Bring in the Elvis Blues

This was a trip for the history books. We had a vacation booked for Australia during the holidays but I was almost 6 months pregnant and did not feel up to make the trip. I have experienced anxiety during flights and such a long trip while pregnant was not on the cards for us.

To make it up and enjoy a vacation still we decided to go a bit south and escape the winter weather with a 10 day excursion: Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham and New Orleans.

Nashville
On December 27, 2017 we dashed off to Nashville and the fun began at the airport when Husband pulled a back musle handling a suitcase. The flight was not a good experience for him and driving the rental car to the hotel did not help. I booked him with a massage therapist the following day but they gently sent him away saying they will not touch the bump that grew on his back. Luckily we found a physiotherapist, a NZ company as fate would make it, and with some exercises he slowly started coming back to some mobility.

During the following days Husband was feeling well enough to go to a football game and walk around the tourist area of the city where honkin’ tonkin’ happens. The game brought in a lot of people and I can see there is a lot of tradition and passion that goes into these events. I was a bit scared at the aggresive Christian preaching while waiting to enter the game with photos of abortions and quotes from the Bible with ideas againts gay people. Considering I was six months pregnant I was probably even more sensitized to how aggresive the messaging was. The game is a mystery to me so it was a good place to have a nap, and hide my Buffalo Bills hoodie. A gift from Husband which is perfect now as it is big enough to carry the son even at 11 months and ideal to grow with the pregnacy belly but it does bring me more attention than any other piece of clothing I own.

See
Even with the backpain we squeezed some hotspots in: the Parthenon, the University grounds, the Frist Art Museum beautiful art-deco building where we caught a WWI Exhibition, the posters for drafting young men stood out.

Shopping
There are many lovely shops around Hilsboro Village, the Hatch Show Print is a great source to see if any prints fancy to come home with you, Manuel is an impressive store if you want to see what celebreties wear on stage and Grimey’s New & Preloved Music is well worth a visit.

Food
We had a traditional diner meal at Elliston Place Soda Shop, a sandwich at Rotier’s Restaurant and a delicious BBQ dinner at a place I do not recall.

We stayed an extra day in Nashville to bring Chris to better health so we cancelled our stop in Birmingham. But we mananged to make it to Memphis.

Nashville.

Nashville.

Nashville.

Memphis
On December 31st we made it to Memphis after a few hours drive. We kept trying to motivate ourselves to go downtown and ring the new year in but we didn’t make it. I usually need an extra push but it was unusual for Chris to be on the sluggish side. He said he was coming down with something. Boy did he ever … It was stupidly cold when we arrived too. The poor staff working in the hotel were wearing their winter jackets inside so I was not in a major rush to celebrate in the streets.

On 1st of January Husband perked up enough to go visit Graceland. There are certain things that trigger childhood memories and this experience was one of them. Elvis, Alain Delon and many others were figures that seemed so out of this world that it felt a bit surreal to walk around his garden. By today’s celebrity standards the house was small but I love that he seemed to have fun with it. There is a huge complex next to the house where you can go see many exhibitions of his clothes, cars and other memorabilia. I kept watching documentaries about him after and it is strange to see all of that now as an adult. I never knew he didn’t write any music but yet he put his stamp on so many songs. Memphis breathes music and I would like to go back in spite of the place making me realize like no other how much privilege my skin colour brings.

Graceland, Memphis.

Graceland, Memphis.

By evening when we arrived home the husband was so sick and shivering that we booked a flight back home next day. The prospect of staying in a emergency room with me pregnant and no local health insurance brought us home.

So this sums up our last vacation together before the Son arrived. For the rest of the week Chris made it to the doctor started antibiotics immediately and slowly came back to a bit of health.

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