Cutting Corners

Memorable Memphis

[d1noli @ Saturday, July 16, 2005]

A couple of weekends ago I made the long trek from Chicago to Memphis to spend time with family. The drive there was a grueling 8+ hours, not withstanding the fact that I also had to leave after work. So, by the time I arrived, it was a little past 1:00 am.

I decided to visit Memphis for a number of reasons: 1) I hadn't seen my family since Thanksgiving of last year; 2) I hadn't seen Memphis for over two years; 3) I wanted to visit friends and old hangouts; 4) The 4th of July weekend allowed me an extra day of visit time without having to use up any of my already too few vacation days; 5) My family had just installed a new pool and purchased a new pontoon boat (this last reason being the MOST important of all..hehe). But seriously, if anything else, visiting family and friends in Memphis would allow me a needed break from work.

Friday, my first day there, was spent just relaxing. I woke up late morning (how refreshing!) to watch a little TV and just lounge around. At around 12 noon, I met up with a friend to eat at a Mexican restaurant called El Porton. (This is one of my favorites because of their cheese dip, something that Chicago restaurants don't have here for some reason.) After the hearty lunch (and a few KILLER margaritas!), I headed back to my in-laws' house dip in the pool. This experience, needless to say, was quite relaxing and stupid me ended up snoozing in the water (and getting sunburnt a bit in the process). By the time I done with all that, my family had returned from work. Now that we were all together, we decided to head off for some dinner at a seafood restaurant called The Boiling Point. The food was good but, unfortunately, I was still full from lunch to really enjoy the meal.

Later that night, I headed off to midtown to visit friends and go to our old haunts. We started off at Metro, a basic dive bar, to have a couple of drinks. The place had been renovated since we were last there so it looked better than usual. (Still, the place isn't called a dive bar for nothing!) After that, we headed off to Backstreet to watch the midnight drag show. Like the bar we had visited before it, this place too had been renovated. The stage was now where the old dancefloor used to be. Additionally, the old stage area was now a simple video lounge and the entire bar had been expanded to accommodate a new dance complex.

The drag show was just like what we remembered it to be performance-wise. Somehow, however, it still wasn't the same. Maybe it was just us, but it seemed like there weren't that much people there that night . (You'd think that the place would be packed specially with all the renovations done. Plus, it was the 4th of July weekend.) Anyways, after the show, we went and spent a few minutes dancing at the new extension of the bar. Now, we would have loved to stay longer but, sadly, the crowds just weren't there to draw energy from. (Were this a club in Chicagoland, we would have been lucky to even find a spot to stand in on a Friday night.) So, just after a few minutes of shaking our asses, we chose to call it a night.

On Saturday, we were treated to some spectacular weather. Since it would have been such a big waste to not take advantage of the day, my family and I decided to take the pontoon boat out for some fun under the sun. Lake Enid was a short drive away, so it became the designated destination of choice.

Never having been to this place before, I was greeted to such a beautiful sight upon our arrival. The lake was nothing short of breathtaking! It was so huge that the water seemed to go on forever. Additionally, you could easily tell that the place was very well-maintained. From just that initial reaction of the place, I could already sense that this was going to be a GREAT day.

We started off by taking the boat around the lake for a bit. After getting acclimated to our surroundings, we decided next to go "tubing". Now, this was a first for me and, honestly, I had no clue what to expect. I soon found out, however, that this was somewhat like cross between water skiing and bobsledding. In other words, it was a LOT of fun (so much so that I couldn't wait to do it again). What a rush!

Tubing worked up our appetites, so by early afternoon, we were ready to eat some lunch. We found ourselves a little alcove close to where we had launched. There, we were able to find a small grill to cook some burgers and wieners. (I swear that my hunger made the food taste 10x better!) After that, we took the boat out for one last spin and round of tubing. By that time, it was already late afternoon and the water had begun to get cooler and choppier. Thus, we had to call it a day and made our way back home.

The whole lake incident wore me out big time, so for the rest of the afternoon and later that night, I just lounged around the house. I did go out for some dinner and drinks (the in-laws passed) but that pretty much comprised the rest of my day. After that, I chose to go to bed instead. (And I'm glad I did because the next day I was SORE!)

Sunday was pretty much a rest day for everyone. We did go out for breakfast but, other than that, we pretty much spent the whole day watching TV, wading at the pool and napping. At night, I met up with a friend at a place called Dish in midtown. There we just chatted away and caught up. As much as I wanted to, I just could not stay late due to my early departure back to Chicago. Spending time with the friend, nevertheless, was still a lot of fun. It was also so interesting to see all the people show up at this bar. Unlike Backstreet on Friday night, this place had become very happening by around 9:00 pm.

Finally on Monday, after three very relaxing days in Memphis, I packed my bags and said my good-byes. I can honestly say that the trip here was truly worth the effort. As much as I love Chicago, Memphis has and will always have a special place in my heart. This small little city in the South has so many memories that I will never forget. And each time I come back, I know there are always more happy memories awaiting me.