Mother's Day in Memphis

Mother's Day morning we took off for a tour of the "Home of the Blues." Our first stop was Mud Island Park located right in the Mississippi River. It's the first time either of us has set eyes on Ol' Man River. The park is known for it's five block long scale model of the River. It's outside on a river walk and really neat. You can walk along the edges or cross back and forth at will. Kids take off their shoes and play in it. ( water runs through it) We were there by 10:30 or so and initially had it to ourselves. After touring the river, we went inside to the Museum, which was very nice but seemed to go on forever. I was desparate for an exit when we left.
We walked up into town looking for a place for a late lunch. In the section we were in, few places were open. As we headed back to The Blue Plate, we noticed an odd bus painted black with knives painted all over it. It was parked in the "valet only" area in front of a hotel. When we went down to check it out, we saw the entrance to the 83 Grill, and decided to give it a try. What a find. Turns out it's the restaurant and bar for The Madison Hotel, described by the bar tender as the only true boutique hotel in Memphis and the place be. We sat down at the bar looking over the street and bus and ordered a great salad, an order of the best calamari dish we've ever had, and a Madison Club sandwich. It was all out of this world. We finished up with a pecan tart topped with a dolop of whipped cream and a thin leaf of dark chocolate, and espressso. During this time the bartender got us up to date on all the celebs who frequent the place and came out on the sidewalk to take photos of us in front of the bus. The bus is for the band Tool, who is one of Grant's favorites. They were staying while they work on a new recording. When we finally finished, the staff insisted we take the elevator to the top observation deck of the hotel which looks over the river and city. A couple women who were up there struck up a conversation with us and took our pix, which we hope to post shortly. Some view.
From there we took the trolley down to Beale Street, where the Blues were invented. Every bar and honky tonk had a live band playing, and we stopped at a public plaza where we watched a guy called Canaan Gage perform. His roady says no white man since Stevie Ray Vaughn has done the blues like that. He was great and I bought a cd which he autographed for me.
We finished up stopping at the Blue City Cafe where a three piece group did Elvis, Ray Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and mostly Johnny Cash. All five started at Sun Records in the '50's. It was great. All in all, it was a terrific Mom's day, and Memphis made a very posative impression on us.