Roadtrip 2016
Day 0ne – Memphis!
School’s out and we’re on vacation!! Let summer begin! We’ve had a crazy, busy week what with school
ending festivities, my parents moving, Chloe’s daily swim lessons, prepping for
vacation, so surprise, I wasn’t as packed and ready as I should have been. I woke up about 5am to get ready. Fortunately the kids are getting older, which
means less just random stuff. And since
we’re not staying in one place long, no need for lots of toys and accessories. Coleson and I commented on how light the
trunk of the van looked when packed! We
did forgot a couple of things, but nothing we can’t live without. I would have liked to have brought scooters
and baseball gloves, but if that’s all we left behind, we’re doing just
fine.
We hit the road about 8:45am [EST, our whole trip will be in
Central time though!] with a Starbuck’s stop on the way out of town. We headed north through Chattanooga – google
maps said it was about a few minutes faster to go west through Birmingham and
then up, but we are on a roadtrip and all, so you gotta pick the scenic route. We stopped once for gas and ate pb&j’s in
the car. The kids did really well, could
have something to do with an hour plus of Paw Patrol on the DVD player. But otherwise, they looked at library books
and chatted.
Our hotel in Memphis had a valet, which we’re never big fans
of [we had to tip the guy extra to go get my phone charger out later in the
evening]. We settled in quick before
heading out on foot. We explored where
my race would start – nice to know where to go and how long it would take to
get there. We hung out at a pretty cool
park area along the Mississippi, complete with a giant wooden catfish play
sculpture. Abby climbed everything. She’s got uncanny upper body strength. We then walked to Maggie Moo’s to share some
ice cream – mint chocolate chip for Daddy, Ryan, and Abby. Vanilla for Chloe and I, although I did talk
her into M&M mix-ins which she ended up not liking and eating around. A little more walking, including Beale
Street. Total sensory overload there,
and super glad we went in daylight like Lolly said to do. We picked up my race packet from the Peabody
and watched the duck parade. If you ever
go to the Peabody to see the ducks, be sure to bring small children. We got to sit up front, right along the red
carpet with the girls in our laps and Ryan next to us. The ducks are cool and cute, but it does go
really fast!
For dinner, we couldn’t really come up with a casual bbq
place we could walk to – there was a really nice one close, and a casual one
far. So we went to Hard Rock. It felt a little like cheating, like the
touristy thing to do, but honestly I’m not sure if I’ve ever been to one. We started outside, however the clouds were a
little dark, so we moved inside, and sure enough it poured while we ate. Inside was better anyways. The memorabilia was fun for the kids, especially
our music-loving, future-guitar-playing Abby.
She read the sign about Elvis’s guitar and was asking about him, guess
we need to teach her some music history!
The kids plates were fun too, served in plastic guitars. We were all thirsty and hungry, well except
Chloe of course. Fortunately we had a
fridge in the hotel for her to-go box.
The rain was still coming down lightly, so we ran the half mile back to
our hotel. Chloe was in an old umbrella
stroller, and Ryan & Abby were screaming and laughing. It was actually a little fun! I’m glad we didn’t try to wait the weather
out, it was a steady rain the rest of the evening. After putting the kids to bed, Coleson and I
sat on our awesome balcony watching the people and city and rain, before going
to bed fairly early ourselves. It was a
bit of a long day, and I’ve got to run in the morning!
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