Memphis in May Day 2

So I start off day 2 with a bit of a problem. All my "romantic" ways of proposing were outside at night after the show for the day. But after the events of the day before that seemed like a bad idea. The shows had a wind chill coming off the river that put it in the 30s. Not the most romantic environment. So we woke up Saturday to find it was a beautiful day. I made decision. Was it right? Was it wrong?

I don't know.But as we got ready for breakfast I got the ring out of my bag and in front of our big windows with the sunlight streaming in I asked Mary if she want to get hitched. I'm not kidding. That is how I phrased it. *FACEPLAM*
Anyway the deed was done.
She said yes of course, because you know, I'm pretty freaking awesome. So after we went down stairs and got breakfast. $30 for hotel breakfast bar seemed a lot. But we enjoyed it. She made phone calls to all her family. My family know everything by this time so I just enjoyed my biscuits and gravy.

After the Fridays freezing conditions we concluded that we needed to pick some stuff up before Saturday's shows. We hit up a Target, Sporting Goods Store and Bass Pro Shop to find socks, gloves, hand warmers, and better jackets. While looking for these stores we found really cool looking nature preserve on the east side of Memphis. We saw bike trails, joggers, and bison.
It all seem very cool and I wish we had more time to explore. But Mary was on a agenda and we had to do the tourist thang for a bit before hitting the festival.
I find it strange that I have been to Graceland three time, but have never been to Sun Studios. Yeah, its a bit of a tourist trap. Yeah, you spend an hour in the gift shop before the tour. But still was pretty damn cool. If you think about all the cool music and people that played there over the years, it is easy to see why they promotion Sun (and Memphis in general) as the birth place of Rock n Roll!

If you ever find yourself in Memphis with a few hours to kill the whole downtown is fun and fascinating. But after a morning of proposals, shopping and touring we were getting hungry. And Memphis is a town known for some good food.
We decided to try Gus's Fried Chicken. We arrived and put our name on the wait list. Yeah, there is a wait list on a Saturday morning to eat Fried Chicken. But we purchased a few beer and went and sat outside in the sunshine while the sunshine lasted. Now I don't know if this chicken was worth a 45 minute wait to be seated. And I don't know if it was worth the 20 minute wait after we ordered. But I will will admit for two people to eat for $20 that really was THE BEST fried chicken in the world. It was delicious. I recommend it to anyone who goes to Memphis. Just try to avoid tourist date, like Memphis in May.

So, after eating, we head back to the hotel to get ready for the afternoon shows. We arrived to find a strong security presence than the night before, which looking back makes sense. It was the most popular day of the festival.
We found some ridiculous good parking thanks to Mary's small car.
Which was good because in the hour or two between leaving Gus's and returning to the park the weather again turned bad. There was more cold, windy, rain. Luckily, thanks to our shopping trip we were way better prepared for the bad weather. But we still hid in the gospel & art tents.
Still had a great time seeing The Heartless Bastards, Jerry Lee Lewis, &  The Black Keys (!)

Fish and I engaged to be married, watching The Black Keys
We decided to call it a day after The Black Keys, so we headed to the Fly Saucer, had a beer with Mary's cousin Owen and headed back to the hotel. It was a good day.