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Happy New Year 2012!!

This year I spent New Year's Eve at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN. A great weekend with Jeff, Lori, and Bob. The weather was unbelievable - in the 50s/60s the entire time. Saturday - the weather hit 67*!!

Our first stop: Crossroads, the place guitar great Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil for his talent. Next door was Abe's BBQ - a small but quaint BBQ place with wicked nice people and great iced tea. They had a big sign outside saying they had Crossroads souvenirs. Of course we had to buy t-shirts. Favorite Quote from Crossroads: "Well, it's mostly Abe's with just a little bit of Crossroads on the sleeve."

A beautiful morning walk on Beale Street gave us plenty of time and space free of other people to take our time taking photos with Travel Monkey. We found a diner for coffee and more iced tea and agreed it was the perfect place for breakfast on Jan 1. A very full gift shop had the exact tacky-tourist items we had promised friends back home. And the proprietor was more than happy to pose with Travel Monkey. Favorite Quote from Beal Street: "I don't wear Sock Monkey hats for just anyone."

A trip to The Peabody Hotel New Year's Eve morning was a fun spectacle of parading ducks! The hour long wait was totally worth it as we drank Bloody Mary's and Mimosas after toasting the end of 2011. The bartenders were less than happy as everyone was ordering Bloody Mary's and Mimosas - and all the wine and champagne glasses still had lipstick on them.... guess the new long-wear lipsticks wreck havock on dishwashers! Favorite quote from the Duck Parade: "When she laughs hard, she quacks like a duck."

Graceland turned out to be a tad different then we all expected.... we're guessing it's the amount of time which has passed since Elvis first moved in. We could see into the backyards of the neighbors and the house was surrounded by strip malls. We also toured the car collection and walked through the airplanes. You can tell Elvis was a man from the 70's. Favorite quote from trip to Graceland: "There's more???"

Memphis is in central time so our body clocks would be feeling midnight at 11:00pm. We decided naps were going to be a necessity to make the ball drop. Refreshed and dressed, we head next door to The Peabody. With VIP passes - we had plenty of space and weren't squeezed into Grand Ballroom with everyone else. And - the VIP area had two bars set up - although they moved at the slowest pace they possibly could. How could it possibly take 20 min to make drinks for the two couples in front of us?!? After snacking from the buffet table - shrimp the size of the bottom of a soda can - and some pate and crackers - we hit the dance floor. Talk about PACKED!! There were so many people on the dance floor, people could only dance by standing pressed against each other and slow dancing. Even to the fast songs! The blues band was great to listen to, the DJ played a strange mix of LMFAO and Salt N Peppa. Then FreeSoul, a local Memphis band, came out to play through the ball drop and into the new year. Back to the VIP lounge for a Champagne toast (when we finally got it) - a quick countdown - then the midnight kiss to ring in 2012. Not really wanting to stay in the throngs of people, we all headed back to our hotel for a night-cap and some fun conversation. Off to bed - then up in the am for breakfast, packing, and heading back to Boston. Favorite Quote from New Year's Eve: "It's not Pate!"

Memphis is a beautiful city. While we did do a few things, we didn't have time to visit the Gibson Guitar factory, walk the Riverwalk area, take a carriage ride, visit the Martin Luther King Civil Rights Memorial, or visit the zoo. I can certainly see another trip to Memphis in my future!

I think of this mug as my "enlightenment mug", because of the gorgeous expansive lotus blossom on it. Some of the colours are wearing off a bit, which isn't surprising since I bought it in 1991 and put it in the dishwasher all the time. It's another of my possessions that puts a smile on my face.