Memphis

This post comes with a soundtrack. Please click here to listen to my YouTube playlist while you read the rest.

We took The City of New Orleans, an overnight train, to Memphis, Tennessee for spring break. It was awesome. Here's the proof.

Our train was to depart at 8PM, so we got to Union Station early for dinner and to give Lily a chance to run around and burn some energy before getting on the train. Here she is peering off a balcony at daddy, who took the picture. 

We had reserved a roomette on the train. Basically it's a private little space with two seats that fold down into a bed with another bed that folds down from above. Here we are all smashed into one seat for our first attempt at a cheesy hold your arm out picture of the trip. The train was awesome. We had a big window, all your meals are included (surprisingly they served dinner to us around 9:30 in the dining car), and it's more comfortable than a plane. Lily and I snuggled into the lower bunk while Joe climbed into the upper. Once Lily fell asleep, she slept soundly the whole night. Then we woke up at 6 and got off the train in Memphis. On the way back we got to have breakfast in the dining car and then sat in the lounge car watching the sunrise for a while. This is definitely a cool and efficient way to travel if you have kids that sleep well. The second picture is Lily holding her baby up to the window so she can see the view as well. 

The first day we spent mostly renting a car, getting supplies, and checking into the hotel and then resting. The day after that we visited the Shiloh National Military Park, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle which took place there. This is the battle where John Wesley Powell lost his arm (a general badass, but of particular importance to geology - he was the first to go through the Grand Canyon, with one arm). We took a million pictures, but this one is pretty representative of the whole day. Walking around in pretty woods with Lily trying to pick things up along the way. It was pretty great. 

Sunday Lily and I spent the early afternoon in the Memphis Botanical Garden's My Big Back Yard, their children's garden. It's similar to the Children's Garden at the Morton Arboretum. Lily had a blast. Here she is making some 'soup' outside of one of the cutest play houses I've ever seen. I'm totally making one of these once we have a yard of our own. And just below she's standing in front of a bottle tree and painted gourd chain that I will also be constructing at our own place. 

The next two nights we splurged and stayed at the Peabody Hotel, home of the famous Peabody Ducks. They are these ducks that live on the roof of the hotel, and every day at 11 they ride down an elevator and march into the lobby where they climb up into a fountain to spend the day. Then at 5 they reverse the ceremony and go up to roost for the night. I'm not sure how I feel about the poor little ducks, but Lily LOVED them. Every time we got in the elevator she started to quack because she knew we were going to see the ducks. 

For the first time Lily had fun swimming in the pool. She seriously thought she was a fish and wanted to take off all on her own. She was kicking and paddling like a little baby swimming machine. 

Obligatory cheesy picture of us on Beale Street. Lily was asleep in the stroller so it's just the two of us, like old times. 

We only rented a car for the first few days, so after that we walked and took public transportation, which in Memphis means trollies! They were so fun, and cheap. Lily had a blast riding next to the open air windows and every time one rolled past us she would stop and point and say "Wow!"

The last night in Memphis I took Lily up to the roof to say goodnight to the ducks. They have their own little miniature Peabody Hotel, a nice pond, and lots of space to waddle around. As we were riding up the elevator, a bunch of men got on wearing AutoZone name tags. When we got to the top there was a big sign that said "Closed for a private event." I was crushed. What do you do once you've told a toddler you're going to say goodnight to the ducks for the last time and then you can't do it? Well, a nice man from the elevator said "Go on, no one will mind." So Lily and I snuck onto the roof, where there were a few scant cocktail tables and not a lot of people yet. When we got to the Duck Palace they were all snuggled up and asleep. One hen was near the door and Lily squatted right down next to her and said "Ni-ni" in a quiet little voice. I just about melted into the roof it was so sweet. Then as we walked back towards the elevators she of course started quacking loudly, attracting the attention of all the big burley AutoZone men and they all laughed.  

The view from our window at the Peabody. 

All in all, it was a great trip. And a much needed vacation from studying and cleaning and craziness. I'm going to write a whole separate post about what and where we ate because it was that good. As much fun as we had, we're definitely glad to be back!