Prior to this past weekend, I had only been to Memphis once and that was my pit stop at Graceland. I have a good friend from home who has taken part in reenactments all of his life and he was taking part in the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee. It’s a great excuse to see a friend and take a little weekend getaway trip. What’s a couple hundred miles, right? That’s right, I’m a great friend. So last Friday, Sy and I rented a car and began our trip. We drove a few hours and decided to stop and stay in Little Rock (home of the Clinton’s), wake up early and take off for Memphis (where we’d be staying Saturday night) and then travel to the battle site which was about two hours east.
We had decided since we don’t really treat ourselves to relaxing trips all that often that this was going to be it – even if it just happened to be on a weekend. With that being said, we were staying at The Peabody in Memphis. With our helpful AAA discount, the rate of the room was just a little more than the surrounding hotels but what the heck. It’s our getaway but in the end, it was the best decision and completely worth it.
The Peabody is a hotel that sits about two blocks from Beale Street and has been around for over 100 years. Besides having Presidents, celebrities and quite frankly people who are a big deal stay here (I mean, we were staying here which was the biggest deal yet), they are famous for their ducks. Yes – I said ducks. Quack Quack. The story goes something like this, the original owner went on a hunting trip to Arkansas and when he and his friends returned (and after a few too many Jack Daniels) they had decided to put ducks in the fountain of the hotel (since they couldn’t use decoy ducks). Now, it has become a tradition and the ducks live in their mansion on the roof of the hotel and are brought down the elevator daily at 11am and 5pm. The red carpet is rolled out and they run to the fountain in the middle of the hotel lobby. No – I am not even kidding.
It draws a lot of attention. Much more attention than I thought it would. It’s seriously a big deal.
This is the Duck Master presenting the young lady next to him a certificate for being Honorary Duck Master for the day!
The Peabody is gorgeous. I fell in love. Our room was cute. I especially loved the doors to the rooms. I know, kind of odd. The room was a little small but I mean how much room does one really need? The bed, so comfortable and I really didn’t get to sleep enough since Sy wanted to wake up early and get a head start on our long trip back to Texas. They do leave two rubber ducks on the desk (which you can purchase for $8). No thanks. The atmosphere and architecture within the hotel is where it’s at.
Seriously, the one of the most comfortable beds!
The lobby. It’s like the kitchen of any home, right – where everyone gathers. Check it out – it’s beautiful.
The lobby also holds the “hotel bar”. There are tables and big comfy chairs where you can hang out and relax and listen to the pianist play the piano (I later learned the piano also plays itself, unless it was a ghost…). In the morning there is tea and coffee available. In the evening they set out an arrangement of desserts which you can purchase for $6.50. We ended up ordering dessert in the lobby Saturday night after dinner. Tiramisu was what we wanted and it was delicious!
Obviously, it was shaped as a little tea cup with a chocolate stick on top. The tea cup was completely made of chocolate. The filling was a soft cream with the wafers in the middle. Yum!
The mezzanine. Here we found a piano which was custom made for Francis Scott Key who wrote the Star Spangle Banner. This level also leads to the ballrooms which we looked inside (cleaning up from a wedding I presumed) and it was magnificent. The ceilings and stage inside. Now I wish I got a picture, I guess you’ll just have to reference the website.
The staff were gracious and extremely nice. Honestly, it was one of the best hotel experiences I’ve ever had. It’s too bad I can’t really afford to stay more than one night. It’s no wonder The Peabody is known to be one of the prime hotels of the South. If you don’t believe me, stay there and find out for yourself!
