Memphis for the Holidays

As my wife and I watched the ball drop and called it a night around 10:30 PM, I was starting to get anxious about my next day departure for Memphis. January 1st started off pleasant enough and our flight was relatively empty. The extra seat was a nice treat and the 2 hour flight proceeded without incident. My parent’s house was hopping with about 15 guests in the house for brunch. It was nice to see some family friends. The balance of the day was chatting and eating with my sisters and nephews.

Friday was my day and I ventured to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken and the Rendezvous. Gus’s is my second Travel Channel adventure and Gus’s is much better than Willie Mae’s in New Orleans. I will continue my quest for the best fried chicken as my travels allow. My daughter held up pretty well although her sleep cycle really went to the dogs. She slept through the ducks marching at the Peabody, but woke up to the smell of ribs.

Saturday was our trip to the Temple. This is always a nice peaceful outing. On the way back we grabbed Piccadilly which is notoriously absent in Colorado. Saturday night was poker with the old gang. This $0.25 only bet with 3 raises is always entertaining. Diya actually played by herself, which was a relief after being glued to my hip for 2 days.

Sunday was our travel day from hell. My daughter went to bed midnight as had become her routine. She decided to get up shortly after I did at 5:30 AM to get in the shower. From here, it was a quick job of packing and then off to the airport at 6:30 AM. We arrived early enough to repack the bag which weighed in at 56 lbs. Then airport security had to scan my daughter’s baby doll. This aside was pretty entertaining as a team of 3 TSA agents talked me through the process to minimize the trauma to my daughter (they had been through this before). Doll in hand we went down to the gate and had breakfast. The flight itself was on time, but sat on the runway in Denver for 30 minutes. In Denver we waited 40 minutes for our 50 lb checked bag and then had to wait 15 minutes for the shuttle to the off airport parking. By the time it was said and done we were home in Arvada at 3:00 PM after leaving Germantown 9.5 hours earlier. I was thrilled to be home and will think twice about travelling during the holidays.