All Stacy wanted was a pair of slippers or heavy socks for the camper. I haven’t fished in decades and didn’t hunt last year at all so all I was looking for was a souvenir bucket hat. I try to find one each time we visit a major destination, and this certainly qualifies! New Orleans failed the test because the small sampling that they had was all “One size fits MOST”. Well, I’m here to tell ya, my head is NOT like MOST. I wouldn’t say that I have a BIG head necessarily, but MOST of their hats are too small. We thoroughly enjoyed browsing the entire store and it is HUGE. Went all the way to the top and out onto the balconies to view the city and river. Got some nice pics of a tug pushing a massive barge up river. Took all kinds of pics inside from the fish in the ponds and aquariums to the alligators in their pit at the base of the elevators. Many other taxidermy exhibits garnered our attention, too. Stacy thought that she had found herself a pair of socks at 50%off and I was about ready to give up on finding ANY kind of bucket hat. They have literally hundreds of ballcap styles, even cowboy hats, but do you think that we could find ONE bucket hat all through the store? Nope. So, in one last desperate attempt, we canvas the fishing section thinking thats a kind of hat fishermen wear, right? Apparently not. I did find 2 samples, neither of which had Bass Pro Shop on them, and they wanted what I consider to be too much money so I passed. We had about given up the search when on the way to the checkout I espied one last bin of caps. In amongst the favored ballcaps I spied, A BUCKET HAT with Bass Pro Shop on it!! We actually pawed through the pile and I was able to test a half dozen “One size fits Most” and found that Thailand manufacturing specs must be pretty loose as there was a difference and I was able to find one that fit better than the others. Mission accomplished! BUt no, not quite. Stacy’s socks rang up at full price. After the required protest that they were on sale an investigation by store personnel revealed only the “old” style was on sale. the “new” style that she had chosen were not. So, no socks for Stacy. We left there and headed to Rendezvous Restaurant in downtown Memphis as it had been recommended to us by family. The entrance to this place is nothing more than an alley and there is NO parking. They didn’t tell us that. I am driving an F250 people! It does not turn on a dime, and while it may fit into parking garages of 6’4″ height, it doesn’t always like the tight turns. So we drove past it, came out the other side and found street parking within a block so all was good. Their slogan here is “Not since Adam has a rib been this famous”. We didn’t have ribs per se, but we did enjoy some of their pulled rib meat with a salad. A bit dry for my taste but when dipped in their sauce was quite good. The rest of the day was pretty mundane performing errands. Tomorrow Graceland!
