Day 5 - August 17, 2011 - Memphis, Mississippi and New Orleans

Our day began a little later than our other days so far - we had just missed the end of breakfast (~9/9:30am), leaving us only an hour to pack up and get out. We had seen a sign at check in notifying guests that they'd be charged $10 for every additional hour past check out time, and so we were a little concerned about running into that issue. We weren't too concerned about missing breakfast - reviews on tripadvisor hadn't been too positive about that. Following a quick dip in the pool for me, and a issue-free checkout from the Scottish Inn and Suites, we were on our way.

We found a Denny's downtown, next to the ball diamond, and decided to fuel up for the day. We had an awesome breakfast - Derek had a The Grand Slamwich, and I had the All-American Slam. We also shared a 'breakfast appetizer' - the Pancake Puppies. These are little balls of deep-fried pancake batter. Yummy!

From here we did a quick drive-by of the Stax Museum and the National Civil Rights Museum. This is located at the old Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, outside of room 306.

Finding our way back to Sun Studio, we hung out there a bit, waiting for the next tour. Sun Studio is the recording studio where Elvis recorded  "That's All Right" back in 1954. Other greats such as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc recorded there as well. The tour was very good - the tour guide shared the history of the place and the people that came through there very animatedly. Could really feel the energy of the artists that have recorded there. In the studio, the tour guide painted the scene of the famous impromptu recording session on December 4, 1956 of the Million Dollar Quartet. We heard clips of the this session while standing in the very room where it happened.

It was now mid-afternoon, and time for us to hit the road - we were planning to make New Orleans by end of day. We headed south toward Jackson, Mississippi. We stopped quickly at the Welcome Centre where 3 very friendly ladies offered me coffee, provided me with any information I might need (and then some), presented me with a Mississippi pin and made me feel VERY welcome to Mississippi. They requested I sign the guest book, and seemed quite impressed how far we had travelled from Canada! Very positive feeling about Mississippi - too bad we were essentially driving through today. Hopefully, maybe we can spend a little time on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (perhaps Biloxi?) on our way over to Pensacola in a couple days.

We stopped at Canton (just before Jackson) for a quick bite - Derek grabbed some Arby's and I went over to Bumper's Drive Inn. I was fooled by the sign on the interstated which read Sonic Drive In. (We had found our first Sonic Drive Inn on our to Memphis, just outside Branson a couple days ago. This is an actual drive in restaurant where you drive up and order, and the server runs the food out to you.) Bumper's was a distant second to Sonic Drive In!

While sitting there eating our food at a picnic table, we could hear the loud chirping in the bushes/trees that we've been hearing for the last couple days - since about Kansas. I asked the server what that noise was - some kind of animal? She had no clue what I was talking about. She thought I meant the sound of the interstate traffic nearby - thought it was a vehicle or something - wasn't always there. After she left, we kept hearing this LOUD chirping noise, and I was in disbelief that the locals couldn't hear it. I guess they are so used to it, they don't even notice it anymore.

We did a quick drive by tour of Jackson, Mississippi, seeing the state building and several other colonial looking buildings. We saw many medical facilities in Jackson - turns out the city is an educational and medical centre for Mississippi.

The remaining 2-1/2 hours to New Orleans, we started to see areas that looked to be very swampy. The road appeared to built up from ground (like a big bridge), and we saw concrete walls alongside the interstate for stretch. We figured this either to keep cars from crashing into the swamp, or keep alligators off the highway, ... or maybe both.

We arrived at our hotel - the Prytania Oaks Hotel in the Garden District of New Orleans, and settled in for the night. The room is an old building that has been converted into hotel rooms - very nice and clean, and has some character. We discovered tiny lizards (geckos?) on one of a trip out to the car that night. He was hanging out on the side of the building. Then we saw a baby - not much bigger than a q-tip - scurry under the hotel room across the hall. From this point, we picked our bags up off the floor. I'd rather not take one home with me! We figure that these little lizards are probably like our mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are looking pretty good right about now. ;-)

Also just want to mention how hot it is here (and even since Memphis ..) - about 90 degrees fahrenheit (32 celsius) the other day. Maybe that doesn't seem that much hotter than back home on a nice summer day, but the humidity here is insane! We went over to the hotel courtyard for breakfast this morning around 8:30, and we were practically dying, just sitting in the shade. Will definitely be wearing my hat today, and drinking lots of water!

We decided to stay here one more night, to keep things simple and have a place to hang our hats for a day. We're going to walk half a block and catch the St. Charles Streetcar to go to the French Quarter today. Apparently that's the best way to go - parking is costly and the streets are narrrow. This is close and cheap ($1.25/person, $3 for a 1 day pass ... and only 40cents for seniors!) Will update on what we find in the French Quarter later today.