Walking to Arkansas

 Memphis, TN

I'm in Arkansas and Donna and Francis are in Tennessee!

Big River Crossing

Today we took advantage of the weather (it got up to 61 degrees and not much wind) to walk the Big River Crossing.  This is the longest footbridge crossing the Mississippi River.  It's exactly what you would expect but somehow cooler.  It opened in 2016 so it is fairly new as far as bridges are concerned. It's attached to an older rail bridge that keeps its character and patina so the juxtaposition of the footbridge and the rail bridge is pretty cool.  

We parked in Martyr Park and walked to the bridge.

The state line is down the middle of The Mississippi River unless the river shifts

They are doing a pretty good job of keeping locks off the bridge.  There are currently a few.

We watched a riverboat ride with the current under the bridge and then turn around.  It was going to have to work much harder to return up the river.  More info here about the Riverboat Cruises.

@BigRiverX #BigRiverCrossing

The Big River Crossing was a great activity for a nice day.  I am looking forward to more river crossings in the coming months.  I know there are at least a couple walking bridges coming up.  If you missed the previous post you can find it here.

Train Spotting, a Museum, and 2 Breweries

 Memphis, TN

We got held up by a train on our walk so Donna put me in a video.

The Moose Out Front Should Have Told You

Today we decided to go to the Art Museum at The University of Memphis.  It's a free museum attached to the university and we have been to a few like this so our expectations where tempered.  We drove the couple of miles to the University and looked for parking.  It wasn't clear where to park so we drove around looking.  We found a garage but it was too short for the van.  The 2nd garage we found that was actually closer to the museum was tall enough so we parked.

We walked in the direction Google Maps was telling us to walk and it didn't seem correct so we walked into the arts building to take a look.  We found a tiny museum featuring student art from the surrounding area.  We checked out the art there and then continued our search for the actual museum.  Donna took her shot at using Google Maps and got us closer to the entrance of the actual museum.  At that point we found a sign that sort of showed where to go.  It was much harder to find than it should have been.  The search for the museum including finding parking took about 30 minutes longer than it should have but we were there finally!  We entered only to find out that the museum was closed for a new installation (insert sad trombone sound here).  Oh well, at least we only needed to pay for an hour of parking.  In case you are thinking that we should have checked the website, we did.  There was no mention of a closure there.

Is this the Museum entrance?  Apparently so.

Ah yes!  The sign hidden behind the bushes at the entrance told us we were on the right track (after we already found the entrance).

Sad Trombone!

Salvaging A Day Out

After our shortest museum visit ever, we decided to head home and eat lunch.  After lunch we took a Lyft to the Binghampton Neighborhood to visit 2 breweries.  Our first stop was Hampline Brewing.  They are named after the bike / walking Hampline trail that cuts through the area.  The beers were great, the beertenders were super nice and the locals were talkative.  We got some great info about all of the fun things to do in the area from locals.  

Our 2nd brewery was about a quarter mile away so we walked to Wiseacre Brewing.  It is one of the larger breweries in Memphis.  The beers were solid, the space was cool, and we got to talk to another local.  He made the mistake of saying we looked like world travelers and I was feeling talkative so I went into WAY TOO MUCH DETAILS about our travels.  He was very nice and was interested in our adventures to a point.  After that point "he had to run". 

The logo for Hampline is really cool

They modify the bear on a bike for the different beer labels.

You can have a beer in the shade of 2 silos, pretty cool!

Wiseacre also has cool T-Shirts

New breweries are always fun and it is a bonus when the beers and spaces are as good as both of these places were.  That's it for today.  If you missed my last post you can find it here.  We had fried fish and wine at a Catholic Church and then saw a local jazz band.

Lenten Fish Fry & Live Music

 Memphis, TN

Memphis' Lucky 7 Brass Band

Friday Night Fish Fry

Today, well tonight, we went to a Friday Night Lenten Fish Fry at a local church.  We walked to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for their Lenten Friday Night Fish Fry fundraiser.  It was a fun way to have dinner and meet new people.  It was another fun event that Donna found in the Memphian, the local newspaper we are subscribing to while here.

I thought they were going to be frying fish but the sign shows the fish are doing the frying for us.

Turns out it was what I originally thought, the fish was being fried and not doing the frying.

The fish fry was a lot of fun.  We met a few people and talked about Memphis as well as our travels and even got a few tips for what we should see when we visit Nashville.  

Lafayette's

After the fish fry we grabbed a Lyft to Lafayette's for some live music.  Lafayette's was a very popular venue in the 70s (we were told at the fish fry).  They have reopened and are trying to regain their popularity.  They offer live music daily with up to 3 shows a day on the weekends.  We arrived and paid our $5 cover and found a place at the bar.  You can either get a table and get dinner or you can stand.  We had already eaten so we chose to stand.  

We were only at Lafayette's for about a half and hour.  It just wasn't the scene we were looking for.  The standing space felt awkward, you couldn't really see the stage from where we were, and the style of jazz that was being played wasn't our jam. There were plenty of people there enjoying the show and the service so it wasn't bad, it just wasn't for us.  We finished our beer and walked home. We discussed the issues we had with the venue on the walk home and were glad that we went because it helps us appreciate the venues that really work for us.

That's it for today.  If you missed my previous post you can find it here.  We went to a museum and saw great art.

Art at the Brooks

 Memphis, TN

Cool seats at the Brooks Museum of Art

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

Today Donna and I used our NARM pass to visit The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.  It's a nice museum with a diverse collection of art.  Part of it was closed for an exhibit opening that opens tomorrow so we might head back to see that too.  Despite being there before the exhibit opening, there was still plenty to see.

Winter was missing for some reason

The lobby was being prepped for the exhibit opening tomorrow.  The artist will be speaking at the opening.

May I drink a beer out of this?

"I give you all of the cares!"

"Reading by the Brook" - Winslow Homer

It isn't the smile of the Mona Lisa but it is very familiar....

Ah yes!  That's it!

We loved this one.  It looked like our dog Tom playing with a friends dog Pesto when they first met.

A very nice Frank Lloyd Wright chair.

"Still Life No 1 with Flowers" - Florine Stettheimer

"Waterfall #1, Lao Valley, Maui" - Georgia O'Keeffe commissioned by Dole (of Dole Pineapples) 

"Engineer's Dream" - Thomas Hart Benton  I really loved this one.  Thomas Hart Benton is great and this is a great work IMHO.

"The Gleaners" - Burton Callicott  I really loved this tone too

"The Family" - Marisol

"Little Junk Shop" - Grace Hartigan  I also really like this one.

"Memphis On My Mind" - Red Grooms

"Untitled" - Chakaia Booker

"Pollock #3" - Robert Arneson

"Mandara" - Lino Tagliapietra

"Shag" - Hank Murta Adams

"Vase" - Wilhelm Kralik Sohn and "Jack-in-the-Pulpit Vase" - Tiffany & Co.

"Without the Vision of Woman Artists and Artists of Color, You're Seeing Less than Half the Picture" - Guerilla Girls

"Sunday at the Marshes" - Carroll Cloar

"Where the Southern Cross the Yellow Dog" - Carroll Cloar

"Halloween" - Carroll Cloar (the figures in the background do represent Ku Kluxers per the artist)

"Avenue of Trees" - Carroll Cloar

The museum is hoping to expand.  They have concepts for a really cool space right on the Mississippi

"Memphis on the Missippi" - Carl Moore

" Bookshelf and Sunbeams" - Burton Callicott

"Home and Hearth" - Willie Cole

The museum featured a cool interactive area for kids (and me).  I wish more museums did things like this.

The doors on this painting opened up and triggered sounds and you could fined things inside the cabinets.

This exhibit featured a screen on the ceiling and buttons you could push to change the art and music.

I do love dress up!  Hopefully I didn't get lice.

The Brooks was a great museum worth a visit.  If you missed my previous post you can find it here. We rode the trolley and explored downtown a bit.