Friday, July 27, 2007

You mean there's more to see? . .

Day two of touring Memphis

Here's a photo of Beale Street- the one I took at night didn't turn out-


We did some more walking around, and then headed back to the hotel. Next stop, Huntsville-









One of our first stops was at the Gibson Guitar factory. PJ is so into electric guitars right now, it was kinda interesting to learn how they are made. The materials and the labor all all American-not something we see in manufacturing these days. It takes 4-5 weeks to totally complete a guitar.






nearly finished---
the painting is done, but the guitar still has several steps to go, polishing, adding electronics and testing. One really interesting thing is that about 95% of the guitars make the Gibson grade. The fate of the others--
* the electronics are removed (salvaged)
*the guitar is cut up into several pieces
*under the close eye of security- the pieces are put into a locked dumpster, and when the dumpster is full the contents are incinerated.


Crossing the Mississippi River

Now we're in Arkansas-


look a train --


Back in Tennessee---





the Pyramid- apparently this is where events are held, I guess it would be like the Georgia Dome.

We had to make a stop at the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks return to their roof top home. These ducks (not these exact ones) have been here for a long time. The come down at 11:00 and return at 5:00. They take a stroll on the Red Carpet, just like during the Academy Awards, complete with camera flashes and the paparazzi. It was really cool, and I couldn't believe how many other people were there. This hotel is gorgeous, and worth at least stopping in to see the decor. I stayed here about 12 years ago for a conference, but didn't get to see the entrance/exit of the ducks.

The floral arrangement in the center of the lobby- the ducks stroll down the carpet--




WC Handy, the father of the blues, we stopped by the house he lived in when he was living in Memphis. He wrote most of his music here. Oh yea, there's PJ in his pose-


Here's me posing by a "bottle" of Blue Moon beer, I had a 32 oz, [Mom it was 34!] sorry, my 34 oz mug of beer at Big Foot Lodge, the food was fabulous, and the beer good, but I did have to make several pit stops!

we walked around a little bit longer, and then headed back to the hotel- next stop- Huntsville- still don't know what that's all about!!!

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