Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Friday In Memphis/Tunica

Woke up in Tunica, apparently sleeping through tornadoes reeling across the area. (Sidenote: did you know tornadoes is spelled with an es, like tomatoes? I just found that out. Thanks, spellcheck!) Our whole reason to go to Tunica was to stay at Harrah's, so we could go to the Paula Deen buffet, and by gum we were going to get there! Plus maybe play some games. We like casinos.

The buffet was everything it advertised and more. Amazing stuff. Favorites:
  • Hoecakes (fried cornmeal pancakes)
  • Fried green tomato eggs benedict
  • Grits; and Monica has a great story involving a buffet attendant telling her off. It was pretty cool, but I honestly thought they would be Charming Southern, not Condescending Southern.
Also there were the common stuff like pancakes and eggs; all were excellent, because, ya know, the butter.

Our goal for the rest of the day was to get to the National Civil Right's Museum, where the Lorraine Motel used to be, and is, reconstructed. This whole event is something that I'm really unable to put into words. We followed a pretty fantastic tour guide, had our minds blown in so many ways, and I certainly can't speak for Monica, but I was choking back tears the entire time. From a replica of the bus that was firebombed to the actual piece of cement that has evidence from King's death, it was truly awe inspiring.

There were some awkward moments: I wished there was more examples and exhibits of the Movements that this one inspired, but that's really a minor thing, to tell you the truth.

Afterwards, there really wasn't much anything else on our plate, and we tried to get out to the Gibson factory, which we missed out on all the tours until 4, way later than we'd want to stay (we had busy stuff planned for the rest of the weekend) so instead we just hung around Beale Street, wishing we could stay longer, and eating fried pickles and fried green tomatoes. That was a good thing, actually.

Fried pickles and tomatoes were our staple on the ride home, which was a great ride, mostly because of the great company, and even returning the car to the awkward Enterprise place before taking a shuttle back to the airport before taking a shuttle back to our car in the long term lot was pretty uneventful. But suprisingly fun to write.

No comments: