Spring Break 2015, Day One: Memphis
As I sit in our hotel room after the first two days of our week-long road trip with four kids, I will say that we are enjoying ourselves and memories are being made, but will also admit that I am tired. Traveling as a family of six is a lot different than traveling as a couple.
A lot different.
There have been some really great moments, but there have been challenges too. I will be sharing mostly only the great moments, but in the interest of keeping it real, please know that it has not all been smooth. Spending hours in the car is not something that we are collectively very good at and it doesn't bring out the best in us. Being short on sleep is not our strong suit either. Sunday was a combination of both of those. Today was mostly much better, though today we determined that seven daylight hours in the car is our limit. By the time we arrived at our hotel this evening, we were done.
Back to day one, though.... after a very early start of things, the first stop of our trip was Memphis, Tennessee. After a full morning of driving, we arrived in Memphis around noon. We stopped at Graceland first. We had researched ahead of time and determined that the admission prices were more than a little steep for a family of six, especially considering that there is not an Elvis fan among us. We had fun peeking over the wall and getting a picture of Grace at Graceland, but were more than happy to move on after about twenty minutes there.
Our next stop was Beale Street. We enjoyed people watching, souvenir shopping, and eating lunch at Blues City Cafe. As we were walking back to our hotel, we stopped a couple of times along the way to listen to live music in the pretty 86 degree weather. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
After five hours in the car and a couple of hours on Beale Street, we were a little worn out. We headed to our hotel, The Peabody, and checked in. After a stop on the rooftop to see the amazing view, we changed into suits to swim for a while. Although the kids could have swam for hours, we had to cut our pool time short to get to our room and change to see the ducks parading out of the lobby at 5:00.
The Peabody Duck parade was a little bit of a let down. We were all looking forward to it, but it ended and we felt like, "Oh. Is that it? Hmmm." We can all cross that particular experience off our our bucket lists. Never again do I have to see the Peabody Ducks. This hotel, on the other hand.... wow. I could stay here again and again. It's a beautiful place.
We ended our day with a visit to a walking trail nearby that ran alongside the water. We intended to go for a long walk to enjoy the beautiful weather, but the 5:00 AM start to our day began to catch up with us. At one point, Katie placed her hands on her eyes and wailed, "I CAN'T PUSH THEM OPEN ANY MORE!" We made a fast stop at Target for a couple of trip essentials we had forgotten and then returned to the room for pajamas and bedtime books. Luke, Drew, and Kate fell quickly asleep and Ben and I stayed up for a while talking with Gracie and ordering a pizza to the room for dinner. (The youngest three were happy to snack on trail mix and call it a night.)
A lot different.
There have been some really great moments, but there have been challenges too. I will be sharing mostly only the great moments, but in the interest of keeping it real, please know that it has not all been smooth. Spending hours in the car is not something that we are collectively very good at and it doesn't bring out the best in us. Being short on sleep is not our strong suit either. Sunday was a combination of both of those. Today was mostly much better, though today we determined that seven daylight hours in the car is our limit. By the time we arrived at our hotel this evening, we were done.
Back to day one, though.... after a very early start of things, the first stop of our trip was Memphis, Tennessee. After a full morning of driving, we arrived in Memphis around noon. We stopped at Graceland first. We had researched ahead of time and determined that the admission prices were more than a little steep for a family of six, especially considering that there is not an Elvis fan among us. We had fun peeking over the wall and getting a picture of Grace at Graceland, but were more than happy to move on after about twenty minutes there.
Our next stop was Beale Street. We enjoyed people watching, souvenir shopping, and eating lunch at Blues City Cafe. As we were walking back to our hotel, we stopped a couple of times along the way to listen to live music in the pretty 86 degree weather. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
After five hours in the car and a couple of hours on Beale Street, we were a little worn out. We headed to our hotel, The Peabody, and checked in. After a stop on the rooftop to see the amazing view, we changed into suits to swim for a while. Although the kids could have swam for hours, we had to cut our pool time short to get to our room and change to see the ducks parading out of the lobby at 5:00.
The Peabody Duck parade was a little bit of a let down. We were all looking forward to it, but it ended and we felt like, "Oh. Is that it? Hmmm." We can all cross that particular experience off our our bucket lists. Never again do I have to see the Peabody Ducks. This hotel, on the other hand.... wow. I could stay here again and again. It's a beautiful place.
We ended our day with a visit to a walking trail nearby that ran alongside the water. We intended to go for a long walk to enjoy the beautiful weather, but the 5:00 AM start to our day began to catch up with us. At one point, Katie placed her hands on her eyes and wailed, "I CAN'T PUSH THEM OPEN ANY MORE!" We made a fast stop at Target for a couple of trip essentials we had forgotten and then returned to the room for pajamas and bedtime books. Luke, Drew, and Kate fell quickly asleep and Ben and I stayed up for a while talking with Gracie and ordering a pizza to the room for dinner. (The youngest three were happy to snack on trail mix and call it a night.)
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