Quarter and District in Louisiana.

We left Memphis late on Friday and arrived in New Orleans a little after 1am on Saturday. The little babe likes to stretch his legs every 3 hours and Matt wanted a Subway sandwich, so we stopped in Canton, MS for both.  We brought our lemon meringue pie into Subway and after we each had a slice, I shared the rest with the crew working there. Canton is named "the city of light" because most of the buildings are lined with bulbs.  It just so happened that there was an epic lightening storm that night, which we watched for hours during our drive. During our dinner break I took the photos above; the same location one with and one without lightening.

We are staying  at this sweet hotel in the French Quarter (thank you, to our friend Gools for the recommendation) and after sleeping in a bit, we headed out to explore New Orleans. For Matt, this meant a hat store and breakfast to start.

Kevin made the best pancakes!!

The boys joined a band. Such musicality -look at that form.

The French Quarter architecture and performers were highlights on our walk. Half the battle is figuring out where to direct your attention.

It's a jolly holiday with you papa. Hat in hand, this crew is happy.

Enter the Garden District-the burial tradition in New Orleans is fascinating-(sure wish my link was working).

We went by Commander's Palace and picked up a map for the self-guided walking tour. 

We were being watched and check out the beehive in the tree below. The bees were spilling out.

We headed over to Magazine St. for some air conditioning and exploration.

Defend New Orleans had great finds. 

Confetti cake ice cream, need I say more? Yes, we have eaten ice

cream (almost) everyday.

This sweet babe had his first (sticky hot) trolley ride-then off to dinner.

This salad was so delicious I had it as an appetizer and ordered another one for dinner. Crazy? I know! Matt had gumbo for the first time. He loved it.

We ended the evening by walking through Jackson Square to Cafe Du Monde. 1 cafe au lait, 1 coffee and 6 (yes, that many but I had salad for dinner) beignets. A perfect end to the night if you ask me. 

44 Hours In Memphis

I was so grateful we booked an early morning tour of Graceland because it was mid 90's by 945am. The upside of the heat is that we had ice cream for breakfast-thank you Graceland for having restaurants.  Visiting Graceland gave us a glimpse into how Elvis lived his life, far more details and a much greater collection of his belongings than I expected.

Fabric ceiling and walls. How do you vacuum on the ceiling?

His TV room with televisions from the 60's.

We didn't know that Elvis, his mother, father and grandmother are all buried at Graceland. He also had his own logo which appeared on his belongings (letterhead, walls, airplanes)-TCB with a lightening rod-because he was "taking care of business at lightening speed."

After Graceland we went to Lunchbox Eats, which I found at the last minute while driving to a different restaurant. It is an unassuming place with decor and menu items reflecting a schoolhouse theme. The lemonade flavor changes daily and while I am usually not a fan of pecan pie, I am still dreaming of their pecan pie.

Our next stop was a short drive to The National Civil Rights Museum.  I am not sure there is more to say than standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, in front of room 306 is a life changing experience. It is hard to believe that this incredible man had walked the same concrete and placed his hands on the same railing. A tremendously humbling experience.

It was at least 100 degrees and humid so we took a break in the car and let the babe cool down. I captured this handholding moment.

We saw storm clouds approaching, so we quickly made our way to Beale St.

A. Schwab provided shelter and entertainment until the rain letup. A photo booth, candy and trinkets- what more could we ask for?

The glasses again...that's right!

Running from the rain. Then off to deal with a rental car issue that has been ongoing since Monday. Still not resolved, we made our way to a place our friend David recommended (thank you, you were right) as having great lemongrass tofu. We went, we ate and we loved it! Matt liked my tofu more than his chicken and Hayes was content to laugh at us during the meal. The wait staff was super friendly, sharing stories of Memphis and their recent trip to New Orleans.

We ordered too much food and decided to take the rest with us, in the hopes of finding someone on the street who may enjoy it. Mission accomplished and during the quest we found this fire museum.

and the Gibson guitar factory.

Late to bed and early to rise we made another go at fixing our rental car issue.

Fail! So we went back to Memphis for breakfast and a visit to the ducks at The Peabody.

This guy loves to take a selfie-photo bombed by a dog in a frame.

We planned on leaving for New Orleans but I needed to stop at Four Ways restaurant for their lemon meringue pie. I read about it somewhere and cannot remember where. We showed up and it was gone by 2pm-they are open until 7pm. I was delighted when they offered to make me one and yes, they thought I was crazy to wait (2 hours) for a pie.  While we waited we explored more of Memphis. We also solved our rental car issue.  

We are roadtripin' in a T&C and we couldn't be happier!! We feel so grateful to have had these 44 hours in Memphis-Tennessee you are one gracious state.