As we mentioned in prior posts, we’ve had a recent addition to the family and we’ve learned a lot about how to travel with a baby! We are attempting to visit US states that we haven’t yet been to. So, for spring break we decided to do a bit of a Tennessee/Kentucky road trip, starting in Memphis. We were joined on this trip by Della’s parents Peggy and Wayne.
Packing for a trip with a baby is more arduous than just packing for ourselves and we often end up having a lot more stuff! With this trip, because we weren’t meeting anyone we knew there, we brought a light umbrella stroller, an infant carseat, a hook-on highchair, and a pack n play. It was a short trip, so were able to pack all of our clothes in one large checked bag. It definitely helped having Peggy and Wayne there for carrying all the stuff though.
We followed all our tips for flying and the flight went smoothly! Kiddo slept for only about an hour, but enjoyed looking out the window for the rest of the time. We rented a car (it was cheaper at a location outside the airport so Eric and Wayne took a Lyft over to get it while Della, Peggy, and Kiddo played on the stairs in the airport). We were, it turns out, very lucky to get upgraded to a minivan for free. This ended up making us much more comfortable on all of our drives throughout the trip!
For accommodations, since there were four of us we thought it would be best to book a place through Airbnb. We were able to find a nice two-bedroom house about 10 minutes away from downtown. Having our own kitchen, dining area, and bedrooms separate from the living space were all helpful for making the stay with Kiddo easier.
What We Did
March of the Ducks at the Peabody Hotel – There is a fountain in the lobby of this hotel which features live ducks swimming around. This tradition began in the 1930s and continues to this day. The story goes that, in 1940, a bellman who was a former circus animal trainer named Edward Pembroke taught them to march into the pool and out each day! The ducks live in the penthouse of the hotel and visitors can watch them make the march to and from the elevator at 11 am and 5 pm each day. It was incredibly crowded so we only go small glimpses of the the ducks, but it was still kind of fun! Kiddo is currently duck obsessed, so we think he liked it!
Explore Beale Street – We spent one evening soaking up the sights and sounds of this historic avenue. This is one time where having Kiddo join us did cramp our style a little. We didn’t eat at the restaurants because of the longer wait and didn’t really go inside any other music venues. But the general feel, murals, and statues were still fun.
National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel – We felt lucky that Wayne agreed to stay back at the Airbnb with Kiddo so the rest of us could really enjoy this museum. We found the museum, located at the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., very engrossing with moving exhibits and information about the Civil Rights movement. The exhibitions were in good chronological order so for those of us who weren’t alive during the time period, it gave us a lot of good context and made us feel the emotions of the time. We found the whole experience quite powerful.
Rock N Soul Museum – This museum takes you through the musical history of Memphis. It was done via guided audio tour which was pretty cool because there were many snippets of music to listen to. It was really neat to read a bit of history and then be able to listen to songs by the artists described. There was a tremendous amount of information and music and Kiddo was unfortunately getting pretty fussy so we didn’t get to do as much there as we would have liked. This was when we really wished we had made a better stroller choice (see tip 9.)
Pedestrian Bridge Over the Mississippi River – This bridge is apparently the longest pedestrian bridge in the country at almost a mile long! We didn’t go the whole way though. We took a very pleasant walk out to the approximate middle where there is a line to show that you’re crossing into Arkansas. This was a fun place to straddle the border of two states! Kiddo was just learning to walk with support and enjoyed his time on the bridge. It offers some good views of Memphis as well.
Dinner in Mississippi – We mentioned before that we are trying to capture US states that we haven’t been to. At the pedestrian bridge, we realized that we were only about a 15 minute drive from the border of Mississippi. Given we’d never been and weren’t entirely sure when we might be back, we decided to cross the border for dinner! We found a little place pretty close to the state line called Crawfish Haven where we shared jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, gumbo, and shrimp and grits. Then we headed back to Memphis after the sun went down!
Where We Ate
Rendezvous BBQ – This is a Memphis tradition. It is the birthplace of an entire style of BBQ: Memphis-style dry rubbed ribs. However, we ultimately weren’t too impressed. It was quite crowded and we had to wait for a table. This might not have been too bad because there’s a bar area upstairs with tables where you can drink while you wait, though Kiddo wasn’t really having it. We also found the food only OK. We actually found the brisket to be the most interesting!
Central BBQ – We actually picked up some BBQ to go from here and ate it back at our AirBnB. We enjoyed everything we got here!
Traveling with Kiddo (lessons learned)
Kiddo was about 13 months old and about a week away from walking! His biggest challenge at the beginning of this trip was sleep. For some reason, he went crazy the first several times we put him in the pack n play. If we were doing it again, we probably would have had him sleep in the pack n play several times in the days/nights leading up to the trip so he was more familiar with it.
Bringing our hook-on high chair was great for several meals, both out at restaurants and in the Airbnb!
Globe Gazers 