Day 2.44: Memphis, TN to Nashville, TN

We woke up and worked out in the fitness center before having breakfast and packing everything up. Our first stop was in downtown Memphis, where Arielle was beyond ecstatic to attend the twice-daily duck march, where a bunch of ducks come out of the elevator and strut across a red carpet to the fountain in the center of the lobby. Our 11am duck march was attended by a huge crowd which was gathered there well in advance of the event, which lasted only about a minute or two, but Arielle still had a blast!

We got on the road for Nashville, stopping along the way at a Pilot where Abe got a surprisingly tasty vegetarian tomato soup and Arielle made a turkey sandwich with the meat she was still carrying.

We made it to Nashville in the early afternoon, circling for a bit before we found a meter that looked like we could park there. We walked about fifteen minutes to Broadway, where we heard musicians performing and saw many people swarming around. After sampling some pralines and exploring the streets, we walked into Nudie’s Honky Tonk and sat for a while listening to the live music, then walked a few blocks over to Honky Tonk Central to catch a few more songs.

We tried to walk up to a bridge but realized it was too high, so we went back to our car instead. Arguably the best move of our day was to follow the advice of Arielle’s friend, Kevin, who highly recommended a restaurant out of downtown: Mas Tacos. We parked in a neighborhood down the street and walked into the relatively small establishment. Arielle got a quinoa and sweet potato taco and a fish taco, fried plantains, and street corn. Abe got a fried avocado taco, a fish taco, and street corn without all the stuff on it. It was a phenomenal meal, and we got to sit outside, which was beautiful.

We drove to the suburb of Goodlettsville to check in to our hotel, the Wingate, which we were relieved to find proved to be a good choice (it was much less expensive than many neighboring hotels). After relaxing at the hotel for a bit, we went to the Kroger supermarket across the street to get a few food items, then drove back to right near where we had dinner to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams (also recommended by Kevin), which was quite an experience. After sampling many, many flavors, Abe went for one large scoop of darkest chocolate. Arielle went for the three half scoops and a waffle option, choosing salty peanut butter with chocolate flakes, rainbow buttermilk frozen yogurt, and the goat cheese with red cherries. She loved it – Abe’s more basic flavor was very good too!

We returned to the hotel and went to sleep before our last drive for a few days.

Approximate number of miles covered: 225

Day 2.43: Little Rock, AR to Memphis, TN

We got up and worked out and then enjoyed some breakfast in typical Best Western style.

We packed our car and drove about ten minutes to our second presidential library, this one created to honor Bill Clinton. It was interesting to read about events that we remembered happening or hearing about, and also enlightening to see parallels between a divided government then with Congress often at odds with Clinton and now. There was also mention of former First Lady Hillary’s Senate win and move into politics, though nothing about either of her presidential runs.

We spent about two hours at the library and then got on the road for the two-hour drive to Memphis, crossing into Tennessee.

We went straight to the National Civil Rights Museum, which is housed mainly in the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. This museum features countless exhibits about the history of slavery and the South, and we spent two hours there and still feel like we could have done much more.

We drove about five minutes and parked our car near Beale Street, which was mostly empty and quiet but still fun to walk. We left to drive to our hotel and stopped briefly to walk along the river, which was very nice.

We checked in to the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Memphis Airport Elvis Presley Boulevard, which was perfectly nice. We were then picked up by Murray and Karen Riss, who took us to a lovely dinner. Murray is Arielle’s father’s first cousin and has lived in Memphis for decades. They brought us to an incredible place called Tsunami. Arielle got the goat cheese and fried eggplant Napoleon with tomato-basil sauce and Abe got the roasted sea bass on black Thai race with soy beurre blanc. Both dishes were amazing, and we had a wonderful time catching up. We finished with a delicious creme brulee. Back at the hotel, we relaxed and went to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 140

Day 2.42: Austin, TX to Little Rock, AR

We got up and loaded the rest of our stuff, departing the hotel a little after 9:30am. Arielle finished the pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer for breakfast.

We had a more leisurely and stop-filled drive than usual. We were stopped in standstill traffic because of an accident ahead shortly into the drive, and decided to make our first stop after passing a Buc-ee’s on the side of the road. Arielle described this Texas phenomenon as a Wawa, Cost Plus, and souvenir shop all in one, and Abe adds that there is a deli counter with barbecue for purchase and so many nuts, trail mixes, and novelties. We ultimately bought just one postcard and left. We continued on until we stopped at a gas station that included a Texas Best Smokehouse in it. Abe decided to get some sliced brisket (which was quite tasty) with rosemary potatoes and green beans on the side. Arielle came in to wash her lettuce and make a turkey sandwich with the kosher meat she had brought from home and had kept cold in our fridge and then our cooler since. Hilariously, she decided not to eat it after getting a craving for In-n-Out, which we found about thirty miles later, because she knew she wouldn’t be able to get it for the rest of the trip. The best part, aside from Arielle’s delicious grilled cheese animal-style and fries, was that she went in to try to recycle the bottle of Minute Maid Lemonade that Abe had finished and they just told her to refill it with lemonade!

We drove through humorously-named places like Arkadelphia and Texarkana, which brought us back into the state of Arkansas. Though we had originally planned to go all the way to Memphis, we had decided earlier in the weekend to spend the night in Little Rock instead. Though construction delayed us considerably once we entered Arkansas, we didn’t get in too late, checking in to the Best Western Plus JFK Inn and Suites before 8pm.

There was a Tropical Smoothie Cafe essentially in the parking lot, so we walked there and Abe got a Chia Banana Boost, which featured roasted banana, chia seeds, almonds, whole grain oats, cinnamon, dates, and coconut. He replaced the choice of strawberries or peanut butter with more banana. It was delicious and quite reasonably-priced. We will be checking out this chain again!

Back in the room, Abe microwaved two bowls of Easy Mac that we had been carrying with us and Arielle ate the sandwich she had made for lunch while we relaxed and watched some TV.

Approximate number of miles covered: 520

Day 2.41: Austin, TX

We woke up to catch Abe’s thirty-fourth and last movie of the festival, this one held at a satellite venue, the AFS Cinema. We mostly enjoyed the bizarre Sister Aimee, and it was nice to go to a less crowded theater with plenty of parking.

We drove about ten minutes to Veracruz All Natural, which was recommended by our friend Naomi, to meet Jess, who Abe went to high school with and hadn’t seen in more than a decade. It was great to catch up! The food was also delicious – the tacos had great veggies and flavor, though they were hard to keep together.

Our next stop was at Coffee Bean, of course, the last time that Abe would have it on this trip. We drove to the very nearby LBJ Presidential Library, where we became annual members so that we could start visiting the libraries all around the country. We spent about two hours walking through the library and learning about what LBJ did while in office – this is an impressive place! We went back to the hotel and packed about half of our stuff into the car since it had been practically empty for the entire time we spent in Austin. We headed out to Hopdoddy, a famed burger place that was insanely crowded when we pulled up. We thought we were going to have to pay $15 for the first hour of parking but were relieved to learn that two hours at the garage behind the restaurant came free with validation. We did nearly get charged though since Abe wasn’t paying close attention to the clock, but we eventually got out just in the nick of time. Arielle got to pose with a very appealing poster before we met Jon, who Abe had seen a week earlier and knew Abe would comment about his recent haircut, and his friend Chris, who was very nice and asked some great insightful questions about what we did. The line moved more quickly than we expected, and it was completely worth the wait! Abe got a bison burger that hilariously came open-faced, and Arielle got the impossible burger with no onions and extra pickles. Chris was the only one who got a milkshake which he said was delicious. We also saw a waiter carrying a crazy number of dishes on his arm.

After a thoroughly satisfying meal, we walked across the street to another Amy’s location, where we both got the orange chocolate chip, which was better in sample than it was in execution. Arielle got 3 scoops in a tiny size and put it on a cone: orange chocolate chip, Mexican vanilla, and Oreo.

We drove back to hotel and finished packing everything, ready to depart the next morning for a new city for the first time in a while.

Approximate number of miles covered: 11