Last Day in Memphis: Ducks, Fish and Alligator Ball Returns

On our last day in Memphis, I had a full itinerary of downtown activities planned. We started at the Peabody Hotel for the Peabody Ducks' parade to the hotel fountain - a truly "Memphis" (tourist) experience that I knew the kids would enjoy.

Christine (my SIL) somehow wasn't completely sick of us yet and tagged along. We got there 45 minutes early and positioned the kids by the fountain where the ducks would pass.

THE fountain.

Hotel staff did a great job of telling everyone where they needed to be (and not be); and surprisingly, sitting with other kids while they waited for the ducks made my three far less miserable and BORED than I would have expected. Before I knew this would be the case, I made sure to supply them with a round of Shirley Temples (and milk for Oliver who doesn't like soda - freak).

As well as mimosa for Christine and me.

Every beverage is served with a duck.

Before we sat down, George chatted with the "Duckmaster" as he started to roll out the red carpet.

About 10 minutes before go time, someone from hotel staff came by to let all of the people standing around (in my case, standing across from my kids so I could snap a few pictures as the ducks passed) know that we had to find a seat. There actually was one where we were standing, but I offered it to Christine - since she takes better pictures. As I scanned the lobby full of very taken seats, it occurred to me that this wasn't such a bad thing. The one I finally found for myself was by the side of the fountain, close enough that I could see them...but not close enough that they could talk to me.

So just in case you plan to do this with your own children at some point, make note: you will have to be sitting down for the parade. Obviously, you can sit with the kids if you have a toddler on your lap - but your only other option for close proximity is the roped off area BEHIND the kids. The most important thing to remember though, is to get a Peabody mimosa. Because sitting in a chair by yourself with a mimosa for 25+ minutes may be the highlight of your family vacation.

Back to the ducks... They arrived right on schedule.

Yes - that's George yelling, "here are the duckies!"

Super cute. Totally worth seeing. And that's not just the mimosa talking.

I did know that we could go upstairs and check out the ducks' penthouse, but we were ready to move on. Our next planned stop was to check out the Riverwalk on Mud Island. This is a short stroll from the hotel (though we unintentionally took a longer route by the water).

It was also hot. Really, really hot.

It was brutally hot, so we climbed some stone steps to a shadier spot with a random (at least to us) cannon.

Cannons to the left of me. Cannons to the right of me. No - I'm not quoting Tennyson. I'm quoting Alafalfa from The Little Rascals, reciting Tennyson. I said that twice in reference to this picture. Only my brother got it. Thank god for siblings.

Finally, we made it to the the Mud Island pedestrian walkway, where we enjoyed more shade AND a breeze. What we didn't enjoy was hearing from someone out on an exercise walk that Mud Island is closed on Mondays. HOW DID I MISS THAT? This is as close as we got:

Sorry folks, park's closed. Moose outside shoulda' told you.

Now in damage control mode, Christine suggested going to the Bass Pro Shop (in the Pyramid).

Hey! Look at me! I'm fun too.

I hadn't included the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid in our road trip plans because it looked like a big retail circus with an elevator you can take to see views of the city. And that's exactly what it WAS. But really, it was so much more. Well, enough to keep the kids entertained (probably more than they would have been at Mud Island). AND it was air conditioned. Christine's mom, Joyce works at City Hall, which is right next to the pedestrian walkway. She took pity on our sweaty band of bedraggled tourists and drove us. Total VIP treatment.

Once there, we enjoyed aquarium exhibits, lunch, bowling and a ride to the top of the world's tallest (I'm pretty sure this is true) free standing elevator to see fantastic city views. It was free to enter and look around. This includes a "lake" full of fish (36 species, including catfish, sturgeon, gar AND a few alligators). But everything else cost approximately one million dollars. Just kidding! It was fine - but not as cheap as Mud Island (which was free). The kids thought it was fab.

Waiting for the elevator up.

That was it for downtown. I wanted to ride a trolley, but they're still under repair. I also thought it would be fun to go to Memphis' A. Schwab for a milkshake, but we were too tired. Actually, Oliver didn't seem like he was feeling well. He kept saying his ear hurt - so we headed back to the hotel.

We did make one more stop though. I forgot to mention Muddy's Bake Shop in my first Memphis post. When we were in Memphis for Matt and Christine's wedding, I was told that we had to drop by Muddy's (just across the street from the Doubletree Sanderlin where we were staying) for a treat.

image via the Muddy's Facebook page

Everyone remembered those cupcakes. We picked some up to bring to Joyce and Kevin's house (Christine's parents' house) on Saturday night. This was when I said, "so much for my plan to 'eat light' on this road trip." And since I was fully committed to gaining a entire clothing size the first week of our trip, we went back for more.

Our only other plans for the day were to do laundry at Joyce's house (she is truly our Memphis guardian angel) and have a swim in the pool. But Oliver was still complaining about his ear. Joyce told me that the nearby Walgreen's had a walk in clinic, so as soon as the laundry was dry, we headed over there. Where he was diagnosed with an ear infection (prescription drops and no pool for four days).

While in the small exam room, the inevitable, "he hit me and all I did was poke him," fighting ensued. And ended with George storming out in a huff (drama queen). Oliver and Eleanor wandered off while I was talking an irate George off the ledge, but quickly reappeared with a whoopee cushion. That was the end of fury and tears, because there was now a WHOOPEE CUSHION in the mix. So of course I bought them all whoopie cushions.

The new soundtrack of our vacation. Where are the scissors...?

OH. And remember how I said we'd go back to Jerry's Sno Cones for the taste test (vs. Jenny's)? We pretended that we hadn't JUST eaten cupcakes a few hours before and headed over to Jerry's.

George and Eleanor split a cotton candy snow cone with cream and anticlimactically declared that..."they're both good." I guess it's hard to judge when there is no such thing as a bad snow cone. Except for those ones I used to buy from the ice cream truck when I was a kid. That was like eating dirty ice flavored with unidentifiable syrup. I loved them.

After a quick goodbye with Matt and Christine back at our hotel (and late night laundry folding/packing while the kids slept) we were ready for the drive to Tulsa. Where the big activity is a local rodeo! More on that later...

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad: The Pink Palace, BBQ and Snow Cones

For our second full day in Memphis (Sunday), we had plans to go to the Pink Palace Museum (I explained what this is in my Memphis planning post).

I told Christine (my SIL if you haven't been following along) that we'd pick her up at 11:00 a.m. But I forgot about the hour time difference (was working on my computer which doesn't automatically reset) and we showed up at 10:00.

Since most people don't plan to be picked up an hour early, Christine wasn't ready. We needed an activity to fill the time and she told me about a great playground nearby. So obviously we decided to stop at a CVS and buy a lot of random stuff we don't need. The kids got some back scratchers:

Which are also excellent for drug store aisle dueling.

I picked out an As Seen on TV item that seemed useful for my car: The Purse Pouch. Here is what it is supposed to look like:

Here is what it actually looks like:

I think a man developed this product since my small travel purse just barely fit in the teeny tiny pouch. Well, maybe it can be an iPod pouch or something.

After installing the Purse Pouch (and realizing it was a bust) I had a moment of panic. I didn't remember if I had applied deodorant that morning. Usually B.O. isn't an issue for me and if I forget to use it, I don't sweat it (ha!) - but in this heat? I made everyone get out of the car and march back into CVS. As we walked through the door, George announced, "hi! We're back! Mom needs to put on deodorant." So that was fun.

FINALLY, we got Christine and went to the Pink Palace. Funny thing. The Pink Palace website says it opens at 10:00 on Sunday, but it actually opens at noon. "Back to the car kids - we're going out for brunch."

One tofu barbecue sandwich (for Christine), one Eggs Benedict (for me) and one large uneaten plate of nachos (for the kids - "eeew! there are beans on it!") later, we arrived at our destination.

Here is our Pink Palace highlights reel:

First stop was Scenes of the Dinosaurs, an exhibit that just opened and closes on October 2nd.

The dinosaurs move!

Then we did a speed round tour of the nearby exhibits - Cultural History of the Mid-South, which included a replica of a Piggly Wiggly (the first self-service grocery store in the country):

...and Natural History of the Mid-South. I'm pretty sure this was all very interesting, but I didn't manage to get a good look as I chased my non-lingering children through the exhibits.

The big thing that they wanted to do at the Pink Palace was see "Jean-Michel Cousteau's Secret Ocean" - a 3-D move about sea life.

I have no pictures of this since flash photography during movies is frowned upon. Also - I don't think you can take pictures of 3-D movies by putting 3-D glasses over your camera lens.

After that, we did another sprint through exhibits on the Mansion collection side.

Then we all decided that we were done with touristy stuff for the day and lay around our hotel room like slugs. And just when everyone was feeling all cozy and settled in for the evening, I did that thing parents inevitably do on vacations...I decided that we HAD TO HAVE AN EXPERIENCE.

Everyone kept saying that while we were in Memphis, we had to get good barbecue. And it seemed very important that everyone drop what they were doing, rush to the car and go eat a meal that they may or may not want. Hurry up everyone! Mom's FOMA has just reached critical levels and the world may end if we don't experience Memphis barbecue IMMEDIATELY.

So of course it was a complete disaster.

Locals recommended Central BBQ, which was nearby, with friendly staff and plenty of seating.

The food was amazing!

And no one wanted to be in a restaurant or eating. George didn't want a BBQ sandwich. He wanted grilled cheese (what!?), and Eleanor could only eat a few bites before claiming that she wasn't hungry. Oliver, who doesn't eat meat wouldn't even try the grilled cheese sandwich I got him, saying, "it's wet." What he meant was that it was saturated with butter, which is a VERY GOOD thing when it comes to grilled cheese sandwiches (and probably the only way they make them in the South).

They bickered and pouted. I fumed and said passive aggressive things about how I was feeling "sad" about their behavior (like they were preschoolers who were "making mommy sad" by not being good little tourists and eating the fucking barbecue). Then I accidentally knocked over my iced tea, spilling it all over the table and ALMOST blamed it on them. Instead I calmly (and passive aggressively) cleaned it up in silence, then walked away to request to go boxes. By the time I returned to the table, I had gotten over myself and my unwelcome spontaneous plans, and told everyone we needed a do over. I acknowledged that it was ridiculous to drag them all out to dinner without first asking if they were hungry. Hell, I wasn't even hungry. I apologized. And they apologized. And we all felt bad about how we acted - but in that good solidarity way of feeling bad. And I took everyone out for dessert. Which everyone wanted.

Jerry's Sno Cones was on my list of local favorites, but was closed when we got there. Luckily a woman in a bikini was across the street in front of a food truck holding this sign:

Good enough. Eleanor and Oliver ended up with soft serve ice cream, but George got a snow cone. Jenny's Sno Cones got a thumbs up.

She claimed her snow cones were better than Jerry's. We ended the evening with an agreement to visit her more established competition the following day to see if we agreed.

Check my next post for the results...

A Day with the Animals (Not My Children - Actual Animals)

We've been in Memphis for a couple of days now and I haven't had a minute to post. Well - I've had a minute...but I've had to do a little work this weekend and that whole paycheck thing tends to take precedence over my recreational blogging.

ANYWAY. The drive from Knoxville was pretty painless. The kids would probably disagree, but they watched movies and listened to audio books with only a few, "how  much longer?" inquiries. I forgot that we gain an hour on the west side of Tennessee, so we arrived at our hotel early enough to do something touristy. I suggested going to the Botanic Gardens. Here is a picture.

Yeah - no one was interested in sightseeing. I took them to the hotel pool instead. It's indoor AND outdoor, and the the swim through feature was very exciting. Unfortunately the chlorine fumes were so strong inside that I expected to see dead canaries à la "gas leak in the mine." So we held our breath and ran for fresh air. But the novel five seconds of going from inside to outside was a hit.

Later we met up with Uncle Matt (my brother) and Aunt Christine for dinner. Everyone tells me that we HAVE to get Memphis barbecue, but Matt and Christine are vegetarian. So we went to a nearby pizza place with a rooftop terrace. Great food (and a much needed glass of Chianti) plus al fresco dining on a mild (for Memphis) summer night was exactly what I needed after a day at the wheel.

The following day, we went to the zoo. But first Eleanor had to update HER blog. I thought it would be fun for each of the kids to have a road trip blog where they could post pictures their friends at home could see. The boys gave this idea an enthusiastic NO. I was so happy that Eleanor came through (and let me name it, "Eleanor En Route" - further proof that I am becoming my father, the king of cute and catchy phrases). Then we actually started the trip.

Now I have to put up with a nine year old bogarting my computer. Pfft.

Christine accompanied us to the zoo and suggested that we arrive as early as possible to avoid the crowds and THE HEAT. Good advice - I think we lasted a lot longer than we would have in the afternoon.

                        Eleanor: Mom. I think hippos would be good at Marco Polo.

                        Me: You think so? Why?

                        Eleanor: Number one. If you said "Marco," they probably wouldn't answer. 

                        Number two. They can hold their breath for a really long time. 

These two are having none. of. it.

I didn't get any good shots of the "big ticket" animals since they chose to remain a telephoto lens distance away from the crowds. And the enclosures for the big cats involve those pesky wire screens. But I'm assuming you've seen an elephant and a lion before.

You know all of those indoor attractions for nocturnal animals and reptiles that you may or may not hit while visiting the zoo? They are air conditioned, so we visited ALL of them (even the fish). So. Hot.

Christine initially said we could skip the fish which aren't very interesting, but Oliver REALLY wanted to check them out. Turns out they LOVED the lame fish exhibit. And even in the dark, we got some cool pictures. That last one was Christine's - mine was lackluster.

Once everyone had reached full tilt wilting status, we called it a morning (or early afternoon). We had to rest up for an evening of grilling and swimming at Christine's parents' house. As an additional perk, Cousin Fredo (Matt and Christine's dog) joined the kids in the pool.

That was yesterday and I STILL have to tell you about today's excursion to The Pink Palace (and this evening's barbecue fail - sob). But this post is already too long. And you know - Eleanor really needs me off the computer so she can update her blog. So tune in tomorrow for a Sunday report!