Day 12 Summer 2011 Road Trip

Today we are leaving Memphis Tennessee and heading to Huntsville Alabama.  We leave the State of Tennessee and cross into Mississippi.



There are some interesting vines growing up the hydro poles.  How do the vines know not to grow onto the hydro wires ?

 

The roads through Mississippi are nice and smooth.

 

We stopped at the US Space and Rocket Center.  This is the home of Space Camp for children, but we will check out the exhibits and an IMAX movie.

From the highway we can see the Saturn V Rocket.  This is mock up of the rocket that was used in the Apollo Moon Missions.

 

 

The IMAX film was about the discovery of flight, but basically it was a glorified commercial about the design and construction of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Kids would love this place, there are hundreds of hands on things to see and do that would keep a kid entertained all day long.  Not such a thrill for adults.  The rocket and space ship displays are all outside.

  

Pete and I did go on the G Force Accelerator, which simulates the sensation of 3 G’s of force against your body.

  

We also wanted to go on the “Space Shot” which simulates the force of take off and a brief moment of weightlessness, however the ride was broken.

 

From here we headed to our hotel in Huntsville Alabama… A very nice Best Western.

  

We went to a great restaurant “Logan’s Roadhouse” for dinner and had a steak dinner.  This is a chain of restaurants and we enjoyed our meal so much, I am sure we will be looking for them as we travel.

To see all of the photos that we took today, just click on the link to our FLICKR site.

Day 09 Summer 2011 Road Trip

We are awake early and out of the hotel heading North and West towards our destination of Memphis Tennessee.  This US 78 through Alabama is a lovely smooth stretch of highway… speed limit is 70 so we are making good time.

  

Before long, we were driving through another torrential downpour, like the others, it lasted about 5 minutes.

  

Drove through Birmingham Alabama, here are some shots of the skyline.

  

Welcome to Mississippi, and another State that we have never visited… so it is time to add to our “Visited States Map.”



Nice roads in this part of Mississippi also.

  

We stopped at the Mississippi Welcome Center.  I did not know that Elvis was born in Mississippi, but I learnt that fact while looking at the Elvis displays in the Visitor Center.

  

 

At 4pm we are now driving on Elvis Presley Boulevard heading to our hotel.  When we pulled into the parking lot we saw our friends Peter and Janette outside the lobby, so we parked the car and got checked in. Brought our luggage up to the room.

Everything about this hotel is “Elvis”, from the Elvis memorabilia in the lobby….



To the Elvis pictures in our room…



To the guitar shaped swimming pool…



We decided on a restaurant to eat at and they sent a pink limousine to pick us up and take us for dinner.  Here is our free transportation for the evening.

 

Marlowe’s Ribs and Restaurant.

  

Great food and great company, with our friends Peter and Janette.



After a wonderful dinner and dessert, the limo took us back to our hotel.  We decided we should go for a short walk and so we walked approximately 2 blocks from our hotel to the Gates of Graceland.  At this hour everything is closed and locked up.  We will come back tomorrow and do the official tour.

  

As dusk was settling around us, I stuck my camera above the stone fence at Graceland and snapped this photo towards the house.



To see all of the photos that we took today, please click on the link to our FLICKR site.