August 15: A Day in Memphis

There's a lot to see in Memphis, but you can fit in a lot in a day. Our first stop, of course, was Graceland, which Julia had seen on her 1996 cross-country-and-back journey. We arrived at 9:30, and crowds were already setting out folding chairs for The Vigil, for August 15 is the Eve of the Death of the King, and the candlelight vigil is the annual memorial, and a major holy-day on the liturgical calendar of Elvis fans.

Next, we met Mike Lipscomb, a colleague from Moscow, for a lunch at Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous Restaurant, where the specialty is the dry smoked pork ribs. A Memphis institution, foreign heads of state have been feted there, notably Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi, who visited during his pilgrimage to Graceland. They work with another Memphis company, FedEx, to deliver ribs around the world.

Properly sated, we rode the streetcar, free during lunch hour, a mile down South Main Street to The Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum is excellent, and now includes an exhibit in the building from which James Earl Ray took his fateful shot.

We then rode the trolley to Mud Island River Park, a less well known Memphis attraction, but one that is unique and should not be missed. Guests cross a bridge to the Island, or, if they wish, ride a tram. The bridge and tram were featured in the "chase scene" in the movie The Firm. The first stop on the Island is the Museum of the Mississippi River, which includes reconstructions of paddle wheel riverboats and ironclad warships and a thorough discussion of the Big River's contribution to American culture, from Mark Twain to the blues. The museum is excellent, but Mud Island's unique attraction is the 1/2 mile long scale model of the Mississippi River. Christopher had been asking "what's so cool about a model of a river?" but as soon as he glimpsed it, he got it. The rain was just starting as he sloshed upstream to St Louis, took a look at the models of various tributaries (the Missouri, the Ohio, and the upper reaches of the Mississippi itself) and it was pouring as he turned and headed south again. He spent nearly an hour splashing his way along the route taken by Huck and Jim, and was thoroughly soaked by the time he reached New Orleans. Since swimming was not allowed in the Gulf of Mexico, he amused himself by jumping in the fountain that was set in the middle of Lake Pontchartrain, while the adults sought shelter from what was now a major thunderstorm.

Finally, we headed for the car. Dinner along Beale Street would have been the perfect ending to the ideal Memphis day, but with a soaked-to-the-skin nine-year-old in tow, we just headed back to Germantown to rest up for our penultimate road day.