Beale Street

Feeling adventurous and needing a break from the kitchen we decided to eat out for dinner after a big day. Yep it was a cold day, the advantage was it kept the crowds away. We scanned all the information the park gave us and one restaurant stuck out more than the others, a place called Marlowes which was about a mile or so up the road. The added bonus was that they send a pink limo to pick their customers up and then take them home again at no extra charge. And to top it off we would get a 10% discount off our bill due to the fact that we were staying at the Graceland RV park. A quick phone call and our pink limo was on its way. I called last drinks in the trailer and before we knew it we were heading up the road to dinner. We arrived and, as with all places here in the USA, the restaurant was well decorated for Christmas. We braved the cold, ran around outside and took a couple of quick photos before heading inside, it was freezing!

Outside Marlowes at Memphis


I knew what I wanted for mains but we were keen to try a different entrée. So Rose picked out "deep fried pickles" or a what we call gherkins. We had expected them to be thinly sliced as we had experienced in New York but these came out whole, yep a rather large whole gherkin deep fried in a crumbed batter, or what's commonly called "breaded". They were just lovely, yeah we felt guilty with the deep fried stuff but we vowed to work it off later and we are here to try different foods so what the heck.

My full side of "ribs"


I then ordered the full slab of BBQ ribs with a side of coleslaw and baked beans, sounds weird but that's how it comes. Rose ordered the "brisket" which of course comes with BBQ sauce and two sides. My ribs sat across the full length of the plate and were fantastic, the meat just fell off the bone. We tucked into our meals but there was no way we could finish them so unlike Australia we could take a doggy bag home.

The next night was a trip to Beale street. It's like the Bourbon street of Memphis. The Heartbreak hotel runs a shuttle bus for $5 each way so we booked it. As always the driver offered some local facts, the one that impressed us the most is that Memphis is the home of Fed Ex parcels and employs some 35,000 people. Memphis has one of the busiest airports in the would due to the amount of Fed Ex planes that come and go. We had also noticed that both gas and diesel prices were rather low ie 30 cents a gallon cheaper. We are informed this is because of the massive oil refinery in Memphis and the cost to transport the fuel is less so cheaper fuel. I must let them know that back in Brisbane because that theory doesn't work there.

Beale Street


Beale street is considered safe, it has its own Police precinct and the street is blocked off at night for party goers. BB Kings bar was recommend to us so in we went, grabbed a seat and listened to the live music. First thing we noticed was the volume - it was perfect. We could actually listen to music and talk, we were impressed! We were prepared to settle in for the night but we had to see the rest of Beale street so we braved the cold, did a lap down one side of the street back up the other and straight into BB Kings again. In no time at all our bus was waiting across the road so we departed the famous Beale street and headed home. We could have stayed longer but tomorrow we are heading further west so home we must go.




- Posted by RnR on their IPad

Location:Memphis Tenessee