Walking in Memphis

I headed to Memphis last weekend to visit my best friend from high school, Catherine, and her family. They just recently moved there from Raleigh and I was anxious to go see them in their new surroundings!


I've been to Memphis once before (maybe another time when I was really little but I don't remember) but only for the day but it goes down as one of my most fun trips in my career!! This is another instance where it's a sad, sad thing that I didn't blog back then because it would have been quite the post!! It was a trip to Graceland with POTUS 43 and Laura, and the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. PM Koizumi was a HUGE Elvis fan and so Dubya decided to take him to Graceland on one of his visits to the US. I have never really had "Go to Graceland" on any bucket list but I got to go and cross it off in royal fashion. I was with them and Lisa Marie and Priscilla were there too. Our workspace was in the Elvis Car Museum which was sooo fun to be working right next to his cars! We got to go on the tour for free which was a good thing because I can't really imagine spending that much money to see his house. But it was fun nonetheless and at the end of the day PM Koizumi gave us all gold Elvis sunglasses!!

So since that visit to Graceland can't really be outdone or repeated, I decided I didn't need to go to Graceland with Catherine and her family. This weekend was about one thing- hanging out with them!! And that's what we did! I loved seeing their new house and just playing with the girls who are 4 and 1. The weather was a bit nasty 95% of the time I was there so it just forced us to stay inside and play and read books! I loved it!!! On Monday, we did go to the Memphis Zoo which was fun!! I had no idea we were talking about such a major zoo! There are one of four zoos in America that have pandas and they were actually out and about eating and playing while we were there!! We had a wonderful time walking around and looking at all the animals and the sun even came out in the afternoon!

We also met up with another friend of mine from high school, Shannon, and her boyfriend. Catherine and Shannon didn't know each other but it turns out that Shannon works at the same company as Jason (Catherine's husband) and we had a great time hanging out!! Maybe the four of them will hang out again in the future! We had some good barbecue but we missed going to Beals Street. I'm more than okay with that. It's not really my thing and I have to leave something to do the next time I'm in town!!

The trip was so fun and just a reminder of how blessed I am! Catherine and I have been friends since high school and I'm so blessed that we have been able to stay in touch and despite living far away and being in different life stages. I am so thankful for her and so many other friends that are in my life! Even if Lisa Marie and Priscilla had personally invited me over to Graceland, I would have still given Catherine and her family priority!! :)

P.S. I did get to see the King while I was in town. I had to meet Jason so he could take me to the airport and the best place to do that was in a parking lot of an Elvis souvenir shop. And within a few seconds of us being there, the King was walking to his Ford Taurus. I think it really was him!! But I wasn't quick enough to think to go get my picture with him!