Larraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and Graceland, home of Elvis Presley were in our checklist for the first half of the day. Elvis is one of Sheena’s favorite musicians so she just wanted to see it. Lorraine Motel was converted into National Civil Rights Museum which one could tour for a small fee. When we reached there at 9 am. School kids started arriving to visit the place. We saw the location where Dr. King was shot and went around the building capturing some pictures. We then proceeded to Graceland, one of the most visited private homes in America. Once we arrived there, the line was quite long already and Sheena was not really interested in taking a full tour paying some thirty dollar per person. I remembered my brother saying that he worked quite close to Graceland when he was working for SmithNephew in Memphis so we looked the office location up in Google. Then we drove there and sent a picture to him. Apart from music and BBQ, one another reason why we visited Memphis was because my brother lived there for several years and I heard much about this city from him. 
We took Hernando de Soto Bridge to Arkansas just to claim that we have been to Clinton’s home state and came back to Memphis to spend some time on Mississippi river banks. We also thought Tara could use some time running around in the park near the river side. It was picture time and great sceneries of three bridges over the river and boats traveling. Weather was not bad and we were killing time there to get to lunch at Corky’s BBQ, about 10 miles away from the downtown. We drove around and outside the downtown to get a good feel of the daily life and a few blocks outside downtown and tourist attractions, the poverty levels of the city do show off. Memphis brand seem to help far less Memphians.
Corky’s is the best known BBQ joint in town. My brother and his friends validated that. And that’s why we stayed back to eat it. When we got there for lunch, wait was minimum and the house beer was a good start. We ordered dry ribs following the clues from previous dinner and a pulled pork sandwich that lot of people recommended in online reviews. Ribs were just close to Rendezvous but the pulled pork was more than compensating. We tried the Cole-slow and it tasted so good that we wondered how a simple cabbage dish could taste this good. Even the wedge fries tasted great and Sheena thought they were fired in lard to taste that good. They offered a two day delivery of ribs anywhere in US so we wanted to sign up a rack to be delivered to San Jose to surprise them. As we waited for them to complete the order but it was taking too long and the lady who was waiting on us was quite rude. So we dropped the plan and left the place thinking to do it online from the hotel. It was worth a visit to Corky’s and with that we were through with our Memphis checklist. Our next destination, Nashville was just three hours away.
A reasonable Nashville visit requires at least three nights stay. This means one could go to a stage show in Grand Ole Opry House, Nightlife in Music Valley Drive and a downtown pub hoping, again listening to live music. There are many other clubs and hotels like Gaylord hosts frequent music shows and musicians from all over the world come to this town to play. When we got there it was evening and slightly chilly so Sheena wanted to stay cozy at the hotel with baby. Our hotel was very close to the old Opryland USA site and now shared by three well-known landmarks on the banks of Cumberland river - Gaylord Opryland luxury resort, Grand Ole Opry House auditorium and Opry Mills shopping mall. Music Valley drive turns live in the night with a number of eateries and clubs playing live music. It was good to see them firsthand but we will have to come back some other time to experience some of it.
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