Walking In Memphis

Last week I had the great pleasure to go to Memphis to visit St. Jude Children's Hospital. It's been about 7 years since I was there last. St. Jude held its annual radio training conference for stations that raise money for them throughout the year. The station I work for, WYZB, has been airing St. Jude Radiothons now for many years. The trip is always a mixed bag; it's a whole lotta fun in Memphis, and it's also hard on your heart to hear the stories from parents and patients whose lives have changed forever because of cancer. Some good and some really sad.

All of the events took place at The Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis. I also got to stay there too. There's about 1000 radio people and they spread them out to four hotels. If you got to stay in The Peabody, you were lucky. I was lucky. It rained the whole weekend, and I never had to step out in the elements to get to all the conference stuff. If you know the story of The Peabody you might have heard about the famous ducks that live there. They have a "Duck Palace" on the roof where they live at night. During the day, they swim around the fountain in the main lobby. At the end of the day, they hold a ceremony with a red carpet and all to take the ducks back to the palace. I captured some video, it looks kinda cool with all the flashes going off, like they were celebrities... well they kinda are!

Of course, while in Memphis, you have to go to Beale Street. It's a street full of bars, music and giftshops. Went to BB Kings, Rum Boogie and a little karaoke bar just up the street. I sang "The Fireman." My favorite music spot during the weekend was Rum Boogies! The music was awesome!

A trip to Memphis isn't complete without a visit to Graceland. Hunka hunka Gold Lame'! Elvis Rules! The house is like a time capsule of 1977. I asked the tour lady if she had ever been upstairs. She said, "nobody goes upstairs, not even the workers. She also said that is most asked question during the tour." I'm so original right! My favorite room, is the jungle room!

I'm an avid geocacher and of course went geocaching, briefly. It was a very busy weekend so I only found a few, but they were interesting! Read about those adventures on my geocaching site.
After "Walking In Memphis" for 4 days, I was ready to get back to the beach. By the way, help us help St. Jude kids during WYZB's radiothon, Feb 14 and 15... donate! Thanks!