Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Ideas for six women in Memphis?

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)

- United States (https://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/)

- - Ideas for six women in Memphis? (https://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/ideas-for-six-women-in-memphis-307479/)

Ideas for six women in Memphis?

Group of high school friends are meeting in Memphis in June for a weekend getaway. Other than Beale Street and Graceland, what do you recommend for a group of 40-somethings to see/do? We're up for anything, but won't have a car.

Are the Chippendales in town? Just kidding. Mud Island is a nice place to visit.

Make sure you check out the Peabody Hotel where the ducks come down in an elevator and walk down a red carpet to their fountain for a swim. At the end of the day, they go back up. Not sure of the times, but I'm sure you can find out about it on the web. It's kinda cute, and the hotel is beautiful.

I would suggest the Civil Rights Museum. Very educational.

Definitely Mudd Island and the Peabody Hotel. Sun Studio was pretty interesting too. Have fun!

Here are some great "off the beaten path" ideas posted here recently by "Big Red". I can't figure out any way to post a worekign link to an archived thread so I'll just cut and paste it one section at a time. I saved this one on my hard drive because it had so many good ideas and I'll be visiting Memphis this year. ===================================== =Date: 03/13/2003, 10:48 am Message: Actually got back Sunday night...I've been too busy to write this, but here we go...(BTW, for those folks that answered my post about the Fed Ex Tour, it's not there. I don't know where I dreamed that was real)I had received an e-mail about some 40 dollar a night rooms at a Holiday Inn Select in Memphis and figured it would be a good quick weekend trip. We live about 4 hours from Memphis and have been there before. We had seen the must-dos (Graceland, et al.) So the challenge was what to do?We arrived late Friday night and were set up royally at the Holiday Inn Select on Poplar Road. It's in a business park on the southeast side of town. A little out of the way, but it was a good value.After our comped breakfast Sat morning, we headed down to the river and dug around in the Visitors Center looking for things to do. I'm no art lover, but uur first stop was the best...The Dixon Gallery and Gardens (www.dixon.org) It was a private residence of the Dixons. They were avid art collectors of Impressionism. The Gallery is full of all kinds of art, but the permanent collections has Monets, Rodins, Renoirs, Degas, and other great original artists. It was the first time I had ever seen a "real" Monet and it was facinating. The posters and prints you see all the time are a joke, comparatively. The Gardens were also beautiful considering it was the first week of March. There were a few of the early bulbs blooming and the layout and the formal gardens were impressive too. All this for only 5 dollars a person! (and we had a 2 for 1 coupon we got at the Visitors Center)On the other end of the spectrum, on the way back to downtown, we stopped at Graceland. We had both been on the tour, but I wanted to stop, not to see the Elvis STUFF, but the Elvis FANS. People watching at Graceland is great fun. We browsed the shops and watched the people for about an hour.

"Big red" post part II: Date: 03/13/2003, 10:48 am Message: We then headed to Sun Studios. We have been to Memphis several time and have driven past, but had never taken the tour. Tour starts in the gift shop (natch) and heads up the stairs to a "museum" of sorts with a lot of memorabilia from the early days of Sun Records. I had met Sam Phillips once and to actually see the stuff was neat. A tour guide goes through each of the display cases (it's only one room) and plays some snippets of songs to go along with the tour. You then head down to "the" studio and listen to some more songs and hear other stories. The tour ends with the presentation of "the" microphone that Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the others used to record the songs. You're allowed to ham it up with the mike and take pictures.We then went downtown and found the new Smithsonian Rock and Soul Museum. One of the best multi-media museum tours I've ever been on. We spent about three hours there, but you could spend all day. They give you a pair of personal headphones and a CD-Rom player. You punch in the number of the exhibit and it plays the narration and you can also play songs from that era (about 100 original songs). There is a lot of original stuff that traces the roots of Rock and Soul from the Mississippi Delta to modern day. There is also a Gibson Guitar factory adjacent to the museum, you can tour.The reason that we didn't spend more time there was that hunger called us. We walked over to Charlie Vergos Rendevous...we went to one of the back rooms to get seated quicker. I had the ribs (of course)...she had the pulled pork. Both were excellent. I should have gotten the full rack. Rendevous ribs are great for "dry" ribs.We then walked across the street to the Peabody and went up on the roof...a tradition for us when we're in Memphis. We window shopped a little bit in the Peabody Shops and then headed to Peabody Place.I know that downtown needed an economic boost. But, one of the reasons I always enjoed Memphis was that it was a little gritty. Slapping the "Delta Disneyland" that is Peabody Place in the middle of downtown is attrocious. We basically used Peabody Place as a thoroughfare to get to Beale (for all that space, there's nothing there).

"Big Red" post part III: Date: 03/13/2003, 10:49 am Message: We saundered up and down Beale...popping in and out for a while enjoying the music. It then hit me that I was hungry again. Two possible causes - 1) The aforementioned half/full rack faux pas at the Vous or 2)I can't come to Memphis and not eat something at the Blues City Cafe. It is my favorite restaurant in Memphis. We slid into the "Tom Cruise" booth (from The Firm) and had some of the Tamales....Had I been hungrier, it would have been one of the Oven-Broiled Steaks) After a little more walking off of the Tamales, it was back to the hotel for a little late night swimming and rest.Sunday morning...In almost every "soulful" city we've ever been in on a Sunday morning (Chicago, NOLA, etc), we have always seen promotions for a Gospel Sunday Brunch. But we've never had the chance to go. We went to Elvis Presley's Memphis and tried it out. Let's start by saying the ELM is not the best restaurant in town. The regular menu was unimpressive so we both ordered off the special brunch menu. I had the Eggs Benedict and they were out of English Mufins and forgot to put the Hollandaise on. Our waitress had a good heart, but not much skill. The perfomance of the gospel group was supposed to start at 11 and we were standing at the door. Apparently, the group was too since they started to set up the equipment and do sound checks at 11. That was annoying during our meal. At 1130, they got started and were very good. But we had to stay there after we ate and listen for a while. I felt bad about keeping a table held up, but I came for the music. The big positive in the meal, BTW, was the banana pudding for dessert. The best I have had in a while.

How flattering to be quoted. I need to do expanded trip reports more often. Glad my comments were useful to you, Owen. Arabella... Previous times we have been to Memphis we have done Graceland...and it's everything you expect and more. I highly suggest the Peabody when the ducks come down...it's less crowded in the morning...more tourists in the afternoon. As I mentioned above, the best meal on Beale is at the Blues City Cafe for a very sublime experience...if the appearance of the place bothers you walk across the street to BB Kings...it's also good, but very touristy. Rendevous dry ribs are TASTY...if you like BBQ. Someplace that I mean to go everytime I'm in Memphis, but have never gone is McNeely's Interstate BBQ...I have heard from several places it is the best, but I've never tried it.

If you like shoping, Opry Mills Mall is very good. There are lots of restaurants there, too. Also, Goodlettsville on the north side of Nashville has some excellent antique malls.

Orpy Mills and Goodlettsville are nice....but they probably won't want to shop after walking the 200 miles from Memphis to Nashville since they don't have a car

Duhhh....not paying attention! Thanks, Topper!

I have lived in Memphis my entire life (unfortantely!) and there really isn't too much to do. If you like Baseball, the Redbirds stadium is really nice and the games are enjoyable. I assume you are staying downtown and this is where most everything is going to be that is worth seeing/doing. For some good eats, check out Cafe Samovar on Union Avenue, almost at Front Street. It is a Russian place and the food there is great. I work downtown and eat there quite often. I have tried almost everything they have and never had a bad meal. Also, around the corner is Automatic Slims which is a different place with a cool atmosphere. For shopping/movies, there is Peabody Place mall which is nice, although not a lot of stores. For dancing/nightclub...Club 152 on Beale. I've been once and stayed downstairs (upstairs area is techno) and they had a live band and the DJ played mostly rock n roll. It was more of an older crowd. You may also consider taking a riverboat ride. The weather is nice right now, the humidity hasn't set in! I never understand why the Peabody and the ducks are so appealing to tourists, but whatever floats your boat! Martinis at the new Madison Hotel are also recommended. Enjoy!

Also check out the Gibson Guitar Lounge. I know that they have jazz night on Sunday nights, not sure of the schedule for other nights of the week.

Thanks, everyone. Great suggestions!

Great replies so far. Also may want to consider Alfreds for dancing one night. The place gets packed but the band (Kevin Paige) plays lots of fun dance music. Ditto on the Gibson Lounge, Madison Hotel (bar) & Automatic Slims.