An American South Road Trip: From Graceland to Civil Rights, Museum to Museum
The third and final post in this series that includes stops in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. This segment highlights the stops we made during the drive between Memphis TN, Jackson MS, Birmingham AL and Atlanta, GA.
Trip dates: Saturday, May 18, 2019, to Sunday May 26, 2019
Written August 17, 2026
This is what the rest of our drive looked like
Our story picks up on our arrival in Memphis…
Wednesday May 22, 2019 – Arrival in Memphis, TN approximately 7PM
Since the drive from Little Rock to Memphis was only 2 hours, our plan was to drive straight through and have dinner after we arrived in the city.
It was near dusk when we pulled in to the The Peabody which was where we were staying for the night. The hotel was easy to find and much bigger than I expected. Using the word “grand” sums up what we saw, but it doesn’t seem to convey the beauty of the lobby and hotel. The lobby has a large seating area with bar nearby and is surrounded by boutiques and restaurants. The check-in desk was easy to find. Known for their resident ducks, they take it one step further and include duck décor, such as ducks embroidered on the pillowcases and artwork of ducks on the walls in the room.
Shortly after we arrived at the hotel, we left to go to dinner at Charlie Vergo’s Rendevous. A highly recommended barbecue restaurant that was steps away from the hotel. Even though we entered the restaurant around 8:30PM, the place was still busy. Our waiter, although clearly working with multiple parties, was very friendly and suggested items to order so that we could sample as much as possible without breaking the bank. We left full and happy with our experience.
We walked back to the hotel and explored inside before we turned in for the night.
Photo 1: Our drive in to Memphis, Tennessee from Arkansas
Photo 2: Outskirts of Memphis
Photo 3: Union Avenue in Memphis, TN (not far from The Peabody and Rendevous)
Thursday May 23, 2019 – drive from Memphis, TN to Jackson, MS
Although our plan was to head directly to Jackson, MS, we weren’t quite finished with Memphis. We lingered in the hotel until mid-morning, to watch the ducks waddle their way through the lobby where they spend the afternoon swimming and playing in a fountain. Then we headed to Graceland.
Graceland was a last-minute add. It wasn’t part of our itinerary, but we were so close that we both felt we’d regret not seeing it. We headed towards a diner called Gladys’ Diner, which turned out to be part of the Graceland set up. We stayed for the self-guided tour and walked through Elvis’s home, yard, and outer buildings. We also visited some of the museums with his cars and costumes. The visit ended with a stop at the gift shop.
We didn’t leave for Jackson until after 5PM, and it was a three-hour drive. Although we didn’t have reservations anywhere but the hotel, I don’t like arriving anywhere after dark if I can help it. Our new plan was to eat dinner at The Ironhorse Grille upon arrival in the city. The building dates to back 1906, when it was a smokehouse, so we get to start our Jackson experience with a little bit of history as soon as we got into town. We pulled into the parking lot a little after 9:00PM which thwarted any possibility of taking many scenic photos. Luckily, The Ironhorse has late night hours, and The Westin Jackson
(where we’d be staying) was 3 minutes from the restaurant. So, we could relax.
Photo 1: Upper level of The Peabody lobby
Photo 2: Pool at Graceland Mansion
Photo 3: entrance to Graceland museum area
Friday May 24, 2019 – drive from Jackson, MS to Birmingham, AL
Our planned activity for our day in Jackson was to visit the Mississippi Civil Rights museum. Since the museum was also about 3 minutes from the hotel, we ate breakfast at the hotel. Checked out, then went to the museum. When we arrived, we found that there were two museums in the building, one was the History of Mississippi, so we decided to tackle both. Four hours later, we were in the car driving to Birmingham. I’m not gonna lie, I was overwhelmed and wished we had more time to spend at each of the museums.
The drive to Birmingham was during dinner hours. Not wanting to make our arrival any later than necessary, we stopped at a Love’s Travel Stop for gas, then a McDonald’s and ate on the road. This allowed us to get to the Redmont Hotel Birmingham a little after 10:00PM. Too late to go searching for somewhere to eat, but not too late to have coffee and cake in the hotel restaurant!
Saturday May 25, 2019 – drive from Birmingham, AL to Atlanta, GA
While in Birmingham, I felt compelled to spend our visit at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. This was our only defined activity for our time in the city. Like our time in Jackson, the Institute was only a few minutes away from the hotel. So instead of venturing away from the area, we ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant and checked out afterwards. The rest of our afternoon was spent walking amongst history. We spent a little time outside the Institute too before we got in the car for our last leg of the road trip.
We made an unplanned stop in Moody, Alabama at a place called Milo’s Hamburgers, which seemed to be a local franchise to Alabama. I love that we were able to squeeze one more Alabama “thing” into our trip.
Photo 1: Late night dessert in restaurant in Redmont Hotel Birmingham
Photo 2: A view from the road in Birmingham, Alabama
Photo 3: Inside entrance to the Birmingham CIvil Rights Institute
The 2-hour drive along I-20 to Atlanta was very picturesque. I’d dare to say even beachy in areas, although the road seemed to be a bit more local than what we’d been driving earlier in the trip. As we approached the Coosa River area, we both expressed a wish to have the time in our schedule to stop and look around the area. But our flight to New York was scheduled for 8:00AM the next morning and we’d need to return the car and arrive at the airport way before then. We agreed to return to the area sometime in the future.
Although we wanted to explore Atlanta too, it wasn’t in the cards. When we checked in at the Westin Atlanta Airport hotel, I checked my phone. I received an email from the airline during my drive from Birmingham. Our flight was cancelled! I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. After I got over my initial frantic, I called Southwest Airlines and explained my plight. The agent was a lot more relaxed about the situation than I was, but it helped. We were able to get on another flight out of Atlanta a few hours later. There was a layover in St. Louis but at least we’d get back home to NY on Sunday.
Sunday, May 26, 2019 – flight from Atlanta, GA to New York, NY (layover in St. Louis, MO).
The positive about the flight time being changed was that we could sleep in a little longer. The negative is that we’d be in airports a lot of the day. We had a 90-minute lay-over in St. Louis, but to keep it from feeling like it was a waste of time, we splurged and ate lunch at one of the bar restaurants in the terminal. It worked out really well; we had plenty of time to get to our connecting flight without feeling rushed. We did arrive home later than planned so waking up for work the next morning was a drag, but we had some great stories to share when we got there!
Photo 1: Along the Coosa River
Photo 2: Another view along the Coosa River
Photo 3: Westin Atlanta Airport hotel
Things I learned from experiencing this trip: The areas of Jackson and Birmingham that we stayed in were very quiet. I often felt like we were missing the excitement somewhere else. I’d be curious to return for a longer visit to see what we missed.
Things I keep in mind when organizing a trip for myself: Go back for more! While I’d love to revisit these three cities again, I’m also curious about the Gulf area of the states, like Biloxi and Mobile.
Things I keep in mind when organizing a trip for myself: What else is nearby? Is this a good city to revisit and perhaps drive in a different direction? How easy was it to get to the hotel, city, restaurant, etc.? Aside from arriving after dark, which I didn’t love, I felt the drive to each of these cities, and driving around each of the cities was very easy. What’s the best trip to do so we get back to the Coosa River area?
Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT and Perplexity. Brainstorming for blog titles too!
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