Memphis, TN: Not exactly what we expected

tkscovill ♦ June 28, 2012 ♦ Leave a comment

I guess we built up our expectations for Memphis based on what we had heard about good barbeque and the blues starting there. We expected to find lots of great BBQ places with Blues music playing 24/7. Well, that was not what we found. I won’t go into great detail, but will say that this happens sometimes when you are traveling. You think you are heading for something unique, or something really cool, and when you get there you find that it is kind of regular. We found some BBQ but it was so-so, and the only Blues we heard was coming out of the doors of some dark, grimy, customer-less dives on Beale Street. We could tell that this used to be an important place when the Blues were evolving in the early part of the last century. But now, Beale Street is just another tourist trap with not much to offer but beer and trinkets. Here are a few pictures we took of Memphis, and  Beale Street.

view of memphis and the mississippi river

Beale Street at 11:00 on a Wednesday morning

The other side of Beale Street

BB King and Elvis rule this town

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“The Flying Saucer” : A Beer Bar with decorating challenges

We stopped in to this place so we could have some tea and cool off after walking around in the 100+ heat. It was cool inside and they had tables and nice comfy couches scattered around. The walls and ceilings are covered with plates–flying saucers–which commemorate people who have tried at least 100 different beers right there in that establishment. We decided not to play that game. It was a really weird, desperate kind of place that seemed to know it had seen its day.

Next will be a short little blip about a small town in Alabama.