Walking in Memphis...and BYU vs. Ole Miss

We had a whirlwind of a weekend...and although we spent almost more time in the car than out of the car, we had a fabulous time with friends and visiting new states. Dave and Rashelle were making the trek from DC to the BYU vs. Ole Miss game. Lexington was a good halfway point for them to stop and stay with us, and we were excited to spend that time with them while they were here, and then decided that we both had a relatively easy week ahead and could afford a weekend away :)

My family always gets excited when we get to go to "new states" and this weekend I got to put 2 "new states" down on my list...Mississippi and Arkansas. This summer has been full of new states for me :) We left early Saturday morning and made the drive down to Oxford, MS (home of Ole Miss).
We stopped for a picture by the sign, and were surrounded by cotton fields, so Patience picked a piece of cotton. It was pretty cool, just like a giant cotton ball on a stick :)
Once there, we attended the BYU tailgate for a little while and then headed over to the game. It was pretty remarkable how many BYU fans there were so far from home. We lucked out with the weather also...it was forcasted to be 96 degrees and sunny (and humid), which I was dreading...but it ended up overcast and high 80s, definitely tolerable!
We were lucky to get awesome seats, just 12 rows up in the visiting section with BYU fans all around. The first half of the game was actually a bit boring, half ended with Ole Miss up 3-0, both teams playing decent, but obviously not much action.
The game got a bit "scary" in the 3rd quarter as we were down 13-0, but we brought it back full force in the 4th for the win, 14-13... we were very happy to get to walk out of there victorious, which also made for better moods by all for the ride home :)
This was our weekend group...yes, all 7 of traveled together and had some good bonding in the car for 16 hours. I cannot believe that everyone (besides us) also drove the 8 hours each way between DC and Lexington (you guys are hard core!).
After the game, we walked around "The Grove" with the Frosts. This is where everyone tailgates, and it really was quite the sight! This was some serious tailgating with tents adorned with chandeliers, tables with tablecloths and centerpieces, tons of food, and at least 1 TV per tent. Then, we drove an hour north to Memphis and grabbed some delicious BBQ before retiring at our hotel for the night.

Memphis-style dry rub ribs and a pulled pork sandwich, yum!

We shared a room with Dave and Rashelle at the Hyatt (thank you guys for taking us in :) and all crashed pretty quick upon returning to the room...it was a long day! In the morning we enjoyed our continental breakfast and packed up to see the sites and travel home. Grant and Jacob had some good bonding time watching cars while we all packed up :)
We spent the morning in Memphis, checked out Beale St., ate some more good southern food at Blues City Cafe, and drove across the bridge to touch foot in Arkansas. I might not normally count this short encounter in a state as a "new state", but I don't foresee myself going back to Arkansas for much of anything, so in my book, at least for now, it counts :)

"Walking in Memphis, walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale, walking in Memphis, but do I really feel the way I feel..."

The rain put a bit of a damper on the sight seeing, so we headed north to start our drive home. We decided to take another quick stop in Nashville to stretch our legs, get some food and enjoy another city that was new to everyone else.

We walked around the Parthenon...

Then went to the Opryland Hotel and walked around looking at all the beautiful gardens, water features, etc. We finished off our time with breakfast for dinner at Cracker Barrel and got back to Lexington a little after midnight.
Like I said...it was quite the trip, lots of driving, lots of fun, and so happy to get to spend some time with some awesome people :)