. Elvis signed his first record deal here!  Anyhow, they are mostly famous for their ducks that walk the red carpet

How cute are these ducks?  They are like royalty!

The march to the elevator.  They live on the roof of The Peabody when they aren't in the lobby during the day. 

The gates of Graceland.

You can sign your name on the wall outside of Graceland. 

Beale Street in Memphis.  The street is shut down and there is music everywhere!  So much fun!

Stay tuned....The next stop on our trip was New Orleans!