Home of the Blues?

Wanderlust (n): a strong desire for, or impulse to, wander or travel and explore the world.

There is nothing to give you the blues about this place! Memphis, Tennessee is where I spent some of the best years of my life. This is where I did the most memorable years of high school, where my brother, sister-in-love and family lives, and is a city that holds a special place in my heart. Being a teenager growing up in Memphis in the 90’s was a lot of fun. It’s where I got my first piercing and first tattoo, and had my first job. While the store I worked in is long gone, the piercings removed many years ago, and the tattoos covered the majority of the time, Memphis is still a place I love to go.

While at one time the Rendezvous was the absolute best place to get ribs, and the place that taught me just how great ribs can be, it has become a place you should visit because it is full of history and just an all around fun place to visit, Central BBQ has become a better place to grab a slab of ribs these days, as sad as that makes me to say.

A walk down Beale Street to see all of the blues bars and Silky O’Sullivan’s with their goats is a must! Don’t forget to stop by Dyer’s Burgers for some ‘Vitamin G’ in the form of a burger deep fried in 106 year old grease! Believe it or not, it tastes just as yummy as it sounds disgusting. Yes, the grease is strained daily! This famous grease has travelled under armed police guard as it moved from location to location until finally settling into it’s home on Beale Street.

The Memphis Zoo is another place we enjoy to visit, and yet another place of endless laughter from my kids, as it is the place where I was pooped on by a bird. I’m here to tell you, I don’t care who claims that is good luck…all it is is disgusting! Bird poop aside, the Memphis Zoo is a beautiful place to visit. Beginning in 1904 as planning for a place to house the mascot of the Memphis Turtles baseball team, a Southern black bear named Natch, to save him from a life of being chained to a tree in Overton Park, the Memphis Zoo had it’s first building in 1907 and has grown to numerous buildings and over 4,500 animals. With exhibits like CHINA, Northwest Passage, and the Zambezi River Hippo camp, there is so much to see and explore!

I can’t forget to add Graceland, home of Elvis Presley, King of Rock n Roll. The second most visited house in America, second only to the White House. Yes, I am a fan of Elvis. I have seen many movies and know a significant amount of songs. I am not a fan of Graceland, however. I just don’t see the point in spending $40.00 MINIMUM to see a house in a bad neighborhood just because Elvis lived there. I understand that there are uber fans out there that would spend unlimited amounts of money for anything pertaining to Elvis Presley, I am just not one of them. But hey, that’s just me. For those of you interested in Graceland, Elvis purchased this home for $102,500 on March 19, 1957 at the age of 22, after his first year of actual stardom. This is also where Elvis passed away on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42, making this a great place to visit for people who want to feel close to him.

Memphis isn’t what it used to be, but it’s still a great place to visit and make memories.