Review A Memphis Vacation

The birthplace of the blues and a hotbed for jazz and rock and roll, the city is known for popular attractions like Graceland (one of the two most-visited homes in the country, second only to the White House), Beale Street (where the father of the blues, W.C. Handy, wrote the seminal song “Memphis Blues”), and Sun Studios (where Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded some of the earliest examples of rock and roll).

But non-musical opportunities abound as well, including the Mississippi River Museum and the National Civil Rights Museum.  See WWII's famed Memphis Belle or head to the elegant Peabody Hotel, known for the ducks that make a dramatic daily entrance to their marble pond in the lobby.  The Pyramid, a modern sports and entertainment arena, is a prime example of this city’s quirky mix of the historic and the contemporary.  Its 32-story, steel façade shows an eye for the future, but its Egyptian-inspired architecture shows that the city’s sense of history has not left the building.

The King may be dead, but his spirit lingers throughout Memphis.  Elvis Presley absorbed the classic sounds of R&B along Beale Street as a teen and launched his music career in 1954 with the city's Sun Records.  Presley died in 1977 at his 14-acre estate, Graceland.  It ranks behind only the White House as the most visited home in the U.S.

Elvis may have brought the world rock-and-roll, but people have been singing the blues along historic Beale Street for almost a century.  Blues - derived from spirituals, the field songs of slaves and old African music -- has thrived in this once-segregated neighborhood since local bandleader W.C. Handy penned the first blues song.

The Hunt-Phelan Home ranks among the city's oldest and most historic homes and tells the story of the South from the days before the Civil War through Reconstruction.  This antebellum home was built by slaves, was the headquarters for General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union army, and served as a school where newly freed slaves were educated.

Shopping for that hard-to-buy-for person?  Try A. Schwab.  This dry goods store on Beale Street opened in 1876 and is a one-of-a-kind place to shop.  Buy voodoo potions and spell removers, white cotton petticoats, straw hats, oversized overalls or 3-D pictures of Jesus.

This is nothing to quack about. Memphis' Peabody is a world-class hotel on the order of New York's Plaza, but with one little quirk.  Every day since the 1930s, a group of ducks has been escorted from their luxury penthouse, down a red carpet, to the lobby's marble fountain at 11am, then whisked back to their room promptly at 5pm.

The Memphis skyline stands out against the Mississippi River with a stunning pyramid tribute to the city's Egyptian namesake.  The Pyramid, a 32-story stainless steel sports and entertainment center, is taller than the Statue of Liberty or the Taj Mahal and seats 22,500 people.

A piece of World War II nostalgia.  Temporarily housed in Hangar N7 at Millington Airport, World War II's most famous airplane, the Memphis Belle, is being refurbished and will have a place of it's own in 2005.  The B-17 bomber was the first to complete 25 missions against Nazi targets without a casualty.  The plane was named for its pilot's wartime Memphis sweetheart and has been restored to its former splendor.