Happy Valentines Day!! I hope everyone is sharing the love with friends and family by doing something fun to celebrate! Zack and I once again had to say goodbye to friends and move on...but this time we were headed to Memphis - known for Blues, Soul, and Rock 'n' Roll!
We drove through Mississippi which had some really pretty landscape! In my mind, Mississippi was like the rest of the south, flat and a million trees, but there were actual hills on our drive. There were pretty ponds, farms, rolling hills and PLENTY of trees. I think it's one of my favorite drives so far but I feel like I keep saying that...am I the boy who cried wolf? It was beautiful though haha!
We stopped in Jackson Mississippi and found the Capitol. We are making a habit of it. I just love seeing how similar/different they are.
I have learned a lot of things this drive and one is that Salt Lake City isn't as small a city as I originally thought. It's definitely no LA but as we have driven through several big cities, we have seen small big cities, like Baton Rouge and Memphis. Of course Memphis isn't a capitol city, but it is a well known. A big little city.
Commentary by Z: It is kind of sad to see how such a historic and well known city can fall so far behind the modern century. Unless you as a city are keeping up with tech jobs and the industry, it's easy to fall behind and then once your industrial companies go out of business or relocate you suddenly have high unemployment and no money coming into the city. Then how do you get out of that? If you have no tech companies in your city it's not like anyone is eager to be the first. Sad to see Memphis struggling.
We got situated in our hotel and then drove to Beale St. which (thanks to my mom) we were told to check out. It's famous as an old time blues hotspot and is lined with a bunch of bars where musicians can play and audiences can grab a bite to eat or drink or both. Years ago, artists like Louis Armstrong and Aretha Franklin came here to play and entertain. So cool, right?? Zack and I walked the strip trying to decide where to go and I don't know if it was because of Valentines Day or what, but a lot of the places were closed. We settled on B.B. King's Blues Club, which at first I thought was closed because it was really dark...shows how often I go in bars! The place was packed though and the band was already on stage and playing for the crowd. They were SOOO good. There is something about hearing a live band vs. a recording. They may not even be the type of band you would listen to on the radio but when they are live, their energy and sound is so fun. I was still sick though so while I had a ton of fun, it was hard to really get into it all night long. Zack could have stayed all night and on a better day for me, I would have too, but today was not that kind of day. However, we had a great Valentines date and this reminded me how much I love places like this. I want to live near a place where we can have date nights and listen to live music.
Commentary by Z: Live music of any kind is my jam.
The Grizzlies play here and it was just one block over from Beale Street. We were both surprised to see it right there in the middle of the city...Maybe the parking lot was in the back? Not sure where everyone parks
7th leg of the journey: 7 hours. 397 miles.
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