first stop of course...Beale Street!
What a lively, exciting place. even at 11:50 in the morning the place is bustling. Music is blaring out of the blues cafes, streets are filled with all types of people,...
And the food! Everyone around is eating and drinking "Memphis style". There is definitely a culture to Beale, and you can spot the outsiders from the locals. The area has such energy and history.
After my stomach was full, I headed for a Mississippi riverboat cruise and learned so much about the history of the Mississippi River's impact on the area. One of the largest maritime disasters happened right her on the Mississippi, yet it is not well known. The culture of the river workers was also shared with us and surprisingly, not much has changed over the years. There seems to be a common thread from place to place I stop at: people who work the river love the river. They respect it.
With time to kill before my cruise, I decided to stop into the cotton museum in the Cotton Exchange building. I never realized that this was such a protected, regulated crop! The buying and selling is handled just like the New York Stock Exchange. You cannot even purchase cotton seeds! Cotton plants impact the environment and need to be monitored so the ecosystem where cotton grows does not become impacted by its growth. The museum guide chuckled when I compared growing cotton to the growing of hops back home.
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