Spring Break- Part 2 TN, MS

Here is Lily's first Tennessee picture taken from the backseat as we drove across the Mississippi River into the new state. 

We parked at our hotel and walked to the Peabody Hotel to see the famous ducks do their daily march from the lobby to the elevator and up to their home on the roof.  Kids got front row seats on the red carpet.

See the cute ducks?  Kate had her phone but only took video.  The girls got wet when the ducks shook themselves dry.

From there we wandered to Beale Street to sample "the best ribs in town" at the Blues City Cafe.  They were delicious, so good I wished I'd ordered some too.  A Schwab's was already closed so we stopped at a candy store where the kind cashier gave us two pieces of fudge for the price of one.  Kate didn't love downtown Memphis and had no desire to explore so we hustled to the hotel in time to watch a really bad Hallmark movie while we talked to Andrew on the phone, ate fudge, and planned the next day.

We started our day at Graceland exploring the uniqueness of Elvis's home.  

Before this trip the girls knew very little about Elvis, so we listened to "Who was Elvis Presley?" on our drive to Memphis.  Add that to the hours we spent in Graceland and the dozens of google searches to answer all questions and they are experts now.

This staircase was lines with mirrors which made it a little trippy to go down, especially while trying to take pictures.

This room boasted mirrors on the ceilings and three televisions so you don't have to miss anything.

There was so much fabric on the walls and ceiling!!!

Less fabric and more shag carpet.  Is that on the ceiling too you ask?  Why yes, yes it is - welcome to the jungle room.

Hard to get a good photo with all the people but the front is my favorite part.

We didn't buy the photo because a phone pic will do 😂.

The girls really enjoyed seeing all of Elvis's cars, especially the famed pink Cadillac he bought for his mom.

His outfits were over the top but we had to share the tiger one with Emmy in India.

The girls now know that Elvis has influenced every artist - even the rock.

Lily had a lot of fun putting herself on his albums and in his clothes.

After nearly three hours we had seen everything.  We stopped at the dinner in Graceland for burgers then headed back into Memphis and Beale Street for ice cream at A. Schwab's.

I think they enjoyed the funny merchandise as much as the ice cream.

Our Mississippi riverboat cruise was scheduled for 2:30pm with a 1:45pm arrival so we climbed aboard.  After the fact we would have arrived closer to 2:15pm because we were already done with the boat by the time it took off but our guide was informative and entertaining.  We saw some cool parts of Memphis that we hadn't seen from our wandering.  

We learned about Tom Lee, who saved 32 people when their boat sunk. He rowed his boat to the sight and brought people back to shore until he couldn't find anyone else to safe.  Then he buried the cold survivors in sand to keep them warm till help came.  There is a park named after him on the shore.  

We still had two hours before our dinner reservations so the girls chose to visit the enormous, city line defining, Bass Pro Shop Pyramid, as seen in a Dude Perfect video. 

Why Spiderman?  I have no idea, let's just say Kate will be Kate and we just roll with it.

This store is incredible- with a hotel, restaurant, massive fish tank, ponds, streams, trees, taxidermied animals and tons of merchandise, this was well worth a 45 minute meander.

However we still arrived at our reservation 45 minutes early.  Luckily, they were able to squeeze us in.  Flight, the name of our restaurant, is unique in its style of serving food.  You can order a "flight" off the menu, which means you get a small portion of any three of their main menu items.

We started by sharing a "flight" of salad - so yummy and made me so happy to try all the options and not have to choose.

Then for dinner we had chicken and waffle (chose and pretty much eaten by Lily, but so yummy.  Especially, with the mushroom sauce that came on the side, surprising but true), duck with sweet potato casserole (chosen by Kate pretty much for the sweet potatoes that were divine), and bass with potatoes.  I made Lily try a bite of the fish and duck although she had a really hard time putting the duck in her mouth because "ducks are so cute".  It was a great way to try lots of different things and push the girls comfort zone a little.

We forgot to take a picture of dessert "flight" before consumption, but you get the idea and they were delicious.  Key lime pie for Kate, banana pudding bread budding with caramel sauce and ice cream for me, and pecan cheesecake for Lily.  All were delicious, but mine was the best😉.

On our drive to the hotel we took a 10 min detour to Mississippi for a bathroom break and quick stop at a Goodwill store just for kicks.  

At the hotel we stayed up too late watching "Christmas in Graceland" a Hallmark movie set in Memphis and "Wedding at Graceland" the sequel.  We learned about these shows from our boat tour guide.  It was fun to see all the places we had been visiting in the movies.

The next morning we went to the Civil Rights Museum in the old Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.  The museum was well done although a little wordy.  It would take hours to read all they had available.

There were three different school groups there at the same time as we started so it felt a bit overwhelming at times, but we learned and felt a lot.

We had just a few hours left before our flight.  I tried to locate me some true southern sweet potato pie but failed (I made may own when I got home) so we headed to the zoo to enjoy our last hours in Memphis.  

Lily was very excited to go to the zoo so I gave her the phone and she proceeded to take dozens of pictures.  I have chosen a small number to be represented here.  Highlights were the two cougars, caracal (as seen above),

a handful of elephants,

flamingos,

and asian small clawed otters, to name a few.

My favorite part was the impressive structures build around the different zoo areas, especially China.

But don't forget about the red panda,

sea lions, 

and this incredible underwater sighting of a hippo.

 

Love these silly girls!  We had so much fun together, even on the spinny chairs waiting to get on our flight to Boise.

Getting home on Wednesday night meant we had a few days of spring break left for fun so Kate went Prom dress shopping and worked, and Lily had a lot of friends over.  We also had a movie and pizza night to watch Wicked.  Another spring break in the books.

Spring Break Part 1 -AR, OK and we went to Missouri too but that wasn't new...

For Spring Break Emily was headed on her 15 year old trip to India with Greg so I told Kate, "You are a Senior.  Where do you want to go in the lower forty-eight?"  She picked Arkansas to see Spencer and his family.  So Thursday we cut out of school early and headed south.  We got to their house around 9:00pm.  We got the downstairs tour, pet the cats, looked for deer, and stayed up way to late catching up. 

The next morning we woke up early to see the kids off to school.  Winston didn't remember us but was pretty excited that we would still be here when he got home from school.

We had a lazy morning chatting, touring the outside, upstairs, and then getting crepes for breakfast.  After crepes we tour Bentonville and made a visit to the Crystal Bridges American Art Museum (free thanks to Walmart donations).  The architecture of the museum is incredible, allowing it to be built along the river.  I can imagine it is gorgeous when the trees are green.

This piece of art was begging for a photo.  Winston asked me later if Lily wanted to ride that chicken- I'm pretty sure we all wanted to climb on.

This Frank Lloyd Wright designed home was moved here from New Jersey where it was being destroyed by frequent flooding.  We got to take a quick walk around the less than 800 square feet.  It was beautiful and practical.

After that we grabbed delicious salads for lunch and picked up Winston from school.  That night we enjoyed time with the kids, played lots of games, and stayed up too late talking.

Saturday we got moving to eat breakfast in town.  Lily's acai bowl looked so delicious the cousins had to order their own to share.

Breakfast was followed by the grand reopening of the Walmart museum, which is always free.  We learned a lot about Sam Walton and the kids enjoyed this replica of his truck.

The museum is housed in the first store Walton opened - The Walton five and dime.

The kids loved looking at all the old products on display and I was impressed with Sam Walton's commitment to his employees and customers.  The kids got to design their own Walmart logo sticker, 

and get decked out with Walmart stuff on this random display.

The museum ended with a hologram of Sam Walton where he answers questions and tells stories.  It was pretty cool actually.

I'm sure the kids favorite part was the ice cream shop at the museum's exit.  One scoop was $1.30 and the ice cream was still pretty good.  We had some happy kiddos.

From there we took a 40 minute drive to the Bluff Dweller's Cave in Missouri.  Our guide was entertaining enough and didn't get too grouchy with Winston when he just couldn't help but touch the rocks.  

The most interesting part was when the guide played part of the cave features like drums.  I didn't get a pic but he tapped on very specific places on this one feature and it sounded like bongos, ??.  I've been in a lot of caves and never heard that before - very cool.

After the cave we took a 20 minute detour to get a new state for all the kiddos.

And we had to get a pic going back into Arkansas - the girls were set on throwing this pic in Emmy's face - I think she'd still rather be in India.

After all the driving we got the wiggles out at the climbing gym.  Mckenzie and Emma were all over it.  Lily took a little warming up but once she got to the top once she was on a roll and mastered 5 different paths.  She wants to go again when we get home.

Winston did some climbing too, and wrestling, and running, and laughing.  On the way home he told Lily all about his volcano cake that was cooking in the oven at home and how we had to get it out so it wouldn't burn.

Mckenzie got to stay up and watch Despicable Me 2 (inspired by me calling Winston a purple minion on the way home) with us.  The adults were planning to talk but got sucked into the movie.

Sunday morning the kids enjoyed lazy time together and some video games before church.  At dinner Emma was being shy (or stubborn) about praying and we were all awkwardly waiting for her to being when Winston started giving her suggestions like "Say, Heavenly Father, thankful for the food." I couldn't keep it together and started everyone laughing.

We played the name game with everyone and then some games with just the big kids and we enjoyed some delicious lava cakes made by Kenzie and Keeley before the kids went to bed.  Spencer had Winston convinced we were going to put in real lava.  I sent the girls to bed around 9:30 and stayed up till 3:00 chatting with Spencer and Keeley.  And I still managed to get up before 7 to say bye to the kids.  

We were sad to say bye to Arkansas and the Dame party but were excited to explore Memphis.  I had to use some caffeine pills to get us there safety but we made the 5 hours to Tennessee!