A Record of a Lifetime of Wanderlust
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, Tennessee The National Civil Rights Museum has a way of making people feel uncomfortable. One exhibit shows a cutaway of a slave ship, and you see just how little room the captured Africans had on their voyage across the Atlantic. Slavery was the human component of the Triangle of Trade. …
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis shares its name with a much older but also famous river city. To develop a closer bond with its historic Egyptian namesake, the Great American Pyramid was constructed in 1991. Initially, the Pyramid was a basketball arena, but since 2015, the Pyramid has become home to a Bass Pro Shop and the…
Memphis, Tennessee Being from North Carolina, it is sometimes difficult to acknowledge that other forms of barbecue deserve praise. One style is a strong contender for North Carolina’s title belt, and that is Memphis-style. Memphis-style barbecue relies heavily on the dry rub, a mixture of salt and various spices applied to the meat before it…
Memphis, Tennessee Sometimes, the best things in life can happen as a result of misfortune. When misfortune meets other misfortune, history can be created. Ike Turner was a talented musician from Clarksdale, Mississippi, and had managed to form a band called the Kings of Rhythm. Ike Turner’s friend and fellow performer B.B. King suggested that…
Memphis, Tennessee In a time before paparazzi and before the explosion of fame, four young singers, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash, ended up at Sun Records Recording Studio on December 4, 1956. This moment is forever captured in one of the most famous photographs in Rock and Roll history, and thanks…
Memphis, Tennessee When traveling, it is always a good idea to eat like the locals. Uncle Lou’s in Memphis is a local place that has become one of my all-time favorites. I actively seek out Uncle Lou’s whenever I am in Memphis. Uncle Lou’s doesn’t look like much from the outside. The restaurant is in…
Memphis, Tennessee The Peabody is arguably one of the best hotels in the southern United States, but it offers a unique ceremony twice a day, where the hotel turns its lobby over to the ducks. The winged waterfowl has a place of honor at the Peabody. Initially, ducks showed up in the hotel fountain in…
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Home to the busiest locking canal system in the world, over 10,000 vessels annually pass through the Sault Ste. Marie Locks. The locks that connect Lake Superior and Lake Huron generate billions of dollars in economic impact for the United States and Canada each year. The commercial locks are all located…
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Sometimes, when traveling, you stumble into a great travel find. Because of increased security at the Sault Ste. Marie locks, visitors have to park a fair distance from the entrance. I dropped Adrienne and the boys off at the entrance and drove around to find parking on Portage Street in downtown…
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario When the Sault Ste. Marie Canal was completed, which allowed boats to go from Lake Superior to the Atlantic entirely through Canadian waters. At the time, the Mackenzie Lock was the longest lock in the world and the first to use electricity. The lock was built to account for the 21-foot…