Wednesday, May 13, 2009

My Week in Memphis

Erin and I decided to take a long anticipated trip out to Memphis to Visit our sister Kerie and her family. We decided to go at this time so we could see our brother-in-law Jared graduate from Optometry School. Way to go Jared we think you are awesome for this great accomplishment.


We started our vacation off by driving down to Utah and stopping at Tai Pan, where we proceeded to spend all our vacation money before we even flew out of Salt Lake City. After shopping we spent the night our our Grandma McFadden's before boarding the airplane to Memphis by way of Denver CO.




Our flight from SLC to Denver was pretty uneventful however during our flight from Denver to Tennessee the flight attendant asked over the intercom if there was a doctor or nurse on board. We were then greeted at the airport by a fire truck,



a cop car, and ambulance.




We had to remain on the plane for about 1 hour after landing. They never really told us what happened, but we assumed from the action that someone at the front of the plane had a heart attack.
Once off the plan we got our rental car and we were off on the big bad road. Erin had to drive due to my huge ankle. She was NOT happy about this and after having a short 30 minute freak out we were on our way. Below is a picture of the big bad road and all the terrifying traffic that Erin had to maneuver through as she was slightly loosing her mind.



Thanks Erin for being so Brave!


We flew into Nashville, so while in Nashville we stopped at the Grand Ole Opry.
We were to late to get into the show so we watched the live entertainment outside and then looked around for a fun place to eat. We found the Underwater Aquarium across the street from the Opry house and decided to check it out.
We split a meal here and had lots of fun eating good food and enjoying the ambiance of the restaurant. We loved to see the fish swimming by as we ate but here was one guest that decided to stay put.

We got to keep the cups our drinks came in and they were our very first Tennessee souvenirs.
With our dinner we got food to feed the sting rays, so after dinner we headed over to do this. It proved to be much scarier then we first anticipated. I was a total chicken and could not quite get myself to stick my hand into the tank after I saw how large the sting rays were and how they swallowed your entire hand. Erin had no fear as she dropped the shrimp into the water.
From Nashville we headed over to Memphis where we got to visit Graceland, and learned all about Elvis.
We toured his house and were surprised to learn that he paid $100,000.00, boy have times changed.
We also got to see his cars, and walked through his plane. It really was quite interesting and a fun day.
On Sunday after church Kerie gave us a tour of St. Jude where she has been spending most of her days this year with Emma.

We were impressed as soon as we walked in with how welcoming it felt. It did not look or smell like a hospital at all. All the walls(floors and ceilings) are decorated in themes. We got to go back the next day with Emma for her check up.
She was amazing as she helped the nurse take her own temperature and blood. Emma was thrilled as we left the hospital because her counts were high enough that she no longer had to wear her mask. What a good day.
We also visited the Mississippi replica
and stood on the banks of the Mississippi River....in the rain.
Before leaving we got to have some good southern barbecue with Kerie and Jared. MMMM Good!

We had a great trip but were glad to come home by way of Las Vegas. We were not excited to spend 12 hours in the airport to get home but we were glad to make it home safely.

3 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Well folks here it is, FINALLY! It is only a full month late yikes.

angelicindy said...

what a trip! I love traveling. Well, not the traveling part of traveling, but I love the chance to go someplace new and do some exploring. I think that aquarium sounded like so much fun! Oh, and I have a cousin in St. Judes! They finished radiation and they're doing chemo right now. It's a pretty fancy hospital. They harvest her stem cell before a round of chemo and then put them back in after. Crazy! Thanks for sharing!

Mindy H. said...

What a fun trip! I'm glad that you got to go and spend time with your family...and I am very glad that you did not decided to stay forever to play fiddle at the G.O.O. Nashville has enough fiddle players, but here in Burley you are very much needed and appreciated.