We’ve always been close to Memphis, but shied away from coming here because of everything you hear about crime. I actually imagined everything about Memphis to be horrible. Well, I’m happy to report that is NOT true! We absolutely fell in love with Memphis + we are not really city people. We much prefer mountains, but we will definitely be coming back.
Here’s a recap of our trip. Hope you enjoy!
First Evening:
We arrived at out Vrbo in downtown right across from AutoZone Park, the Memphis Redbirds stadium, around 6! It was the perfect location- you can see the ball field, you’re a half mile walk to anything you want, and our place had parking! We walked to Beale street and I was really impressed. Growing up in Louisiana we visited Bourbon a couple times, and living there as a young adult we went to party in Nola. And y’all, Beale is soooo much cleaner + nicer than Bourbon. Don’t get me wrong there’s things I love about Nola, but Bourbon isn’t one of them. After our walk down Beale we found an amazing ice cream place called Margie’s 901. Wow, talk about a lot of ice cream that they give you, but oh so yummy!! Ezra got the sprinkle cone with cotton candy ice cream, Zach and I got the pyramid which was a mixture of chocolate and Carmel goodness on a heath cone and white chocolate dipped cone. Then we walked back home. We never felt weary of our location or scared at any point. While I’m sure crime is still all around us and it’s always best to travel in groups, we were pleasantly surprised.
Day 2:
First things first MEMPHIS ZOO. Y’all this was the best zoo we’ve been too. It was huge! Older, but super clean. Walking along the trail it had a good mixture of outside and inside things to explore which was nice because it’s been getting in the triple digits lately. We even got to ride a camel! We highly recommend putting this on your list! For lunch I got bruschetta balsamic waffle fries.. and y’all it was soooo yummy. Waffle fries, mozzarella, tomato, basil, + balsamic glazed fries!
Our plan was to come back to our apartment chill out in the a/c then go grab a yummy dinner. Everyone told us to go to central BBQ, but when we got there the line was so far outside we decided to skip it that night. We drove back to our parking and walked to find something to eat. We stopped at Blues City Cafe on Beale and waited for 25 minutes before we gave up and ended at Hard Rock Cafe because there was no wait! Journey + Def Leppard were in concert that night so Memphis was extra packed! We loved Margie’s ice cream so much we went back for dessert after Hard Rock. Then we walked back to our apartment and crashed.
Day 3:
We woke + went to the Bass Pro at the Pyramid. This place is amazing! We strolled around and ended our time taking the long elevator ride to the top! The views up top are spectacular! I will say though, glass as the flooring is a little intimidating! I was the last one to walk to the edge. But after I conquered my fear the view was amazing.
After Bass Pro we tried again to eat at Central BBQ and this time we finally beat the crowd! The food was so yummy! Zach got their pulled pork sandwich. My in laws split the bbq platter, Ezra enjoyed a grill cheese, & I got a mixture of sides (Mac and cheese, green beans, & bbq beans). Then we went back to our apartment, got the stroller, and walked all around downtown. Our favorite street was S. Main St! We walked all over & visited the MLK museum.
There are so many cool and old buildings that are still being used down S. Main St. After exploring all S. Main had to offer we went back to the room to change and walk back to Aldo’s Pizza Pies. This place was amazing. We chose to sit outside on the patio and ordered a Margherita and the Bring out the Gump pizza. It fed 4 adults 1 child and we still had leftovers! We walked off all the pizza we ate to AutoZone Park for a baseball game. I honestly couldn’t even tell you what team played, but it was the best experience we’ve ever had at a game. Normally, we get seats during the game + surprisingly Ezra loves baseball so much he stays still. But this time we decided to get tickets on the Bluff(lawn) section down the right field line and Ezra was in heaven!!! The second his foot touched the grass he started to roll down the hill like the other kids were doing. He ran around pretty much the whole game. We couldn’t stop him if we wanted. He had a BLAST!! One cool feature about the game was that after every Saturday home game they have a fireworks show. And I must say, this fireworks show is a must see! You definitely get your moneys worth. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the game and will definitely be back again. By the time the fireworks ended we were all wiped! So back to the apartment we walked, maybe like 200 yards if that, to zonk out.
Day 4:
This day was our day to head back home. These days are always dreadful because: 1- you have to pack up, 2- you have to drive back home, and 3- you have to go back to reality. Since it was our last morning we decided to go eat breakfast at the oldest café in Memphis, the Arcade Restaurant. This neat little gem had some amazing breakfast. I am so glad we chose to eat breakfast there. This diner will throw you back in time with all the old portraits of downtown Memphis and vintage wall art. We each enjoyed our meals and even though Ezra wanted pancakes he barely touched his. But hey, thats what kids do. If you haven’t seen the video of him trying to wake Harvey up to go eat pancakes and blueberries go check out our youtube video of this Memphis trip. Its pretty hilarious!
Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves in Memphis and will be back soon. I strongly encourage you and your family to visit Memphis and see all it has to offer.
XO The Cashio's
