Mississippi & Memphis TN

We spent our first night in Mississippi at a hotel in Canton. The next day we continued on to Jellystone Resort, right on the border of Mississippi and Tennessee. We used this as our base for five days while we explored Memphis. The kids played at the playground for 3 hours when we first arrived! I used the time to clean and organize the camper and truck. While I cooked dinner Ryan paused his math for a dance break on the table :) 

Jellystone had tons to do: pool, jumpy pillow, playground. bikes. There was even a fish pond where Ryan liked to put his fingers in and let dozens of fish nibble on him! 

Having a home base for several days leads to lots of good cooking.

Ruby sought refuge from the rain. In the middle of the night our structure ended up blowing into the neighbors RV and I had to take it apart in the dark rain.

Our second day in Memphis we went to the zoo. I am putting those pictures into a separate post since there are so many of them. We all really love zoos! 

Thursday it was supposed to rain on and off throughout the day, so we booked a bus tour with Backbeat Tours. We saw mansion row and learned about the rise and fall of several families. We got to go to the Peabody Hotel to see the morning march of the ducks. The ducks have a penthouse on the roof. Every day at 11am the Duck Master leads them down in the elevator  and they march into a fountain where they swim all day. At 5pm the procession is done in reverse. 

The kids are sitting on the floor just in front of the elevator. 

We also went to the Lorraine Motel and the National Civil Rights Museum.

This is the hotel balcony where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. 

This is the building where the shooter was hiding in a bathroom. The granite path on the road marks the bullet's trajectory. 

Our tour ended with a self guided audio tour at the Rock n Soul museum. The kids where more into it than I expected.

After our tour we went back to Mississippi to walk Ruby. Then we caught another Uber and went to the Bass Pro Shop!! EVERYONE we talked to in Memphis told us that we HAD to go here. It is in a pyramid shaped building that used to be an arena. (It's a pyramid because Memphis is named after Memphis, Egypt) 

It even has an underwater themed bowling alley! 

Family game night as we hid from the rain :) 

Driving out of Tennessee and into Missouri we were able to see some of the tornado damage from Sunday's storms. It struck me as odd that all of the gas pumps were at the exact same off kilter angle (and that they were still usable.)

Found a really small random bbq shack in Missouri with good food! Smokin Double Barrels BBQ  in Perryville, MO.