Labor Day Part 3

There was supposed to be a big tropical storm to hit Louisiana, and specifically Baton Rouge, on Sunday night/Monday morning.  We decided to wait until the afternoon to drive home in hopes that the storm would have already passed through by the time we got home.  Turns out we needn't have worried.  The storm never happened.  However, we got to see some fun things.

First stop:  The Pink Palace.  It was the home of Clarence Saunders, the man who started the Piggly-Wiggly grocery stores.  The house was later turned into a museum and houses an IMAX theatre as well as a planetarium.  We just wandered through the history exhibits.  The house is huge and amazing inside.

The Pink Palace

Mark and Brielle outside the Pink Palace

Just FYI

The weather was beautiful, so we headed downtown to check out the sights.  We ended up on Beale Street, which is pretty cool if you're there at 10:00 in the morning.  Here we are, walking in Memphis:

On Beale Street

A. Schwab - one of the oldest general stores in America that is still operating

Outside the Hard Rock Cafe

On our way back to the car, we walked up to Union Avenue and made a quick stop at the Peabody Hotel.  The Peabody is a ritzy hotel that is famous for the ducks in it's lobby water fountain.  It apparently started as a joke in the 1930s, when someone put duck decoys in the water fountain.  The guests loved it, and it became a tradition to keep live ducks in the fountain.  The hotel keeps a duckmaster, who marches the ducks to the fountain every morning and back home every evening.  Needless to say, this was a huge hit with Brielle.

Checking out the ducks



After buying a book and a shirt to commemorate our visit, we struck out for home.  We had a really great time visiting Memphis.  I hope we have the opportunity to go back some day.