For Christmas, Mark and I gave Turner tickets to go and see the Broadway Musical Wicked in Memphis, TN. She had a count-down chain and excitedly counted down the days until this fun mid-winter excursion. Mark and I also love a trip at this time of year (pretty much any time of year) as something to look forward to as the lull of winter slowly progresses.
After a long car ride, our first stop on Friday afternoon was the Memphis Children's Museum. Though it was considerably smaller and less involved than McWane or the Chicago Children's Museum, it was still a fun way to kill a couple of hours on a cold afternoon.
She didn't love this "a little too real" simulation of milking a cow. :)
She did, however, love seeing herself on the music video screen via the green screen background.
After checking into our hotel we headed down to Beale Street for some entertainment and some Memphis BBQ. Off the recommendation of a friend who lives in Memphis, we avoided the traditional fare at Rendevous and dined at
Blue City Cafe on delicious ribs. Mark's highlight of the night was when
Jay Bilas (former Duke basketball star) walked in with the ESPN GameDay crew who were in town to host GameDay at the University of Memphis game the following day. It was seriously unlike I've ever seen Mark act, he never gets starstruck. But he shouted when Jay Bilas walked in the door! :)
We finished up the night with some late night swimming in the heated pool at the hotel. By "we" I mean Turner, and by "heated" I mean not freezing cold. Mark and I sat by the pool and laughed as we watched Turner swim under the connector to outside where it was snowing as she swam.
The view out the window of the hotel on Saturday morning…we were expecting cold, but not snow!
Our first stop, after a very precarious drive on slippery roads, was
Gibson's Donuts. These donuts were absolutely delicious and this is a place I'd highly recommend you visit if you are in Memphis. We went back the second day and Turner will still say now that there's no donut like a donut from Gibson's.
We had planned to visit the
Memphis Zoo on Saturday morning, again not planning for extreme cold and snow. We forged ahead and pretty much had the zoo to ourselves for the morning! This is a very large and wonderfully designed zoo - again something I'd highly recommend if you visit Memphis.
We were very entertained by the elephants eating snow and feeding snow to each other!
We'd take breaks in indoor heated areas periodically, and this bubble in the sea otter aquarium brought much enjoyment!
Our favorite area of this zoo was the Teton Trail where they had an impressive lodge and beautiful mountainous landscape. And it had a wonderfully warm fireplace which we appreciated greatly as we were nearly frozen by this point!
They have a large panda habitat and it was neat for Turner to be able to see pandas up close!
After a quick trip back to the hotel, we headed over to The Orpheum Theatre for Wicked. Mark took me to see this in New York on our first trip there as a married couple back in 2004 and it quickly took the stage as one of my favorite musicals. There is simply "theatre magic" in the moment they lift Elphaba in the sky as the first act ends. Turner has become quite fond of the song "Popular" and "Defying Gravity" via YouTube and we determined months ago this should be the first musical we take her to see. She was in awe, and happened to be sitting in my lap for the climactic moment previously described. Her whole body tensed up and I wasn't sure she wasn't going to leap up in sheer elation. I knew then she was hooked - she'll be our theatre junkie for life. :)
After the show, we hurried over to The Peabody hotel to watch the marching of the Peabody Ducks. We arrived just in time and a sweet staff member said it was too packed for her to see but if she'd come with him (away from us) he could get her a seat on the red carpet. Surprisingly she went with him, and ended up with a front row seat to watch the ducks march out of the fountain and into the elevator for the end of the day.
He also gave her a special duck lapel pin which was such a special gesture. I wish I knew his name to thank him.
And I couldn't help myself in taking this picture…I can't say I disagree.
We had such a fun weekend in Memphis!
